goldengophers21

SDR

Advice for a College Student looking to get into Sales

Currently a Sophomore at a Big 10 school in the Midwest studying Finance. Have been working as a Recruiting Intern at a large staffing company and absolutely love it, but want to make a lateral into Software/Med Sales roles my Junior year summer. Looking for any advice for how to break into a role and companies that have good training pipelines for this type of work. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

🎈 Mentorship

☁️ Software Tech

💉 Medical

22 comments

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CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

1) learn to like coffee black
2) take any dreams you have and put them in a blender
3) learn to function well hungover. Like old person hungover not a college “drink a blue Gatorade and be fine” hungover.
4) get really really good at networking
5) compile a list of companies you think are interesting. Mainly “would I be bored shitless talking about this product all day? If no, good to go
6) use your new found networking skills to research the companies and get yourself a reference
7) formally apply through your reference
8) use the search bar and look up the words “interview prep” and “mock call”. Then practice and ace your interview
9) if you are male, get on an early subscription for hair loss shit, your hairline will go away faster than Lebron when he’s losing
10) ???
11) profit
12) read ALL the posts here from SDRs bitching about not getting a promotion after 6 months in seat and do not, I repeat, do not be like them
13) read my guides to onboarding and then territory planning
14) profit again

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

^If you do all of these, you'll be fine. Only thing I'd add is to find a therapist becaue you'll need one. Good luck my friend.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

ya this pretty much nails it. Only other thing, listen more than your talk. Its amazing what can happen when you just shut the fuck up.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Don't you get second hand embarrassment for those folks? 🤦‍♀️

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Good thing about virtual - I can just leave the meeting if someone won’t shut up

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

already done this 3 times today

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

I’m on 2. It’s great. It’s the Amazon model, of a meeting doesn’t add value, leave.

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

It’s #2 for me ☺️

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

Officer of ♥️

10) read all my posts on what NOT to do, and what TO DO about landing a job/how not to talk to mgmt, what not to look for.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Did you delete your most recent post?

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

Officer of ♥️

I yeeted that shit. I accidentalyl posted my profile pic in the picture, then went to edit it on mobile and the whole thing got fucked and my text got deleted so I just deleted it, took me 15 minutes to write I dont really want to again especially if the savages are kinda turned off on it rn aka you

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

The accidental yeet is the worst. I did that to one of my original posts

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Haha thats fair. I just dont want to give much more light to that convo. I think is suspect at best.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

don't they still only hire former cheerleaders for medical/pharma sales? lol

At your stage, I would:

(1) make a list of the companies I think I would like to work for. Know (and list) why you'd like to work for them. It'll be important later.
(2) Use LI and reach out to as many VP of Sales as you can find from that list of companies. Ask to link to them.
(3) As you reach out, customize each message to them and tell them you are interested in a summer internship and tell them why you're interested in their company.
(4) Follow up with phone calls weekly till you get what you want.

Good luck!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Was in pharma 10 years. Wasn't a cheerleader. However I did put myself through college while I worked full time.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I picture high school you as too salty to be a cheerleader. I picture adult you as too salty to give a shit about people who still talk about high school.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

You crack me up kiddo! Love it! 🤣🦊

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Judging by your profile I assume you go to University of MN. If so, you're in luck b/c there are tons of software and medical jobs available. I'd see if you can get an internship at Optum, Medtronic, Agiliti, or Patterson. There's a whole crop of startups built to serve the first two as well.

If only we had DMs -- I'd offer to meet up for coffee or a jucy lucy.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

Develop a taste for masochism.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

i think this is a great idea. ether software or med sales are both solid industries.

hard to recommend any company in particular but generally, the larger the company, the better training program they have.

I always tell ppl to try and get into the biggest company they can out of college. it makes your next move so much easier to have a big name on your resume.

once you nail down a few companies, find out what the entry level role is called, search that on Linked IN and connect with a bunch of people that are currently in it.

send them a message and ask to get their feedback.

thats the best way to do it in my book.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Ski-U-Mah!

Check out larger software/SaaS companies for summer internships/sales academies. You'll have to apply, but it's a great way to get a foot in the door and also get some training. It will be a great way for you to also see if a sales path truly is for you.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

1. quit wasting time and money in school and get into sales now instead of waiting to graduate... no not really.. but also kinda really... depends on how much value that degree has to you personally. It certainly won't hurt when applying to jobs, but you also definitely don't need it.

2. look for companies that are truly disrupters. Every company will claim they are, it's up to you to do the due diligence and research them to decide for yourself. Those companies that are truly changing the game in their market are the ones that you'll be able to have the longest running and most successful career at.

3. I would highly encourage looking into companies that work in the ransomware/data security space. This is market that is growing MASSIVELY right now. You have the potential to make crazy money with these products right now.

4. Don't try and skip the BDR/SDR role. Yes being an AE is more fun, yes it pays more. But being an SDR will get you the training and foundation you need to truly be successful as an AE. It'll also help you cut your teeth to learn how to overcome objections, prospect for your own customers, etc. Anyone can close an inbound lead. People who can go out and find their own to close are the ones that are tend to be the most successful.

5. LEARN. there are so many cheap/free resources out there to take advantage of. You are doing yourself a massive disservice to not use them. Look for a good mentor at whatever company you end up at as well.

6. Avoid the negative people - every sales team has those people who are negative and hate everything about the product, the company, the manager, whatever. Stay away from those people. There's a reason they're at the bottom of the leader board and it's not because the product actually sucks.