Pumpkinlips

Enterprise BDR

Good Citizen

Contributor

Fire Starter

Advice on getting into tech sales?

Could really use some help getting my foot in the door.

What companies should I be looking at?

What roles should I be looking at?

What salary would be acceptable for entry level roles?

I don't have any experience with SaaS/B2B/sales cycle ect.

I do have 7 years in sales experience with Comcast and at&t.

🧠 Advice

🎈 Mentorship

☁️ Software Tech

35 comments

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CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

https://bravado.co/academy/breaking-into-tech-sales

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Take a look at Repvue as well as CuriousFox’s link.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

With 7 years sales exp at comcast and att, you should be applying for AE jobs.

Focus on your accomplishments and soft sales skills. Highlight any formal sales training you’ve received.

Hard to recommend companies to look at because I don’t know your background and interests.

Good luck!

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

look for SDR roles. ~60-80k/year should be a realistic expectation. Some companies will be floating around the 100 mark for those roles but there aren't many out there

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

SDR roles seems like it might be a pay cut for myself. Which I would be fine with given this leads to a better work life balance. I’m usually top 20 in my state that has about 500 sales reps. However that’s me bringing it every single day 365.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

you're changing industries. You should expect a pay cut. As annoying as it is, you're probably going to have to start at the bottom of the totem pole and work your way back up again. The tech industry in particular for some reason is like this.

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Definitely starting to realize this is a different animal. I’ve never had issues getting a interview. But seems I’ll need to make some major changes to my resume in order to even give a chance with a interview

AntifragileSalesman

Opinionated

Business Development Specialist

I graduated from technical university and then went into sales. What I can recommend is that ready and watch every blog post or youtube video about a given technology. The most important thing you have to understand is what business cases given technology resolves. You should easily talk about it but you do not have to understand it as a technician. There is also no shame in saying "I do not know I have to check it with someone technical".

chubbybunny

Executive

Sales Development Representative

Try to go through the third door, I got a job in one of the best companies in the industry and I did it by connecting with people, being eager, and getting a referral. I can give more detail about what I did, if it would be helpful

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Absolutely! I’m here for all the knowledge.

Saasyboy

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

LinkedIn is your best bet. I’d be looking for a 20-40 person sales team that are fresh off a fundraise. This may be a controversial - because this strategy is more risky than going to a more established business

Saasyboy

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

lI is your best bet. I’d look for a company with 20-30 folks in the sales org that are fresh off a round of funding.

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Sounds good. That’s what a recruiter said as well.

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Awesome thank you! Because I’m new do I apply for SDR/SE roles? Or is there any chance I land one of these AE roles

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

SE = Sales Executive. Another name for AE = Account Executive.

SDR/BDR are starting points; some companies have both inbound and outbound activities, so they may have two defined teams and a path to start with one and move to the other before an AE/SE promotion. Some have one and use the titles interchangeably.

You do have sales experience, so landing an SE/AE role isn't completely out of the question, but you're definitely going to have to be able to let the hiring managers know how your skill set will translate into a B2B sales cycle that is often complex.

Hope this helps.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

SE could also be sales engineer -- which is a whole other beast.

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Okay that makes more sense. I definitely was getting a bit confused on what roles I should be looking for.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

we cant tell you what companies to look at. there are way to many. but RepVue can be a starting point.
You need to think about what kind of company you want to be apart of first. Happy to go back and forth about what that means.

what salary is acceptable is totally up to you...

The key is you are going to have to explain how your prior experience translates into the tech world.

1. do you have experience cold calling? if so what are your metrics? (dials per day, meets set per week ect)
2. How do you go about uncovering needs of your prospects?
3. getting an AE role will be harder but not impossible

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

I’ve never put metrics into my resume… it was always about how I was successful in that role. I had a position called territory account executive which was just a door to door saleman. I guess I could put how many doors I knocked and quotas hit each month?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

recruiters look at a million resumes.

they need to look at your resume and see numbers that show you are good.

-120% of quota
-Average deal size of X
ect.

I would not put number of doors knocked. that WILL NOT translate to a recruiter for an SDR job.

I would put the number of conversations you had with ppl per month
What was your conversion rate? (deals won per month/ # of meetings run per month = conversion rate or close rate

Ex. you had 20 ppl answer the door in May.
of those 20 you closed 5 deals
that is 25% close rate.

where does that put you amongst your team?

Example:
Successful sales rep with 25% close rate
Ranked top 8 of 40 reps
Successful with high velocity sales
Experienced in booking meetings in short conversations

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Are they looking more for close rate? Or what I ranked amongst my team? Not sure if you’ve ever done door knocking but it was like 100 doors for 5 sales.

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Sorry I’m sure these are pretty newbie questions. What close rate are they looking for?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

i have not done door to door but I belive the skill set is similar.

as an SDR they would want to know you would be able to do a large number of calls to get a few meetings.

so explaining that you are expereinced in doing a large number of prospecting activities (door knocks) to get a meeting that will be valuable.

the fact that you are able to handle rejection, ppl not answering the door, and keep going, would also be valuable.

What were you ranked on for your team?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

so it depends on the company. idk if I could give you an accurate statistic.

I would say 3% conversion rate to meeting (100 dials to get 3 meetings would common i think.)

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

I was number 2 usually out of my team of 8. Sometimes number 1.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

what was the metric they used to rank you?

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

RGUs basically units sold. Internet, home phone, tv, security. It’s not quota either. It’s percent to goal. Which i guess is the same

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah sounds like the same thing.

if I was a SDR manager I would think your skills could translate well.

You just have to connect with someone who is willing to listen haah

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Wow thanks everyone. So much good input! I really was not expecting that.

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Also is a cover letter important to put in when applying? I only ask because in the telecommunications world of att/Comcast/T-Mobile etc I never once needed a cover letter to get a job.

bandabanda

Tycoon

Senior AE Mid Market

I've only seen very few companies NOT ask for a cover letter when you're applying (you won't see a "Cover Letter upload" button on the application). My rule of thumb has become if they ask, you HAVE to include one. Look at @funcoupons post "Fuck you pay me" and she outlines how to write a great cover letter in less than 10 minutes (I copied this and it worked great for me).

You should also be multi-threading to the Director of Sales, VP of Sales, Managers, and also recruiters when you apply. Don't pray and spray your resume. The goal is to prove you can do the job well and be better than other candidates...what better way than to use sales activities to secure a job by cold emailing, cold calling, and multi-threading to break into an account/company you want to work for? Has worked wonders for me.

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

Lol “Fuck you pay me” that was great insight. I’ll make sure to start multi threading as well. Thanks for the advice

Saasyboy

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

I agree with a lot of groups that RepVue is great, but if I’m hoping to “catch up” in tech, I’d be looking for a series B company that’s established product market fit and a sales process but haven’t built out their team yet. There will be a lot more flexibility for a talented person to rapidly advance.

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

How do you determine if they have built a sales team yet or not?

Pumpkinlips

Good Citizen

Enterprise BDR

I’ve never had a harder time getting at least a interview lol. Im guessing “other applicants who more closely fit” are just people who actually have experience in SaaS.

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Pumpkinlips

Advice on getting into tech sales?

35 comments

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