Barry Brinkman

Vice President of Sales at Deviceroy

Which industries are hot?

Hello Bravadoians,

I just joined and thought I would say Hi and check the market to see which sectors are hot. I am a Sales Engineer with my MBA and BSEE looking for a Sales position. My experience is in semiconductor hardware which appears to be slow right now. I am open to sell just about anything but my eyes on software. My challenge is the required years of experience for software. I have made complex sales to Fortune 500 companies so I know I can do it once I learn the features.

My philosophy in sales is that you have to provide genuine service and build relationship before someone will buy from you. People have different opinions on that and I welcome what others think and what works for them.

So back to the question... what is hot and what is not? Medical? Capital equipment? Gov't?

Thanks for your input in advance!

Barry

👥 Hiring

🤝 Networking

21 comment

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oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Welcome Barry. Now you can leave immediately and come back using the anon profile so nobody berates you for not having the #1, most valuable trait a seller can have, an ability to read a room.

Founding BDR

Ouuuuch - outted by the big dawg immediately

Razzbarry

Contributor

Employment seeker

Goes with the territory!

Razzbarry

Contributor

Employment seeker

Thanks for the welcome! I have taken your first piece of advice. I do agree with you about being able to read a room.

BigShrimpin

Politicker

Account executive

I foresee you reposting this thread in screencap form in the near fuutre

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

One hopes not 😁. First posts are rough in here. Sometimes, we just gotta take some…

Razzbarry

Contributor

Employment seeker

Screencap?? I am not tracking.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

We’ve had recent instances of people deleting their first posts. One deleted his account completely. I like to screenshot those that appear on that track and re-post them. Not that I’m the arbiter of good content. It’s just become a game. Fact is- a first post that doesn’t meet a correction is rare in here. We’ve all taken it. This is a tightly knit group of pros who like to keep it content-first.

Edit: Always upvote your replies if you find value. Commissions are redeemable for stuff.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

‼🐈‼

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

The problem with software sales is that many companies feel that to sell their software you haven’t have sold software before. It’s a reoccurring problem with the industry.

But it appears you are already in sales. So what’s wrong with your current VP position?

Razzbarry

Contributor

Employment seeker

It is strange that if you have experience selling software then you are not valuable to another software company but you need to have software experience for the role. I think it must be who you know because every product is different and requires studying it to sell it. I am currently unemployed and looking for my next sales position.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Founder & President

You just summed up the entire SaaS world in a few short sentences.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Founder & President

Based on your post alone you might struggle in the current sales environment.

First, I appreciate that you’ve been involved in F500 deals, but features don’t sell. As an SE your job was to present the solution. As a rep you’ve got to focus more on the greater business outcome.

Secondly, relationships are ok only getting you a foot in the door now.

As a community we’re happy to talk about this all in great detail, but you should definitely heed the advice of @oldcloser get on the anon train and come back in that door.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This is spot on. Sales is more than building relationships or understanding complex tech stacks. Being able to speak to value and business outcomes are key skills.

Question: as a sales engineer, you have contacts already and your foot in the door for networking within the industry. I’d leverage that to get your foot in doors. Have you tried that yet?

And second question: are you a VP of Sales, as your current title states, or a Sales Engineer? I’m confused.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Man, you guys are sharp in here.

Vice President of Sales

HI Sunbunny31, Thanks for the response and the questions. The semiconductor industry appears stagnate relatively to others hence the question. My last role was as a VP of Sales and my previous experience was a sale engineer. I rather liked the SE role so that is what I am looking for. I have gotten a couple HR interviews based off of people I know and one interview from LI activity.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

☝️ Trust this more than you trust yourself.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

HVAC and construction need good people

vet

Valued Contributor

Senior SDR

I think people were more interested in sharing their opinion.

I think the question was which industries are hot?

I would say design of servers is hot that fits your background. Oil and Gas is picking up. The next industry I am seeing so well is in insurance sales.

Managing Partner

Don't let them tease you Barry, I am new but have a bunch of different experience.
From my perspective and where I am making investments are in Life Sciences, healthcare, quantum computing and solutions for various types of niche AI. Private Equity is also heating up. I would look at private equity start ups. Some call them start up foundries. They are all looking for futre CEOs and CROs etc.
I am not sure I would focus on software as it is all about to change. Just take a look at what SAP, Oracle, Workday, etc are doing with their offerings. SAP came to the US in about 1988, before that there were other software apps all limited by networks and the technology. Dave Duffield who founded Peoplesoft also founded Workday. He then sold Peoplesoft to Oracle. What about data and data management it is a good place to be at the moment.
Workday was a different solution. Why? It converted OPEX to CAPEX. Wow, what an idea? It was a good one, now everyone is doing it.
If you're looking in software, then I would focus on what you feel will be the follow-on tech to say an SAP or Workday. What about Entreprenurial Operating Systems? AI based integration solutions. One that can integrate existing platforms into the use of AI as big companies cannot afford to abandon them, etc. In the interim to the next solution AI and all the tech, especially software, the old will be intertwined with the new.
To be practical check out Invisible.IO They are an AI Integrateor who has done work for Google, Facebook etc and they are seeking a Head of Sales... interesting bunch....
My best and good luck,
Tom