How much does the product you’re selling shape your identity as a rep, and does it ever make it harder to make a move?

What’s the most creative way you’ve ever gotten a meeting with a prospect who was completely ignoring your outreach?

I was hit with a PIP this week so I'm planning my exit strategy, just in case. I'm an AE with 6 YOE. Are companies hiring salespeople right now, or am I looking at a multi-month search to find something decent?

Am I wrong for judging coworkers who look unkempt on Zoom? I notice a massive double standard with hybrid colleagues. When they're in the office, they look sharp and professional. On WFH days, they join video calls looking like they just rolled out of bed. If you wouldn't show up to the office ungroomed, why is it okay on camera? Where do you draw the line?

I spent a long time thinking that moving into management was the obvious next step in a sales career and then watched several of the best reps I knew become mediocre managers almost overnight, and it made me rethink the whole ladder. How do you think about career growth in sales and do you feel like the path to individual contributor ceiling is clearly defined at your company or is management treated as the only legitimate move up?