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by wddkcs 885 days ago
A churn and burn sales team cycle does not speak to a high bar. The companies I've worked with that have taken this approach have been the least thoughtful, and the least productive, usually relying on high pressure sales tactics that yes, most people are not cut out for.

Sales is a profession that anyone can do, because it's a ubiquitous life skill. If it's so easy for them to tell at three months the employee isn't working out, why can't they figure that out in three interviews? What critical info comes out in 90 days of work that can't be extracted during a 2 month long interview process? It's far more likely that they have no idea who will and won't turn out to be a good fit, and that these kinds of 'for cause' firings are meant to 'positively' motivate the remaining workforce, or are due to internal budgeting that is in no way related to the salesperson.
1 comments
latchkey 885 days ago
https://twitter.com/scottastevenson/status/17462608153872140...

Zero sales in 4.5 months.

2% total was laid off.

This isn't really a sign of "churn and burn".

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wddkcs 884 days ago
3 months of which was ramp, another 2 weeks of which was holiday. She was given bad manager feedback, no chance to correct, and fired without proper explanation. To her, this was churn and burn, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other 40 people fired where similarly treated.
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latchkey 884 days ago
If my job is sales and I hadn't closed a single deal in 4 months, I'd have quit myself. I'd either take the blame upon myself or I would have figured that this company already saturated the market, or has a bad product that nobody wants. The easy route is blaming someone else.
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wddkcs 884 days ago
Do you not understand how ramp works? She would not be allowed to a sell during the first three months, or only with direct supervision. I'd be very surprised if you've ever worked in a sales first position, given this basic misunderstanding.
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latchkey 884 days ago
You're correct, I'm not a sales person, which is maybe why I'm finding it hard to be sympathetic to her firing.

"She closed zero sales 4.5 months into a 3 month ramp."

She had 1 month, after 3 months of ramp, to close something. Based on that, alone... I'd still stick by my comments above. If she has even a single peer closing even a single tiny deal in that 1 month, then she's already at the bottom of the list.

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wddkcs 884 days ago
1 month, 2 weeks of which was holidays. As someone with extensive sales background, I'd advise you to step back and realize your judgements are heavily under informed.
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