u/Rubber-Smith1756

Looking for honest feedback from people in sales hiring or who’ve made a similar jump.

My background: I started as a BDR at Oracle NetSuite where I hit 109% quota and generated $300K+ in pipeline in under 12 months. After that I went full entrepreneur and built a mobile fleet maintenance business from scratch, solo with no playbook. Prospected and closed multiple $10K–$12K ARR fleet contracts through cold calling, door knocking, LinkedIn, and email. Scaled to $150K+ in ARR and landed a 200-vehicle fleet account with one of the largest home service companies in the city.

I shut my business down for personal reasons to move back to my hometown to be closer to family.

During that transition period, I took a remote marketing job to learn since I struggled to understand marketing platforms when I was running my business.

Just left that company back in March for a variety of reasons (high leadership turnover, promised salary increases deferred, etc.)

I want to get back into sales for the challenge and upside. Ive had two interviews so far. Both rejected. One mentioned it was because I did not come in with quota carrying or closing experience.

I know I probably did a bad job articulating that in my resume so I have opted to making a pitchfolio to send to hiring managers.

I am looking at making a LinkedIn post later this evening to see if I can get any inbound opportunities from my network.

But overall, I am just curious if I even have a chance or if I should go BDR again.

Hi Guys,

Jumping back into the sales world.

CV background (top most recent)

Marketing manager (8 months)
Fleet Maintenance Business Owner (2.5 years)
Tech BDR (1.3 years)

Just applied for Samsara Commercial AE and got rejected. Had two referrals. Only concern with the recruiter was my most recent role was not relevant.

I have a soft spot for fleets and loved the rankings on Samsara leadership. I am also super comfortable with the ICP since I worked with them for 2.5 years.

At this moment in time, I am looking for remote but of course I have an open mind. I am aware of Motive and Geotab but was curious if anyone else in the space works for a company that has great leadership & culture within the fleet space.

Thanks.