A new automated rejection email has just arrived in your inbox right after you submitted your 100th job application via a company's job portal.
This guide on how to get into tech sales helps you clearly define the step-by-step process to avoid being filtered out of the HR department's applicant tracking systems, create concrete evidence of your ability to get a meeting scheduled, and force hiring managers to acknowledge your qualifications.
Instead of acting like a job seeker who is desperate, you should think of yourself as if you were running an outbound marketing campaign to grow your business.
The Reality of Moving to B2B Sales
In the tech industry, employers do not hire people because they have an educational background or prior job title. Employers hire people because they have shown they are capable of getting meetings booked.
The old strategy of sending hundreds of resumes has become ineffective. Employers are inundated with applications and cold email responses range from 3-5% of total emails sent in the industry. As a result, employers want applicants who understand the basics of the technology stack, know how to cope with rejection, and can execute a multi-channel outreach campaign from the start of their employment.
Your job is to build a portfolio displaying all the work you've accomplished to demonstrate your capabilities before a potential employer approaches you for an interview.
The current environment for hiring is extremely competitive. Well-known technology companies consistently receive 400-600 applications for an open position.
However, hiring managers only know that 80-100 of those applications come from genuine candidates and that the remainder are from applicants who are rapidly clicking the "Quick Apply" button without doing any research or knowing anything about the company or products offered. You should strive to distinguish yourself from the incredibly high volume of standard applicants right now.
Tech Sales Becoming a Career Path
The entry point for tech sales is lower than everyone thinks, but the daily success of making it in tech sales is extremely difficult.
The majority of aspiring tech sales professionals break into their careers as sales development representatives (SDR) or business development representatives (BDR).
The fundamental role of an SDR/BDR is extremely simple: to identify potential customers ("leads"), reach out to them via cold emailing or phone calls, and convince them to meet with an account executive (AE). You are at the front line of the sales process. Your days are spent identifying which accounts are of interest to you, trying to identify and quantify those types of accounts, and finally working with your AE to get them to meet.
The software aspect of tech sales does not mean that you cannot be considered for tech sales. You do not have to know how to program in order to sell technology.
Many of the most successful entry-level reps come from different types of industries. For example, if you worked in retail, hospitality, recruiting, or customer service, then you already possess the foundational skills that are necessary to succeed and learn how to get into tech sales. You know how to handle crisis situations.
You can perform well under pressure. You can explain to people things that may be difficult to understand. These are precisely the skills that you will need to cope with quota pressure and rejection on a daily basis.
Your previous experience can be a significant advantage if you learn how to utilize it properly.
The Downfall of the Cookie-Cutter Application
Your time is wasted if you simply submit a resume via an applicant tracking system without tailoring it specifically to the job posting.
Employers often utilize AI to sift through and weed out applicants based on keywords. If you are changing careers, you may not have included those keywords on your resume. As such, you will have no chance to have your name looked at by a human.
The way to get around this is to completely bypass recruitment.
The SDR Role is the Default Starting Point
The SDR position is where you will prove yourself within a revenue organization's operations, a key step in how to get into tech sales.
Being an SDR requires you to demonstrate a high level of perseverance as you will be making a large number of cold calls and failing regularly. Hiring managers use the SDR position to identify candidates with mental toughness that can subsequently transition into a closing role for the company. Once you complete 12-16 months of cold-calling, you will be given the opportunity to work as an account executive and manage your own pipeline.
However, outbound sales is not the only avenue available.
Alternative Options Based on Background
If you have a solid technical background, there is likely a role for you in the areas of presale/sales engineer. In this capacity, you help buyers understand complex technology through in-depth discussions.
If you enjoy working with data as opposed to making cold calls, you may want to pursue an operations position. If your interest lies in assisting current customers rather than finding new customers, then working in customer success would be a logical next step. Seek the career path that best utilizes your talents and experiences.
Avoid forcing yourself into the sales-hunting arena if that is contrary to your personality and best skillset.
The 14-Day Proof Portfolio: How to Get Into Tech Sales
Hiring managers want proof of hard work—not hearsay. "I built it for you."
Creating an actual portfolio that a prospective employer can look at helps you stand out from the other 1,000 candidates. Create an actual portfolio of three of the companies that you want to work for.
Map out their target account list for the company in two weeks. Create an ideal client profile for each company on one page. In addition to mapping out your ideal client profile, create the actual outreach sequences that you would use to reach out to your ideal clients.
Implementing an Ideal Client Profile
The very first step in creating your ideal client profile is to identify the specific job titles of those who would be the ones to buy your product.
If you are applying to a cybersecurity company, you should target that company's chief information security officer (CISO). After identifying the individual's job title, write down their top three business problems. You are showing a hiring manager that you are capable of strategic thinking about markets when you present this research to them.
The outreach messages that you write to your ideal client should focus on the issues they face daily.
Preparing Cold Calling Sequences That Convert
Write three cold email sequences for a specific persona for each of your ideal target accounts that will require a cold email. These should be short, focused on one business issue, and void of any marketing jargon. You should create an opener for each cold call along with scripted responses to the three most common objections you may encounter, such as "we don't have any budget" or "send me an email."
Keep your sentences short and your tone friendly and casual.
The Mock Call Survival Kit
The final part of your portfolio is creating a self-review. Follow these steps to maximise the value of your cold call script: First, use a basic audio application like Garageband, Audacity, or your phone to record yourself reading the script.
Assess your tone (professional vs. casual), pacing (slow vs. quick), and clarity (clear vs. hard to understand). When you submit a complete portfolio (voice/audio recording) with your application or provide it to hiring managers, you instantly change the conversation from "Let me ask you for a favour" to "Let me offer you an immediate advantage."
Instead of an applicant, you'll be viewed as a serious candidate who has already taken the first step in their professional journey of preparing themselves for success.
The Outbound Job Search Campaign
For this outbound job search campaign, instead of waiting for the hiring manager to give you permission to apply, take charge of your own job search.
Take the same approach as you would with an outbound prospecting campaign and treat your job search exactly the same. Identify 15-30 companies that meet your criteria, and find out who the exact managers or recruiters are for those companies using simple online research.
While you are applying for a job that involves hunting down decision-makers, you must first demonstrate your ability to accomplish this task by tracking down the specific individuals in the organisation who are the ultimate decision-makers about hiring you.
Contact the current members of the team doing the work to see if there is a connection to be made regarding either you or your background.
Once you've located the hiring manager, get in touch with the current SDRs and learn more about their respective daily activity metrics and the extent to which they met their quotas.
Once you get this information, request a direct referral to the hiring manager. Because most companies provide an incentive for employees to refer successful hires, current reps are likely to be very motivated to assist you in bypassing the traditional waiting list for applying for a position.
A referral ensures your profile will receive an examination by a real person rather than an automated process.
How to Avoid a Dead-End Application
Contact the team leader to express your interest in speaking with them about your accomplishments as it pertains to the work you did for them. Make sure this email is concise and has no extraneous information.
Make sure you include a specific example of a project you did for them based on an account that you did due diligence on. In the body of your email, state who you are, what you produced for them, and that you would like to set up a time to discuss how your work fits with their goals.
Reach Out After Not Hearing Back
If they do not respond to the first email, wait 3 days and send them a quick follow-up email. This email should simply ask if they had the opportunity to review the account research you sent. Trying to follow up is more about persistence than it is about being overly aggressive.
Silence Does Not Mean Lack of Interest
Being quiet is just an indication of people being busy.
How to Get Into Tech Sales: The Most Important Step for the Job Offer
The mock cold call is the final filter for getting a job offer. If you cannot pass this step, you will not be getting a job offer.
Very few high-tech companies do not ask their interview candidates to do a live role-play.
During the role-play, the interviewer will typically present the candidate with a business case, act as the client, and ask the candidate to perform the call. All hiring managers are aware that candidates may not be perfect, but they are looking for the candidate to demonstrate their ability to handle the pressures of a cold call without freezing up, using discovery questions, such as BANT, to discover the buyer's needs, and to ultimately ask for a meeting.
The STAR method should be used to format responses to questions given to you by hiring managers.
Mastering the Role Playing Assessment
When providing examples in response to behavioral interview questions, it’s best to be concise in relating the S.T.A.R. (Situation/Task/Action/Result) method. Quantify all performance figures. If the example you provided involved working in retail, do not simply provide a general statement indicating you “worked the cash register.” State the number of transactions you had every hour (50 peak, 0 errors). Every aspect of your work should be quantified.
The employer needs to see the direct effect you had on their business through your participation and performance.
Demonstrating Real-Time Coachability
To pass the role-playing portion of the assessment, being receptive to improvement suggestions is crucial. During your first rehearsal call, you will receive critical feedback from the manager. In order for them to assess how well you take constructive criticism, you will record notes on their feedback, accept their findings, and implement their suggestion immediately before your second rehearsal call.
In the event you disagree with their evaluation or respond with defensiveness, the interview will come to an immediate end.
Assessing a Job Offer as a Professional
There are a variety of different tech positions in the industry today, and many of these opportunities can greatly hinder one’s self-esteem prior to entering their careers.
When receiving an offer, the applicant must review all aspects of the offer and not just be attracted by the attractive “high on-target earnings” (OTE) dollar amount. The OTE includes base pay and commission you will earn if you reach 100% of your goals. The current median base pay for an SDR is around $60,000 with an OTE of around $85,000.
It’s imperative to inquire about how many representatives hit their quotas at that company.
Base Salary vs. False OTE
Recent statistics indicate that less than 50% of sales representatives achieve their annual quotas.
When only 20% of a sales force consistently meets their quota, it is evident that the OTE number is fictitious. In order to accurately assess an employer's expectations, specifically the ramp-up time necessary for an employee to reach maximum productivity, it is critical to ask specific questions of the hiring manager.
It is standard for most reputable employers to allow for a 60 to 90 day ramp-up period prior to setting performance expectations.
Quota Attainment vs. Ramp Time
Before accepting a job offer from a potential employer, it is essential to do some research on the average turnover rate of employees at that particular company. It is usually only 14 to 16 months for a sales representative in the entry level position. If a company loses its entire sales force every six months, there should be tremendous red flags in this sales force.
Asking Questions About Territory and Manager Quality
Before formally accepting an offer, it is advisable to speak directly with someone who is currently employed in this position and has experience with that territory.
Ask the individual if the manager actively coaches them on their call activity, or if all they do is yell at them about their daily numbers. A good manager will listen to recordings of your calls and assist you in improving your delivery. A poor supervisor will advise you to increase your dial count, rather than helping you with methodologies for actually increasing your chances of receiving answers or at least generating incoming calls from your target audience(s).
Your first supervisor will likely have a greater impact on your early success than the product you are selling.
Surviving the First Three Months
Getting hired is simply the beginning of the marathon. Retaining the job requires an incredible amount of motivation and discipline to do what it takes every day to excel in your position.
The first three months of your career will be your most important ramp-up period.
During this time, you must entirely focus on learning how to effectively use the entire technology stack for your position, with a special emphasis on how to use your CRM platform to track your progress and prospects. If you do not know exactly how to enter and record your calls, your chances for success drop drastically. Historical trends show that the longer you wait to complete your daily duties, the more difficult it becomes to establish a solid daily activity volume.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be an extremely helpful tool for speeding up the process of conducting your research on potential prospects.
Managing Your Daily Volume of Activity
AI is changing the sales landscape at an unprecedented rate. Many organizations now use AI technology to assist them with drafting their outreach emails and finding new target accounts to contact in their prospecting efforts.
Using AI to obtain hard data on potential prospects will allow you to conduct your prospecting efforts more quickly. Make sure you always use your own expertise and creativity in order to draft and write the outbound messages you will send to each prospective customer; your potential prospects will easily see through any automated response or other automated writing.
Concentration should be on what you do, not on the end results.
Utilizing AI Without Sounding Like a Robot
You have no control over the person who answers the phone for your company or who responds to one of your emails.
You do have control over your daily dial volume, the number of accounts you research and contact, and the speed at which you follow up with prospective customers who have expressed interest in your products or services.
If you continue to consistently hit your daily activity metrics for dials, and continue to request from your supervisor very direct and constructive feedback based on your performance, you will ultimately see a noticeable improvement in your booked meetings.
In this line of work, consistency will always surpass raw talent week after week.
Creating Momentum Early in Your Pipeline
You must celebrate all small victories early in your career. Every time a prospective customer responds to your marketing message and provides you with a reason why they cannot purchase from you, that is a small victory for both you and the prospective customer.
Learn how to overcome the specific objection the prospective customer has provided. Create a daily schedule that clearly defines when you will be calling prospective customers versus researching the accounts you are calling, and when you will be writing and sending outbound emails to prospective customers. Protect that schedule from any distractions.
You must always maintain your focus on revenue-generating activities, regardless of the number of internal meetings your organization may hold.
Your Salary as the Revenue Generator
As an entry-level employee, the grind associated with building your revenue-generating skillset is not going to last for long. The skills you are acquiring during this entry-level grind will determine the continued growth of your entire sales and marketing career path.
In order to break into B2B software sales, you must think of yourself as the product that your desired employer is purchasing. You must develop your own proof portfolio, develop and execute an extremely targeted outbound marketing campaign aimed at your desired employer and prove your willingness to learn and continuously receive feedback by participating in ongoing live role-play activities with your desired employer.
Once you have established a long-term sales career with a realistic earnings potential, confidently put your head down and focus on mastering the metrics of daily activities.
It is critical to have the skill and capability to produce revenue out of thin air in today's economy.