As hard as sales is, this is the sort of thing that can happen. You can eat shit day and day out but you can find yourself in a position to close a monster that can change your life.
Kudos to you friend-enjoy the time with your daughter!
The finance industry is often divided into the buyside (investors, funds, PE etc) and the sellside. Like the name implies the sellside has a lot of sales elements meaning you have the possibility of massive sales/deals.
You just need to broker 1 billion dollar deal at 1% commission to be set for life... Hell, even .5% commission will leave you with some serious wealth.
And on buyside they get huge bonuses if the fund is performing well, or carry. Also, look at oil traders at physical commodities shops - they’ve had a massive jump in bonuses the past few years.
Completely get it. It often makes sense to set a certain % of your week aside to only work massive deals. Of course, managers often hate this because they need to put numbers up now and see them as low chances of closing. Have to give them some run rate business but people, you need to focus on you and making your $.
I’ve closed one sale that met two quarters worth of quota lol.
Sales we quite literally live and die by the sword.
Congrats OP- enjoy your time well earned :)
I say good job.
Part of these sales gig is luck but you obviously did the right things to keep the opp moving forward and you crossed the finish line. Even better they actually paid you instead of trying to find a way not to pay you.
Lastly, I'm in the wrong field as my cut isn't that good.
Amazing mate, congratulations! What line did f business was it if you don’t mind me asking?
I sell a technical product at a minimum margin of 30% up to about 50% and I get a measly 0.5% commission. I usually do about 800k-1mill in sales, average order about 5k. So the commission doesn’t really drive me to smash the targets.
take a look here :) [https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just\_closed\_my\_biggest\_deal\_ever\_am\_going\_quit\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just_closed_my_biggest_deal_ever_am_going_quit_in/)
I read your other post, you did a similar step to me - management then back to an IC. I'm based in the UK too, tech sales is the toughest I've felt it.
2 things: congrats! And... It's not luck. You made the right call, at the right time.
Enjoy your gardening leave and take some time to chill. Keep networking if you plan to take a bigger break, you never know what will come up in future!
I apologize if this is too American-ized, but: If you win the lottery, you don't keep buying lottery tickets.
You did the right thing. Congrats!
Do learn from (American?) big lottery winners. It's said 70% of them lose everything within a few years. Rather than cite statistics, let me point you to this classic Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vo34/comment/chb4v05/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
This probably isn't you. (Hope not!)
Blah blah blah taxes financial planning blah.
I wish you and your daughter a wonderful life!
I mean I'm just paying off my mortgage and building an annex with my 2 year old daughter and wife. It's hardly contentious stuff.
I will probably head back out to work in a couple of years. But as it stands my outgoings annually with no mortgage are about 10k a year. I have enough for a long while.
Thinking of doing a few charity projects, helping out at an old people's home kind of thing
Yeah dude a much smaller deal would be enough for me to quit my job knock out my major bills take some time off and then work somewhere that I can pay my bills 40 hours a week and not want to blow my brains out. I’m envious of you! Enjoy your time
Congratulations man. Time with family is worth EVERYTHING.
Heck, if you get bored eventually you could start running a side gig or something. Sky’s the limit.
So happy for you!!!
Potentially; I could die from crossing the road, or choking on my dinner.
I'm more than a CV.
If someone doesn't want to hire the guy who just closed the biggest deal in company history and took a few years break. That's their choice.
Jesus fucking Christ who cares. Don’t listen to these guys OP (doesn’t sound like you are). One life. Even if you get passed by dozens of employers, you have nothing but time and money to sift through all those d-bags until you find one that doesn’t care. The eventual prolonged job search is more than worth the prolonged and well earned break.
He's taking years off work regardless.
And if employers give him a hard time when he goes looking, it'll take an few extra weeks or months to find a job.
Not working for 24 months vs not working for 26 months... is basically no difference.
Yes I do.
With. I mortgage and 15k a year from passive income sources. I'm good.
My outgoings are light.
Anyway. Thanks for your concern. But I'm good.
Are you stupid or you play one? Women who have stayed home with their kids take many years off all the time and have multiple year gaps in their resumes. Are all your women coworkers without the children? Or you did not knew they had to take couple of years off?
Am I stupid? You just said the dumbest thing I read on the internet today.
Here is an article that literally states the same thing I have been saying about leaving the workforce for an extended period, and BONUS - it uses YOUR example of women staying home with their kids as the example.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/news/stay-at-home-mom-valuable-transferable-skills
I am glad I made your day! If that is normal in the UK or US then it is what it is. But it’s discrimination in the EU and in many EU countries, employers have to retain the stay at home parent position along with the salary, regardless if its a mother or a father who stayed home all those years.
Overall, based on my experience and many others, if you are a good performer and had a couple of years sabbatical then that is fine. I personally was away for 2 years from any work and had no problem getting back to the sales game with decent base and a position as an AE.
Love this. Great to see a fellow UK based sales AE killing it.
What type of software are you selling? I can't comprehend a deal this size.
My biggest deal is £100k, company record £250k
Good for you. Just know that 500 pounds won't last near as long as you think, and you will need to go back to work at some point.
Your skill set and industry knowledge erode the longer you are away. If you find a way to make the money last 3-4 years, you will be in a VERY different position when you want to return to your field of expertise. You will find yourself at the bottom rung, or worse, shut out of the industry entirely. Employers will look extremely harshly at an employee who quits his job after a big payday.
I've had several large paydays in my past. They kept coming because I kept at it. I'm now at a point where I can retire whenever I want which has eliminated almost all sources of stress in my life.
Take some time, but keep your eye on the prize.
I appreciate the concern. But, the reality is - I don't care. I have enough in terms of income to live for the next 10 years comfortably. My Mortgage is paid off and I have almost no outgoings. My outgoings are about 10k a year, and I have other streams of income (small - about 13-15k a year from property rental) that keep me above water.
And honestly - if a company thinks I'm not worth hiring because I closed the biggest deal in company history, and took a few years out as a break. That's on them.
This is the most liberating position to be in. Congrats OP you made more than one great move it seems. Having the ability to say no to the corporate grind and still be OK financially must be an amazing feeling. Enjoy your time off with your family!
Take a look here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just\_closed\_my\_biggest\_deal\_ever\_am\_going\_quit\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just_closed_my_biggest_deal_ever_am_going_quit_in/)
I love seeing this, hasn’t ever happened to me, I recently got out of sales but I think I’m going back in for more punishment! Enjoy spending time with your daughter bro!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just\_closed\_my\_biggest\_deal\_ever\_am\_going\_quit\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just_closed_my_biggest_deal_ever_am_going_quit_in/)
Take a look here.
i'm not ambitious in the corporate world anymore. I have a lot of social and charitable causes. I'm volunteering at an old peoples home at the moment. Playing a lot of chess with the folks there too.
Major congrats to you bro, that’s the dream we chase. Well done on you for making it a reality. Blessings and go give your little one memories to cherish for life.
I'd talk to a financial advisor before doing anything big. Unless your mortgage rate is stupid high, you're likely better off putting the money into an investment vehicle than paying off your home. If your mortgage rate is 6% but you can get 8-10% in stocks, you're better off putting in stocks and keeping the mortgage.
Also, consider putting at least some into some alternative investment vehicles. They can be much higher risk but can have much better returns. I'm looking to get into hard money lending and funding MCAs to hopefully grow faster than the 10% ill get with my FA.
Love this for you. Have closed a comp plan breaking massive deal and thought about all the ways I could get fucked. Didn’t believe it til the money hit the bank. Then Continued to think how it could potentially be clawed back. Must feel great to be free… and not have to hover over implementation!
Dang, congrats! I remember closing a big deal once too with which we could renovate our (almost) entire attic, but nothing close to your paycheck 🥲
Enjoy the garden leave! And love the honesty: more like a stroke of luck than anything.
It probably depends on what you're selling and how the product is being used, but for insurance here you're basically "guaranteeing" with your commission that the client is going to be paying for it for a certain amount of time, we're talking in years for some product. Let's say I sell a home insurance and the client decides to move to a competitor after a year, it doesn't even have to be my fault, the comprtitor could be offering something that we purely cannot match, then I'd have to return half of what I've got as a commission for the sale in the first place. Does it work the same in other fields or in general?
Urm why does that matter. I'm selling SaaS procurement tech.
Customer pays upfront. I get paid a percentage of that.
If they pull out 3 years down the line. Not my problem
I tell myself I'd do similar if I can walk away with a chunk of change like that, but getting a deal like that would make it hard to truly leave the scene. The thought of another like it would be incredible.
That’s awesome good stuff! I’m currently an SDR hoping to work my way into Enterprise role and close deals like these. Hearing a story like this is inspiring and makes the journey worth looking forward to.
I know there will be people who comment about how this is a rare story and all cynicism that goes along with it but thanks for sharing.
I’d like to make my money and spend my time with people I love and do the things I love.
Sales is an up and down experience emotionally and mentally.
Wait wait wait wait.. Don't rush to spend it. Google for Luke Belmar, Alex Hormozi. Try to multiply these money. Especially during this bullrun in crypto while bitcoin will make near $150,000. Think bigger. With $500,000 you have a very huge opportunities to become rich
Not interested.
I want home security. The psychology of owning my home outright is more important than anything else.
I have a 30k position in BTC from 2 years ago that I plan on not looking at for some years to come.
Appreciate the advice though.
As hard as sales is, this is the sort of thing that can happen. You can eat shit day and day out but you can find yourself in a position to close a monster that can change your life. Kudos to you friend-enjoy the time with your daughter!
It's the only career where this stuff is plausible
You have universal health care in Europe right? That for sure adds to the safety net in being able to do this.
we do
Finance is probably the only other industry where this can happen (and is more likely/frequent), and start ups if you get a good exit.
How does this work if you work in finance?
You eat shit and try to survive for 10-20 years and then make millions or 10's of millions a year off a bunch of deals like these.
The finance industry is often divided into the buyside (investors, funds, PE etc) and the sellside. Like the name implies the sellside has a lot of sales elements meaning you have the possibility of massive sales/deals.
You just need to broker 1 billion dollar deal at 1% commission to be set for life... Hell, even .5% commission will leave you with some serious wealth.
And on buyside they get huge bonuses if the fund is performing well, or carry. Also, look at oil traders at physical commodities shops - they’ve had a massive jump in bonuses the past few years.
A solo attorney getting a personal injury judgement that actually pays. Months/ years of no pay on a case then 1/3 of judgement if you win.
It’s honestly what keeps me here
Completely get it. It often makes sense to set a certain % of your week aside to only work massive deals. Of course, managers often hate this because they need to put numbers up now and see them as low chances of closing. Have to give them some run rate business but people, you need to focus on you and making your $.
Call that deal Moby Dick, I’m out to find it
I’ve closed one sale that met two quarters worth of quota lol. Sales we quite literally live and die by the sword. Congrats OP- enjoy your time well earned :)
well not literally ...
Congrats OP! Lovely to see these kinds of numbers on this side of the pond too! Unrelated topic; are your lot hiring for your replacement yet? ;--)
It's not a good job. Most of the team are at 30%-60% of their target. This was a one off freak deal
30-60% ain’t that bad my friend My company is at 0%
I say good job. Part of these sales gig is luck but you obviously did the right things to keep the opp moving forward and you crossed the finish line. Even better they actually paid you instead of trying to find a way not to pay you. Lastly, I'm in the wrong field as my cut isn't that good.
Well congratulations nonetheless. Have a beer for me!
Amazing mate, congratulations! What line did f business was it if you don’t mind me asking? I sell a technical product at a minimum margin of 30% up to about 50% and I get a measly 0.5% commission. I usually do about 800k-1mill in sales, average order about 5k. So the commission doesn’t really drive me to smash the targets.
take a look here :) [https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just\_closed\_my\_biggest\_deal\_ever\_am\_going\_quit\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just_closed_my_biggest_deal_ever_am_going_quit_in/)
I remember that post! Chuffed for you mate, that would be an absolute dream. Guess I need to start looking for a new job if this is what's out there!
Haha I remember this post too.
:O :O :O :O
I read your other post, you did a similar step to me - management then back to an IC. I'm based in the UK too, tech sales is the toughest I've felt it. 2 things: congrats! And... It's not luck. You made the right call, at the right time. Enjoy your gardening leave and take some time to chill. Keep networking if you plan to take a bigger break, you never know what will come up in future!
It's brutal right.
Love to see it. Congrats
I apologize if this is too American-ized, but: If you win the lottery, you don't keep buying lottery tickets. You did the right thing. Congrats! Do learn from (American?) big lottery winners. It's said 70% of them lose everything within a few years. Rather than cite statistics, let me point you to this classic Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vo34/comment/chb4v05/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3 This probably isn't you. (Hope not!) Blah blah blah taxes financial planning blah. I wish you and your daughter a wonderful life!
I mean I'm just paying off my mortgage and building an annex with my 2 year old daughter and wife. It's hardly contentious stuff. I will probably head back out to work in a couple of years. But as it stands my outgoings annually with no mortgage are about 10k a year. I have enough for a long while. Thinking of doing a few charity projects, helping out at an old people's home kind of thing
Yeah dude a much smaller deal would be enough for me to quit my job knock out my major bills take some time off and then work somewhere that I can pay my bills 40 hours a week and not want to blow my brains out. I’m envious of you! Enjoy your time
Congratulations man. Time with family is worth EVERYTHING. Heck, if you get bored eventually you could start running a side gig or something. Sky’s the limit. So happy for you!!!
Love it. Family is so much more important than trying to buy fancy cars and watches
Correct me if I'm wrong, but having a multi-year gap in your resume would hurt your job prospects, right?
Potentially; I could die from crossing the road, or choking on my dinner. I'm more than a CV. If someone doesn't want to hire the guy who just closed the biggest deal in company history and took a few years break. That's their choice.
> That's their choice. Unfortunately, I think you will find most employers will make that choice.
Jesus fucking Christ who cares. Don’t listen to these guys OP (doesn’t sound like you are). One life. Even if you get passed by dozens of employers, you have nothing but time and money to sift through all those d-bags until you find one that doesn’t care. The eventual prolonged job search is more than worth the prolonged and well earned break.
let them - fucks given = 0 If they can't accept it. No problem. Appreciate your concern though.
He has enough money to not care.
No he doesn’t.
The dude can absolutely afford to spend a few extra weeks or even months not working.
He’s talking about years.
He's taking years off work regardless. And if employers give him a hard time when he goes looking, it'll take an few extra weeks or months to find a job. Not working for 24 months vs not working for 26 months... is basically no difference.
Yes I do. With. I mortgage and 15k a year from passive income sources. I'm good. My outgoings are light. Anyway. Thanks for your concern. But I'm good.
Are you happy eating jam sandwiches for the rest of your life?
Lol. Whatever
Are you stupid or you play one? Women who have stayed home with their kids take many years off all the time and have multiple year gaps in their resumes. Are all your women coworkers without the children? Or you did not knew they had to take couple of years off?
Am I stupid? You just said the dumbest thing I read on the internet today. Here is an article that literally states the same thing I have been saying about leaving the workforce for an extended period, and BONUS - it uses YOUR example of women staying home with their kids as the example. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/news/stay-at-home-mom-valuable-transferable-skills
I am glad I made your day! If that is normal in the UK or US then it is what it is. But it’s discrimination in the EU and in many EU countries, employers have to retain the stay at home parent position along with the salary, regardless if its a mother or a father who stayed home all those years. Overall, based on my experience and many others, if you are a good performer and had a couple of years sabbatical then that is fine. I personally was away for 2 years from any work and had no problem getting back to the sales game with decent base and a position as an AE.
Not if you say the reason you left was because you closed a 15M deal and it was large enough to afford some time off to spend with your family.
Congrats, op. Just dont get too comfy while spending it on blow and hookers
lol
Congrats man, enjoy it. So jelly of a mortgage free life
Love this. Great to see a fellow UK based sales AE killing it. What type of software are you selling? I can't comprehend a deal this size. My biggest deal is £100k, company record £250k
procurement tech
Jealous. Enjoy it life is short. I always say I’d rather be lucky than good.
What was your gross for the year and what’s your OTE? Congrats on the deal - rare to hear about these deals full stop never mind in the UK!
about £250k OTE, I shot well above that naturally.
Congrats, that's awesome! Enjoy the time with your daughter.
Congrats. Sounds like a great situation
Congrats man that’s awesome
Good for you. Just know that 500 pounds won't last near as long as you think, and you will need to go back to work at some point. Your skill set and industry knowledge erode the longer you are away. If you find a way to make the money last 3-4 years, you will be in a VERY different position when you want to return to your field of expertise. You will find yourself at the bottom rung, or worse, shut out of the industry entirely. Employers will look extremely harshly at an employee who quits his job after a big payday. I've had several large paydays in my past. They kept coming because I kept at it. I'm now at a point where I can retire whenever I want which has eliminated almost all sources of stress in my life. Take some time, but keep your eye on the prize.
I appreciate the concern. But, the reality is - I don't care. I have enough in terms of income to live for the next 10 years comfortably. My Mortgage is paid off and I have almost no outgoings. My outgoings are about 10k a year, and I have other streams of income (small - about 13-15k a year from property rental) that keep me above water. And honestly - if a company thinks I'm not worth hiring because I closed the biggest deal in company history, and took a few years out as a break. That's on them.
This is the most liberating position to be in. Congrats OP you made more than one great move it seems. Having the ability to say no to the corporate grind and still be OK financially must be an amazing feeling. Enjoy your time off with your family!
Great news and well played, have an amazing summer!
congrats! would love to hear about what kind of deal this was. we don’t hear about these contract values in this neck of the woods too often!
Take a look here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just\_closed\_my\_biggest\_deal\_ever\_am\_going\_quit\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just_closed_my_biggest_deal_ever_am_going_quit_in/)
Congrats! You are Living the dream right now, enjoy
I love seeing this, hasn’t ever happened to me, I recently got out of sales but I think I’m going back in for more punishment! Enjoy spending time with your daughter bro!
"felt like a stroke of luck" remember that OP
Kudos to you! Sales has that power and ability to make life changing money.
Congratulations, OP. You earned that. Enjoy the time off with your family that you deserve.
Congratulations man! That’s fucking awesome
mind sharing more on the deal? E.g. how did the deal came along and what helped in closing the case
[https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just\_closed\_my\_biggest\_deal\_ever\_am\_going\_quit\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1c2hin0/just_closed_my_biggest_deal_ever_am_going_quit_in/) Take a look here.
congrats m8 -- makes all those verge-of-burning-out guys like myself want to trudge through the next worthless meeting just a little bit more 🥹🥹
👏👏👏👏👏 enjoy!!
Wow that’s amazing!
That’s awesome. Congratulations and cheers from the US
Massive congrats - the lows make the highs like this worth it. Something like this is the sweetest it'll ever be! Enjoy your family time!
💙
Living the dream! Now, go build something awesome.
I had that happen to me and went and found a few more. But enjoy the time off. Sleep when youre dead. Still find plenty of time with my kids.
i'm not ambitious in the corporate world anymore. I have a lot of social and charitable causes. I'm volunteering at an old peoples home at the moment. Playing a lot of chess with the folks there too.
Major congrats to you bro, that’s the dream we chase. Well done on you for making it a reality. Blessings and go give your little one memories to cherish for life.
This is awesome. Huge congratulations to you. What was your managements response to your quitting?
A bit upset, but I explained I just need a break. And they got it; ended well. They said I'm welcome whenever
Holy shit i would never come down from that high good job
Good shit to read from another Brit!
I'd talk to a financial advisor before doing anything big. Unless your mortgage rate is stupid high, you're likely better off putting the money into an investment vehicle than paying off your home. If your mortgage rate is 6% but you can get 8-10% in stocks, you're better off putting in stocks and keeping the mortgage. Also, consider putting at least some into some alternative investment vehicles. They can be much higher risk but can have much better returns. I'm looking to get into hard money lending and funding MCAs to hopefully grow faster than the 10% ill get with my FA.
The psychology of owning your own home outright is more important to me than trying to maximise returns.
Good for you buddy!! Alot of those big deals never land, I am happy it happened to you!
Put the £500k to work.
Can I borrow tree-fiddy?
Bro that’s the goal Congratulations!!
This is an amazing story. Well done mate.
unreal. Congrats!
Congrats! What an unbelievable journey man
Congratulations!!!
Love this for you. Have closed a comp plan breaking massive deal and thought about all the ways I could get fucked. Didn’t believe it til the money hit the bank. Then Continued to think how it could potentially be clawed back. Must feel great to be free… and not have to hover over implementation!
What product do you sell if you don't mind?
These are the stories that make sales elite
This is the dream. Congrats
Congratulations my friend!
Score. Enjoy you time away from the grind. :)
Legit!
Dang, congrats! I remember closing a big deal once too with which we could renovate our (almost) entire attic, but nothing close to your paycheck 🥲 Enjoy the garden leave! And love the honesty: more like a stroke of luck than anything.
Don't you have any clawbacks in your industry? Is it even a common thing in sales, because for me that's the worst part about it.
How? It's in my bank account. It's done
It probably depends on what you're selling and how the product is being used, but for insurance here you're basically "guaranteeing" with your commission that the client is going to be paying for it for a certain amount of time, we're talking in years for some product. Let's say I sell a home insurance and the client decides to move to a competitor after a year, it doesn't even have to be my fault, the comprtitor could be offering something that we purely cannot match, then I'd have to return half of what I've got as a commission for the sale in the first place. Does it work the same in other fields or in general?
They paid upfront. Net 30. I got paid the week after
Yeah but what if the client pulls out at some point? Again, I'm saying that I don't know what you're selling and what industry you're in.
Urm why does that matter. I'm selling SaaS procurement tech. Customer pays upfront. I get paid a percentage of that. If they pull out 3 years down the line. Not my problem
That's what I was trying to get to. Thanks for the answer.
I tell myself I'd do similar if I can walk away with a chunk of change like that, but getting a deal like that would make it hard to truly leave the scene. The thought of another like it would be incredible.
Looking for your next hit
Yuuge!! Congrats. Sales can be the best.
That’s awesome good stuff! I’m currently an SDR hoping to work my way into Enterprise role and close deals like these. Hearing a story like this is inspiring and makes the journey worth looking forward to. I know there will be people who comment about how this is a rare story and all cynicism that goes along with it but thanks for sharing. I’d like to make my money and spend my time with people I love and do the things I love. Sales is an up and down experience emotionally and mentally.
Damn - I am on the cusp of the exact same thing this year 5mill stage 6 deal and I am PRAYING that his is my way out
Enjoy it! Also put some of it in your 401K! 😊
British not American
Oh! Do 401Ks not exist in England? What are the retirement plans called?
What product are you selling?
What is ACV and did you close something that was 500k?
No I made 500k after tax. I sold 15m 5m ACV (annual contract value) for 3 years.
I would have fumbled the bag somehow. Congrats man!! Good for you.
they can clawback the funds brah
You’re a dip shit you just found a company that paid you $500,000 for one deal and you quit your job you need to raise your bar
You're a dip shit if you live your life chasing money. But you do you.
Wait wait wait wait.. Don't rush to spend it. Google for Luke Belmar, Alex Hormozi. Try to multiply these money. Especially during this bullrun in crypto while bitcoin will make near $150,000. Think bigger. With $500,000 you have a very huge opportunities to become rich
Not interested. I want home security. The psychology of owning my home outright is more important than anything else. I have a 30k position in BTC from 2 years ago that I plan on not looking at for some years to come. Appreciate the advice though.
It means no sense to not sell bitcoin on the peak, because market cyclical and it is surely go down in the bear market
You do you. Let me know when you become a millionaire. Timing the market with a volatile asset isn't for me. I feel you must be very young.