goldengophers21

Account Manager

Personal Narrative

Upcoming Cyber Security SDR Interview

Going to keep this as general as possible so I do not dox myself, I have an upcoming interview at a large Cybersecurity firm. I am extremely excited for the interview, as Cyber has been on my radar for a number of years. I am extremely curious to learn about what more experienced sales reps look for in cybersecurity firms within this industry, as there are so many shops within the market right now that many cyber services could almost be considered a commodity. So what I am wondering:

What makes a cyber security firm "special" in regards to its services and product offerings? Is there any Cyber offerings that are oversaturated (like Audits/MSS) that I should be aware of?

What type of questions should I ask the sales team to get a better perspective of how the team on the floor is feeling about the market (deeper questions than Quota Retention and Churn)

What should be a fair market Base/OTE that I should be chasing in this market. Especially considering that I have 4+ years of sales experience in B2B Internships as well as B2C jobs (Upcoming College Graduate)?

Thanks again, apologies if this has any typos, currently typing this up in class!

🎈 Mentorship

🔐 Cybersecurity

10

17 comments

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Pachacuti

Politicker

8

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Lemme be honest - at your level most of your questions don't matter. I know you think they do, but you just want to get hired, get a 1-3 years exp, and then move on to your next gig because they won't promote you in your current one (or some other reason for disillusionment).

You want to have (1) a solid "tell me about yourself" story that tells them you're the kinda guy they want, (2) some way to demo that you have "grit" or whatever buzzword is most appropriate, and (3) demonstrate that you're the kind of guy they want to see for 8-10 hours a day for the next 1-3 years.

Beyond that, Google and SalesGPT can answer most of your questions.

jefe

Arsonist

3

🍁

Succinct and accurate. You're probably ahead of the curve with those internships, but they don't really equal '4+ years of sales experience'. I'm sure you'll have some good stories about what you've done and accomplished, but keep that in mind.

Take @Pachacuti 's advice, and best of luck!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

4

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Here to wish you good luck and also congratulations on your upcoming graduation.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

Hope it goes well!

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Is it a firm local to Minneapolis?
I'm in cyber and based here

goldengophers21

Opinionated

0

Account Manager

Local firm in the Twin Cities Metro area yes, I can DM you more information if needed!

Justatitle

Big Shot

1

Account Executive

At the current stage, my best advice is to not overthink it. In the BDR role you have to know that it is grueling work where you will be rejected more than told yes and have tenacity to keep doing the job.- whatever way you can demonstrate that you aren’t going to be deterred by the monotony along with being unafraid to call/email and in general talk to high level DMs from the onset will give them confidence to hire you

waterjugsales

Politicker

0

Account Executive @ Funemployed

What is the 4+ sales years experience? Is this your first job out of school or have you been an account manager at an organization for 4+ years and you are switching industries?

goldengophers21

Opinionated

0

Account Manager

Apologies for the broadness ! It has been a variety of 3 years worth of internships as well as 2 years of B2C roles. This will be my first full time B2B role of my career!

waterjugsales

Politicker

1

Account Executive @ Funemployed

Ok good, yeah more than anything craft great stories about your past experience and how you’ve had to grind for success, upskill, learned from other successful people etc etc., learning from failure. Those stories about your experience matter a lot more than determining questions about industry knowledge.

They aren’t looking for someone who knows everything, in the SDR role - taking action, failing, learning, and applying that is what matters and what they want to hear about.

Obviously ask about quota, team performance, the day to day, what they see in top performers, career promotions etc. But, these larger firms know many people they interview for these roles aren’t polished, they want to be the one to polish you assuming you work hard.

waterjugsales

Politicker

1

Account Executive @ Funemployed

Also, showing curiosity, so know what they do - have a 1-2 sentence summary in your own words but also ask questions. They don’t expect you to know all about their business but they will expect you to be curious and have a desire to learn.

goldengophers21

Opinionated

0

Account Manager

That is excellent to hear! I guess I would say I am more curious about how to tell whether the firm I am interviewing at has that "special sauce" in the cyber space!

waterjugsales

Politicker

1

Account Executive @ Funemployed

Read their product reviews on 3rd party sites, maybe reach out to a few AEs/SDRs privately and get their thoughts on promotion paths and growth. If they are a large provider and have been around for awhile they probably have PMF which is what you probably mean by special sauce. If the product is good, company is growing, you like the people, and there are promotion opportunities then that’s a solid place to start a career - don’t worry about anything else.

goldengophers21

Opinionated

0

Account Manager

Appreciate the help!

goldengophers21

Opinionated

0

Account Manager

I appreciate the response, the role advertised that it would take 12-18 months to move into an AE position….. are you saying that in cyber internal promotions are a bit more rare?

SalesBeast

Politicker

0

Sales Director

Ask what makes them better than other vendors in the space. Ask future plans for continuing growth. Ask if they do AI or will integrate AI into their business.

Notmyrealname

Politicker

0

AE

How much do they discount to win deals. Big discounts = nothing special. Example: companies I've worked for have been ditching AV subscriptions because the windows/apple version is as good in their eyes and they're not willing to pay big bucks for additional AV products. Is the market so competitive that they have to discount all the way down to win a deal, and can they recoup on renewal if they do?

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