S
S

SaltySoul

Director of New Business Development

Contributor
Fire Starter
Old School Bravo

Looking to transition from Industrial to Tech/Software sales

Has anyone personally transitioned from industrial sales to tech/software after 50 and can you share your experience on the interview process and what skills were deemed the most important in securing your new position?

☁️ Software Tech
👥 Hiring
🤝 Interviewing/Offer
9

16 comments

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braintank
Politicker
2
Enterprise Account Executive
I haven't, but learning to effectively use salesforce.com (e.g. build reports) is a tremendous plus. 
SaltySoul
Contributor
0
Director of New Business Development
Thank you
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
1
Rolling 20's all day
I'm currently heading back into software from my current time in hardgoods. I have sold SaaS before and there are many similarities but to get over the barrier to entry I'm seeing you have to really market yourself heavily to align with their mission, ICP (in how you sell), and culture of the team.
SaltySoul
Contributor
0
Director of New Business Development
Thank you
Diablo
Politicker
1
Sr. AE
I transitioned from non-tech to tech a couple of months back. Attitude and persistence has helped me tbh.
SaltySoul
Contributor
0
Director of New Business Development
Did you hire in direct or through a recruiting firm? If through a recruiter would you recommend them again?
Diablo
Politicker
0
Sr. AE
I got in directly. Try to network with people, might help you!
SaltySoul
Contributor
0
Director of New Business Development
TY
EQSales
Opinionated
1
VP of Sales
we've had a few folks later in career make the pivot coming to our company and selling SaaS products.

Few things that will help you be successful:
-read up on whatever sales methodology the company uses.  MEDDICC is def one of the most popular methodologies used in SaaS today as one example
-this cohort tends to struggle the most with some of the basics: CRM use, linkedin, outreach/gong/salesloft.  Basically the modern sales tech stack they sometimes havent been exposed to.  get a free trial license or attend webinars
-be prepared to potentially start with a lower OTE than you currently are making today, very situationally specific.  You may be asked to "take a step back" to learn some of the best practices with lower expectations.  such as going from larger account field sales to inside sales.  or being asked to do a BDR role for a time period.
-prospecting or pipeline generation (PG) is huge in this industry.  anything you can do to show your ability to generate new conversations that turn into revenue will be huge
SaltySoul
Contributor
0
Director of New Business Development
This was very beneficial EQSales, I just watched several youtube videos on MEDDICC that will definitely help me prepare for interviews.
LordOfWar
Tycoon
0
Blow it up
I've been eyeing the move into SaaS lately as I've had issues at two manufacturing places now not being able to keep up with the growth I bring which means I hit an earnings ceiling. It also forces me to hand-on manage deliverables and growth, things which I'm not being paid to do. In effect, I'm closing/carrying the deal several times over.

I figure increasing delivery at a software company would not be much more complicated than Ctrl-C > Ctrl-V, maybe with some additional hirings for account management, but certainly not the effort that goes into growing manufacturing.

I have no experience in tech/SasS sales, but to me, sales is sales is sales.
SaltySoul
Contributor
0
Director of New Business Development
TY
Beans
Big Shot
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Tech stack experience and prospecting will be key.

As well as presentation skills. 
SaltySoul
Contributor
1
Director of New Business Development
Thank you Beans. 
Rallier
Politicker
0
SDR Manager and Consultant
I made a transition into tech sales too. What I found is that it's much more consultative (any pushy tactics that you have, throw those out), but not all that different as a whole. sales is still sales.
SaltySoul
Contributor
0
Director of New Business Development
Was it a struggle to find companies willing to invest solely in your selling ability knowing that they would need to teach the value proposition of their products?

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