What happens when a whole group of employees that were working on a certain project as PMs, Biz Devs, Content, Mktg, etc., are suddenly converted to technical sales? Most have little to zero exp in sales or cold prospecting. If they don't make their quota, how long til their days are numbered? With Q2 starting, what can they expect?
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IBM is a garbage company that will fu-k you over - all of their their propaganda that they are a company that cares about their employees is a steaming pile of cr-p - at a whim, they will force you into a job they know you aren't suited for in hopes that you will quit. Do not work for these scumbags
IBM Distributors doing the same thing. All of a sudden, everyone is a sales rep. I'm half expecting the janitor to try and sell me a mainframe!
They pulled this sh-t on my team when I worked there a few years ago. Told a bunch of introverted OCD engineers (like me) that we were suddenly expected to do sales. Then the wind blew and we were given a different project. Then it blew again and again and again.
You're supposed to get fired.
I'm one of these people. They have provided no formal training to date. I've been just doing self paced video trainings. There is nobody experienced enough to mentor with so quite literally nobody knows what we're supposed to be doing.
Technical sales is more sales than technical. The job is to support the lead sales person to get the contract signed, so only speak if your technical words serves that purpose. Don’t show off your additional technical skills lest you digress the conversation from focusing on the contract and ki-l the deal.
Even the seasoned tech sales guys live quarter to quarter and their reputation is based on the last quarter’s deals. Your performance plan will have a sales quota. There is minimum support, so you have to rely on your instincts.
If closing deals do not thrill you, get out now.
Everyone should be in either Sales, Product Engineering, or Services Delivery. Too many damn people in all these bloated overlay orgs. If you're not making something or selling it GTFO.
It means they are already taking steps for an RA in 3 months You don't have the skills or the time to acquire them You will not achieve your targets You are cannon fodder Time to run
absolutely from the Olde IBM playbook. You're fu---d. Get out asap...
Old playbook - ibm moved everyone in Enablement (Dev) to Technical Sales around 2015.
No one was allowed to move back to Dev until the execs ‘forgot’ and I was lucky to move back to Dev within 6 months. My coworkers who did not try to move back to Dev were soon laid off. Technical Sales is a very different mindset, requires a unique skill set. Sales didn’t want us and didn’t really think we were trainable.
In this hot job market, I would look outside of ibm for work that you want. Good luck!
I'd be brushing off my resume.