Can You Get an Enterprise AE Role Without Enterprise Experience?
Getting a role that’s a step up from your current position is about readiness, not experience.
It’s frustrating when you see a great role advertised, and the recruiter or hiring manager feels you don’t quite have the experience, whether that’s deal sizes that aren’t big enough, or proof you’ve worked in that sector.
To secure the role, your job isn't to prove you've already been an Enterprise AE. It's to give the interviewer confidence that you'll succeed as one.
If I was interviewing an Enterprise AE tomorrow, I’d be looking for one thing above all else:
Evidence of Handling Complexity
Whilst there are many characteristics of great Enterprise AEs, handling complexity gives confidence to the hiring manager that you can do the job for them now. In fact, that's ultimately what the interviewer is thinking:
Not;
…"have they done this role before?"...
But:
…"do I feel they’re able to do the role now and in the future"..
💡 Step Up Sales Principle
Interviewers aren't assessing whether you've already done the role. They're assessing whether you're ready for it.
Remember this as they are investing in a future you, not past performance. So, you need to bring evidence to the table that shows them that you are ready.
Evidence of Handling Complexity
“Think of enterprise as complexity, not just size.”
Enterprise isn't defined by deal size alone. It's defined by complexity; more stakeholders, longer buying processes, greater internal collaboration and more uncertainty to navigate. If you've already handled those challenges in some way, you've already built evidence of Enterprise readiness.
So how does this commonly manifest in reality?
1 - Multi-threading with various stakeholders:
Enterprise sales rarely involves just a few people. Buying committees will include several stakeholders across IT, finance, legal, and executive leadership. You need to be able to highlight a deal where this has been the case for you.
Early in my career I sold into a small UK building society with less than 1,000 employees and around £100m revenue. There was an RFP, multiple in-person pitches, working with project management through a partner, and more. The CEO was personally sponsoring the project as it was important to him, so I met all members of the exec committee along the way.
Ultimately the deal size wasn’t enterprise, but the sales motion was very similar. Lean into that type of experience.
“At the time I didn’t think of this as “enterprise experience”. Looking back, I realised I’d already been operating in an enterprise sales motion, I just hadn’t labelled it that way.”
2 - Working with your internal teams:
This is your Solutions Engineers, BDRs/SDRs, senior leadership, legal… Rarely do you win as a lone wolf in Enterprise sales. Enterprise sales typically requires you to leverage the internal resources around you, so be prepared to share your experiences of this.
3 - Handling complex buying processes
This includes formal RFPs, procurement teams, legal involvement. Consider any engagement with these stakeholders that required back and forth discussions. Often in an enterprise sales you can be picked as the chosen vendor, but still have several months of navigating the final stages of a buying process.
Candidates think they need Enterprise experience. In reality, they need Enterprise-level evidence. If you're preparing for an interview, here's a shortened exercise from the Sales Interview Preparation System to help uncover that evidence:
✅ Exercise:
Pick your three most complex sales you’ve made
Map what different types of complexity you came across, and how these experiences would make you ready for this role
Think about how you could apply these examples to answer a broad range of interview questions
The outcome here is to have a few rock-solid examples that demonstrate your enterprise readiness (and that you feel confident to talk about)
Let me give you an example. As I covered above, I sold a deal to a UK building society that was not enterprise in size but had elements of an enterprise sales motion. It was one of my most complex sales at the time, so I was ready to use that in the interview. When I get asked to "talk through a deal" or similar, I was using that one. Plus, I was also prepared to use this for other questions…
If they ask about "how have you engaged with multiple stakeholders"... same example (just a different angle).
Same for …"overcoming challenges"…"working with your internal team/colleagues"…“what was your toughest deal, and how did you ultimately get it done”…
…any questions like these I can use the same example to answer.
Don't be too concerned about using just 1 or 2 deals as evidence in an interview. It's great if you do have many, but interviewers are rarely expecting you to talk through every deal you've done. They want snapshots of evidence to support your capabilities for enterprise selling.
📌Key Takeaways
Interviewers do not just want people who have done the role before, they want people who show readiness now. If you can show that, you become a legitimate candidate
This means you need to show you can handle the complexities of Enterprise Selling.
Review examples in your career of the biggest deals, and the most complex scenarios you have come across. Work on articulating these confidently - this is your best way to show readiness.
And as a final thought when preparing for an enterprise role,
Don't ask yourself, "Have I sold Enterprise?"
Ask yourself,
"Where have I already demonstrated Enterprise-level complexity?"
If you've got an interview coming up and would like help applying this approach to your own experience, book a free discovery call.