danbad

BDR

Paths to Saas

Fam,

Seeking your opinion. My goal is to break into tech sales, specifically cybersecurity. I've been making solid connections through LinkedIn and tapping into my uni's alumni network for referrals. I have an interview tomorrow at one of my target companies, CRWD; however the position is for a cloud operations analyst.

If they like me and it's a good fit, should I take the opportunity, work hard, build my personal brand within the company, and then try to transition to a sales role? From your experience do you see many people transitioning from operations to sales, or is it typically vice versa?

My mentor told me moving from operations to sales is not very typically - that being said I wanted to get you opinion.

Appreciate any feedback!

🧠 Advice

🎯 Career Development

☁️ Software Tech

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DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Maybe look into a sales bootcamp like Aspireship (Free and does not take a cut - this is important). There are scam bootcamps out there but it might be a route into SaaS for you.

danbad

Good Citizen

BDR

Thanks for that. I recently completed bravado’s free sales bootcamp.

What I’m trying to drive at is, does it make sense to get in a role with my target company that’s in operations vs. Sales with the hopes of eventually transitioning into sales? Do you see many people go from operations to sales or vice versa?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

That’s a question to ask the recruiter. Some companies are fine with lateral transitions, others may not be. Expect to be in the job you’re hired to do for a good while regardless.

iminameeting

Opinionated

Account Executive

@danbad since nobody seems to want to give you a direct answer, I’m just gonna do it: the answer is “no”. In my opinion (again, this is just an opinion), this is not a good route to take to break into sales. Companies like CRWD want people that are experienced and/or experts in their respective roles. If you were going for a job at a small startup, where everyone wears multiple hats, then sure. I’d say there’s a good chance to break into other parts of the business, and you might have opportunities to move into sales down the road.

However, at a company as big as CRWD - not so much. There’s a lot of nuance to selling SaaS products, and even more so when it comes to cybersecurity. If CRWD hires you into an operations role, they will want you to learn and grow within operations, not spend a year in the role and move over to sales. They’d much rather hire someone with previous cybersecurity sales experience, and someone with cybersecurity sales experience would definitely outperform you.

This might not be what you want to hear, but there aren’t really any shortcuts in SaaS (unless you have a ton of knowledge/experience in something, or you know the right person). If you want to break into cybersecurity sales, your best bet is to do it the hard way, and start out as an SDR. TANSTAAFL, as they say.

danbad

Good Citizen

BDR

I appreciate your direct feedback here

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

@iminameetingwhat nuances would you say are specific to SaaS in general?

iminameeting

Opinionated

Account Executive

To clarify: I specifically meant that there’s nuance to selling SaaS products. Meaning, things that are “different” about selling in this industry vs other industries, that take time to learn. When I applied for my first AE role(s) in SaaS, I had 8 years of sales experience in other industries and had successful experience as an AE, with 7 figure annual quotas (in finance).

However.. I got nothing but rejections until a recruiter was kind enough to reach out, interview me, tell me that she liked me, but that I wasn’t going to get hired as an AE without having AE experience within SaaS. She recommended starting as an SDR, which typically led to a promotion within 9-12 months if I was a top performer; by that point, I was just desperate to get into the industry, so I took the job (even though I thought I was prepared to walk right into an AE role and start selling).

What I’ve learned since then, is that there’s a good reason that software companies want you to have software sales experience. I learned a TON of stuff during my time as an SDR that has prepared me for success as an AE; if I had walked right in as an AE, I’m sure I would have figured out a way to be successful, but it would have been extremely difficult. I also wouldn’t have performed nearly as well as I am now, with a few years of SDR experience under my belt before being promoted to AE.

As far as some of the specific “nuances” that I’m talking about, here are a few that come to mind:

-language. I’m not sure how many people within SaaS realize it or not, but they talk a certain way. I know Corp realizes it, because he pokes fun at it in a bunch of his videos - Words like “bandwidth”, “roadmap”, etc. There’s a reason his content appeals to people in SaaS, but none of my friends with jobs in other industries find it funny.
-tool stack. Knowing how to efficiently navigate your CRM - whether that’s keeping your notes organized so you can effectively track your pipeline, knowing how to create reports to find a specific persona or set of leads (you talked to a prospect 4 months ago that needed a feature you didn’t have; there was a surprise feature release this week, and now you can support their requirements. Can you quickly navigate your CRM to find that prospect to re-engage?); I could go on and on about how beneficial it is to know how to effectively use your CRM. And the only way to learn that is with time and practice; especially with Salesforce, as that’s the CRM that most SaaS companies are using. I work with a couple AEs that came from other industries (real estate, etc) and I have seen them miss opportunities because they aren’t proficient with salesforce.
-culture. It’s hard to describe it exactly, and it’s different now that many companies and employees are remote. But SaaS has its own culture, and I find it much easier to relate with people today than I did 5 years ago when I first started in SaaS.

I’m definitely open to opposing viewpoints or opinions on all this, but this has been my experience, and the reason I mentioned it in my original comment!

danbad

Good Citizen

BDR

That makes a lot of sense. I see the importance now of starting out in the SDR role to get used to language, tools, and culture of tech companies. My professional experience to date is in aerospace supply chain and e-commerce…. not exactly transferable. Your post also shed light on the fact that selling SaaS is a different ball game than selling other products and services. Thank you for your thorough response. I found it enlightening

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Have you asked the HR recruiter about sales roles, that’s probably the easiest way to get an interview. Make it clear that’s your goal to the HR person if there are roles open

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

Account Executive

I would say no. Not a lot of people moving from ops to sales, typically people move the other way in my experience. Obviously great to work at a big company, but I would mass apply to security companies for sdr roles if ultimately you want to be in sales. Worst thing that could happen is that you sit in the operations role for a year expecting you can make that switch and then be told that you can't.

danbad

Good Citizen

BDR

Thanks for the honest feedback. I don’t want to waste anyones time. Having an in would be great but at the end of the day I want a SDR/BDR role

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

Account Executive

My concern would be that you think you have an in, but in reality they see you as operations only

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Why do you want to go in to sales? Just answer with what you feel or the first answer that comes in to your mind.

danbad

Good Citizen

BDR

Why tech sales? I’m a people person and great relationship builder, I get a thrill out of signing deals (I used to work in supply chain procurement), I’m competitive, and a life long longer. I’ve always seen myself as a natural sales person. My friends in the industry have told me about their experiences in tech sales and believe I’d be a great addition to any team. I’m also motivated by the compensation structures. Based on my research tech sales is a great place to be which is why I’m on this forum, completed Bravado’s techsales U, and am working hard to break into cybersecurity selling roles

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

it's a large gap to make the leap, but could be possible.

saasesforthemaases

Tycoon

Account Manager, West

What's your hero origin story? AKA what are you doing now that can translate into SaaS deal management? I have some ideas but need more details on your exact current role. I just helped an engineer move into an SE role and we focused on mapping his current day-to-day to what's expected in an SE role. Can you give me a breakdown of what you're doing in ops at the moment? From there, it's a gap analysis exercise.

danbad

Good Citizen

BDR

I pulled this from the job description responsibilities section:

Managing day-to-day operations requests from Partners, Partner Managers, and Sales teams, which may include feature enhancements, reporting, and process documentation
Ensure all partner deals are properly categorized and correct partner attribution is tagged
Liaise with Sales to forecast bookings from various sources
Institute best practices and scalable processes including data flow
Onboard new team members and ensure they are fully trained on new and future processes
Identify opportunities to constantly improve and automate processes, especially as the partnership model expands
Support ongoing RTM activities and roadmap, providing feedback and impact assessments
Provide executive analysis and summary on the success of their programs
Process private offers and handle revenue operations
Communicate with various internal teams such as: Sales, Finance, Marketing, etc.

Just to clarify - I’m interviewing for this position. I currently work as a project manager for an e-com start up. My goal is to break into sales.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

so i do not see many people go from operations to sales. I feel its two different skill sets.

if you do that you need to try and move into a sales role at THAT company. trying to make that jump externally will be almost impossible.

Why wont they look at you for a sales role?

if it was ME? i would keep looking for a sales role.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

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Check out the academy tab.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

Breaking into sales, in any way; should be from the start to be able to earn that credibility and learn your fair share of lessons. You should always start from LDR / SDR / BDR and then way up. Preferably in the same industry / sector.

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danbad

Paths to Saas

20 comments

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