California dreaming… or hallucinating?

[blahblahblah]

Psychology drives California Real Estate Period in my opinion.

That’s very true. And just as the psychology pushed prices higher than they should have gone, it will push them lower than they should go at the other end of the cycle. The conventional wisdom will change in the next few years. You’ve just got to be willing to wait for Joe McAverage and his fellow Duh-mericans to become as afraid of buying a house as they became of buying tech stocks after the internet bubble collapsed.

[sdrealtor]

B_OCRE,
I know several people in your position and they are for the most part very successful and very happy. The poor unfortunate engineers resent the high pay earned by sales people as do many execs. But there are two simple truths. One, you do what they can’t do or are unwilling to do. Two, unless somebody sells the things that other people build, the other people dont have jobs building things that no one buys. My guess is that most people as motivated as yourself and earning at your level are too busy earning money and enjoying life to spend hours hanging around here.

There are ALWAYS great high paying jobs for top notch sales people!

Rock On!

[kicksavedave]

I’m an engineer, in Sales Support, and the most successful sales people I know have so much free time they don’t know what to do with it all. It’s the not very productive ones who work so hard just to barely make a quota that they have no life beyond work. The good ones, the ones who are truly talented and smart, are found on the golf course on Monday afternoon, skiing on Friday morning, taking a huge long lunch on Wednesday, and cramming in a tough 6 hour day at the office or on calls the rest of the week. They make Presidents Club every year and blow out their numbers and take home $300 to $500K on average.

The ones who are average at their jobs put in 60 hour weeks just to keep from getting fired for not making their quota. I don’t begrudge good sales reps one bit for the money they make, and I don’t fall into the trap of thinking that all the successful ones are sleazy, dishonest slime balls who would say anything to make a buck. They’re not! Sure there are some to be found, but no more so than those people occupy the ranks of realtors, lawyers, doctors, police, government or other industries.

If you want to make well into the 6 figures, you don’t need an MBA, you don’t need to have a rich father. Just get into sales and learn how to be succesful working for a good company with an in demand product. Whether that product is a house, a big computer, or an artificial hip, doesn’t make much difference.

[CardiffBaseball]

I kind of agree with you guys on the Sales angle. The only reason I mention this is that I have considered it myself, because I am way more personable than the typical software guy.

In my case I am 38, and probably have another 3-4 years of enjoying coaching little league and such, and getting slightly more involved on the sell side is something I should consider. I actually worked as a consultant for Sun a few years back.

Incidentally my Bro-in-law is in town for some convention or training, and my wife spoke to him about getting into his industry, and he wondered why it took so long to ask because she’d be great. She teaches at a private school making 32K and with the difficulty of getting into public schools here, she is questioning why she isn’t going for the pot of gold. Maybe she can be the big bread winner, as I know my brother in law has done well, and got into the business at roughly the same age (38). Sure there is some international travel, but we seem to be at a point that we can handle it now, and living in such debt with 100K student loans sucks.

[BostonAndOC_RE_perspective]

Bigtrouble,
Hey, I was just pragmatic. After competing with the smartest guys anywhere in school, I knew I didn’t have what it took to be a superstar R&D guy. No way. But I did have the stomach for sales. As for the mentor, he was just an older guy that I met, already in the industry, who was nice enough to listen to my questions and offer some advice. Just one surfer to another while changing wetsuits at the car. On your friend’s advice, he is correct. My oppty currently is with another firm, leveraging my current status to jump a little higher than the next rung in my current company would be. Luckily I found an even bigger (by market cap) company to move to. I expect that at some point the real pot of gold will come with a smaller company that wants someone trained in an F500 environment.

Cardiff,
You and I are pretty much the same age. I was in your wife’s shoes about 10 years ago, and went back to finish my engineering degree, which launched me to where I am now. Best of luck to you and your wife. Your memories of coaching youth baseball are worth more than any amount of money. You are helping children develop character, discipline and a work ethic. When my children are old enough I fully intend to coach or somehow be involved with their youth sports.

[BostonAndOC_RE_perspective]

sdrealtor,
Kind words. Thanks. My time at Piggington is usually during lunch or conf calls that I can go in and out of. I scan many blogs but have yet to find the same sort of productive dialogue and feeling of “community” that I find here.

[ibjames]

I don’t fault him at all for being in sales. In all honesty I have questioned things myself. I am not like the typical IT guy, and many have said I should go into sales, but I dont’ have the balls to do it. Living off of a commission takes guts. I have taken the safe route by taking a technical position instead but I seem to hit a ceiling because I don’t live for technology like most guys I know that really climb the ladder. When we can clone a server in real time to a virtual environment without downtime, I just don’t get that hot and bothered by it like my peers.

[cowboy]

Ahh, the whole sales versus engineering topic. An interesting topic. Through experience and observation around me I can say the following. Engineers work hard and actually earn every dollar and cent they make. They are put through the grind. At least the engineers at the forefront of technology, etc. In my opinion, engineers are not given enough credit in what they do. Sales guys make more money period. And I mean lots more. Why? Because corporations feel it is more important to have a good sales/marketing team than a good engineering team and weak sales/marketing team. That is the way the game is played. That is how Wall Street sees it. They will go with a good sales/marketing team and weak product anyday over the weak sales/marketing team and good product. Heck, just look at all the stupid crap they sell on TV!! Liek the says goes, if you can’t beat em, join em. You want to make money? Become a good sales guy.

To me, sales guys DO NOT deserve what they make. They are over glorified. That is just my opinion.

[poorgradstudent]

I have a ton of respect for people who are in sales, good at it, and honest. It’s a tough job (especially with the lure of getting ahead through dishonesty), but necessary for companies. I would say I have negative feelings about 2/3 of the sales reps that come through our lab, although many are trying to push products we have little interest in. From what I’ve seen, the best reps are the ones that truly build relationships beyond just trying to make the sale, and focus on filling the customer’s needs first.

In my experiences in retail sales I was pretty marginal at it, because given my background, I have a hard time feeling “pushy”. I’m a very analytical person who as a customer is resistant to sales techniques and advertising. I’m like a judge: I want the facts, the bottom line, and I want to render my judgement.

I do think I’d be better at company-to-company sales, which lack the personal wallets involved.

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