How To Ensure Earning Big Money In Tech Sales Isn’t A Fluke

Brandon Fluharty

⚡️ Today’s level up ⚡️

Today’s edition describes how you must design your own role in the org if you want to repeat high-earning years.

Let’s go!

‍Read time: <5 minutes

‍If you missed last week, read it here.

Know what makes you elite and use it as leverage

As I highlighted last week, there is no Ari Gold super agent working on your behalf to get you more qualified leads, a better territory, or a stronger comp plan.

No, that duty falls squarely on your shoulders. When you’re operating like your own brand, you not only have to be diligent about understanding the value you’re bringing to the table, but you also need to think two to three steps ahead on how to leverage that value to accelerate your big mission in life (say, like transitioning from the corporate world to do your own thing on your terms).

A part of staying a few steps ahead of everyone (that includes your competition, team, and company) is taking the time to zoom out and think about what’s next.

Many of you are here because you’ve worked through 7 Steps to 7 Figures, where you learned I earned an average of $1.1M three years in a row.

Just five years prior to that meteoric rise, I was earning $110,000 a year in 2014. That’s a decent income, certainly for a couple with no children and living in a no-income-tax state like Florida. But three years straight of earning $1.1M/year in gross earnings was literally like 30 years of my 2014 output packed into three (I was a mid-market sales exec at a regional IT consulting and outsourcing firm).

That’s 10X leverage.

A key ingredient to earning multiple 7-figure years in a row was redesigning my role on a frequent basis. In today’s edition, I will break down how to do this using my own path, but also an example of a student who’s going through this right now.

Design your own role within the sales org

Many clients whom I coach or members of the Make More Hustle Less Club are ending their fiscal year this month - after earning the most they ever had in their careers.

February 1st is just around the corner, and that means a new comp plan and changes. Don’t get caught off guard. Be proactive with these three simple, but powerful steps.

And even if you didn’t hit the 7-figure mark, the framework still applies to protecting and growing your earnings based on your results last year.

Step 1: Show your work

To prove your big-money-earning performance wasn’t down to pure grit, create a well-thought-out executive memo summarizing how you thought and operated differently.

Example: You grew a major healthcare account from $400K to $4M in ARR.

Outline that instead of following the prescribed activity-driven approach; you made a big “bet” on leveraging a major systems integrator (SI), like Accenture, to expand the account globally.

Describe in detail:

Your thought process
Your sweat equity
Your relationships
Your strategy

This becomes your blueprint for how you need to work going forward.

Step 2: Create your business case

In my experience in strategic SaaS sales, a million-dollar earning year means you achieved 3 - 4x your number on a multi-million dollar ARR quota.

It’s the perfect time to “coach” your company’s executives on how you need to operate going forward. This means bucking the trend on the typical AE structure. What got you paid big last year won’t be what gets you paid big this year.

Example: Create the business case on why only working with a large SI like Accenture was the most viable path to 10xing a deal in a short time.

Showcase:

The value of your time
The value of your approach
The value of working differently

The killer addition is showcasing how much of your revenue won is as a percentage of the team or the entire org.

Step 3: Cash in your chips

Now is the perfect time to create more autonomy for yourself.

Example: Highlight your need to work directly with the SI on very specific types of opportunities, and this will require a more focused use of your time.

Instead of blindly accepting the same AE structure for next year, ask for:

A focused, strategic account list
More access to resources
A better comp plan
Different KPIs
A new title

You’ll still be an individual contributor (yes, with a higher quota), but you’ll be elevated in a way to make more impact and repeat big-earning years.

For example, coming off a monster year in 2019, I wrote up a memo outlining my 2020 plan. I had already been promoted to VP earlier that year (still in an individual contributor capacity), but I used my 2019 insights and results to define a role I knew I needed in order to be the best asset to the organization.

Of course, the plan got blown up due to Covid unleashing havoc in March of that year. But if you read it, you can get a sense of how I was positioning myself for new opportunities and resources that would further elevate my skills and maintain a strong income, and not reactively accept more of the same and hope I could reach my larger quota (and earnings).

That’s a wrap.

See you next week!

Here’s how I can help you right now:

1 | Unlock the 7 Figure Seller OS

Learn how to use design and systems thinking to become a 7 figure seller. There are 3 options to allow you to customize your learning journey.

2 | Download The 7 Figure Open Letter

Get the creative strategic selling strategy that landed a $5.9M deal with a top 4 major global airline. Bonus inside!

3 | Book a 1:1 coaching session right now

You can book a 60-minute coaching session with me (although the Pro above option provides access to 1:1 coaching with me at a 70% discount.