Careers in Tech Sales: How to Get Started Crunchbase

And again, you’re going to have to decide between continuing as an individual contributor (doing the selling yourself) or transitioning into management (managing the people who are doing the selling). These strategies can help you find opportunities in the technology space, but the IT sales sphere isn’t as simple to break into. Of course, in order to reap the benefits of working in tech sales, you need to get the job first. Those contacts could be invaluable if you decide to change your career path.

Highlight sales experience on your resume

Do your research, and come prepared to interviews to talk about why you want to be in tech sales. If you do your homework, hiring managers will notice an eager candidate, ready for success. Building and maintaining a strong network of sales professionals and industry experts is vital to a successful sales career. You can learn about emerging technologies, sales strategies and job inside bar trading strategy opportunities through your network.

Show clear alignment with company values

Curious to hear people’s experience as I’m thinking about making a career change. If you become a CRO, you’ve made it to the top of the tech sales world. Just like we explained above for SDRs that get promoted to SDR Managers … If you’re successful as an AE, your company will want you to teach other AEs how to achieve the same success.

And with roles like account executives making well over the median U.S. salary, it’s a lucrative field to get into. Then, try to find individuals with the tech sales position you’re looking for and ask about their day-to-day. This is a good way to learn about tech sales processes and strategies from the source, and you’ll also be able to build relationships with people from different tech companies. Essentially, tech salespeople focus on selling products to a variety of companies, while IT salespeople continue to solve a company’s problems once a sale is complete. In this guide, we’ll break down the essentials of tech sales and what you’ll need to begin applying for work in this competitive field.

Even without years of direct experience, you can still communicate the value of your other skills to land a job in tech sales. Even if you don’t have a sales background, you might have the right skills. Take it from me; I was a food server and bartender before I broke in and now I’ve risen to be a senior account manager helping with Salesforce solutions. And I can help you demonstrate your value and land a job in tech sales. The amount of experience you need to qualify for tech sales rep positions varies by role, company and industry. According to Payscale, the average tech sales rep earns around $65,000 per year.

With a 5 percent job growth rate, good earning potential, and approximately 5,900 new job openings each year over the next decade, there is a demand for skilled tech sales professionals. Check out a tech sales bootcamp to learn more about the field and gain the skills you need to get started in this career. Most technical sales positions expect you to have experience before applying. Experience can be gained through a tech sales bootcamp or an internship. Some companies offer training programs for entry-level sales representatives or a 1-year probationary contract that involves an onboarding training program and a ramp-up period. Getting a job in tech sales also offers career mobility and advancement opportunities.

Recent Job Interviews Articles

Sprinkle the conversation with pertinent questions, like how a funding round or the launch of a new product will impact the team’s growth. In addition to education, mentoring relationships can also have a huge impact on a candidate’s odds of breaking into tech sales, Gebrewold said. Expanding mentorship opportunities is now a critical part of the sales community for Black sellers he went on to co-found, called Sales for the Culture.

Even if a rep isn’t familiar with gap selling, if they can showcase the ability to communicate and listen, they have a shot at the job, Jordan said. To immerse himself in the industry, he joined sales communities like RevGenius and engaged people in the comment sections of sales posts that caught his attention. When a rep shared something he wanted to learn more about, he’d reach out asking if they’d be open to meeting with him on Zoom to discuss. Gebrewold’s persistence paid off, but his experience also underscores how there isn’t one clearly defined way to break into tech sales. When Josh Jordan started his sales career in the late 2000s, he was often told that sales was an art form — you either have it or you don’t.

Many entry-level salespeople start out as BDRs, which can mean a lot of grinding, especially at first. But it’s more than worth it for those who stick it out as they pick up skills and learn to hustle, make deals, and start working through complex-solution selling. A common path is to begin by selling to small- to medium-sized businesses, then mid-market, then enterprise — each tier having fewer deals with much higher value. At the end of the day, they’re about long-term relationship building, so you can match the right solutions to the right people and organizations.

More importantly, they need to have the appropriate soft skills to sell a product convincingly and convert as many clients as possible. He used those opportunities to ask which frameworks and methodologies they found useful. Over time, he picked up important tech sales jargon — like average recurring revenue, mutual plans and embedding/iFraming — and became well-versed on a variety of sales methodologies.

This community exists to provide everything you need to know about tech sales from soup to nuts in this lucrative field of work. Im in tech sales myself and have helped a few buddies of mine break into the industry. Its a great industry with unlimited earning potential and great work/life balance. Tech sales is all about understanding a customer’s problem and perspective, clarifying it for them and then explaining how you can help solve that issue and the value behind your product.

Getting a job in tech sales comes with many benefits, some of which may be the ability to work remotely, high average salaries and earning potential, and job mobility. Some software firms also look to see if a candidate has a grasp on modern sales methodologies and can fit review: bull by the horns within the tech sales culture. This can range from solution selling to gap selling to enterprise sales.

Community highlights

• As the tech market continues to expand, there’s an ongoing demand for new salespeople.
• Many tech sales representatives come from diverse educational and professional backgrounds, such as engineering, sales and marketing.
• Tech sales usually involves selling software as a service (SaaS) to other businesses.
• Her writing expertise extends to brand strategies and driving small business growth through targeted content.

Sales Development Representative (SDR) is the most common entry-level position in tech sales. Our data comes from the 2023 Compensation Guide created by Betts Recruiting, a recruiting firm that specializes in tech axes broker sales. Also – this post was mainly targeted toward entry level folks looking to get into the field.