Break into tech sales and looking for referrals
I am posting this for a friend. #ae #enterprise #sales #referral He is currently in supply chain operation management at Amazon but looking into transition into tech sales. He doesn’t have previous sales experience but he’s very good at data analytics, project management, ppl management, excellent communication skills as well and very passionate about tech in general. He also has a business degree in Marketing. He has been applying through linked in but only got a couple very small startups hitting him up for the last couple weeks. Wondering if anybody can give advice on how to transition and break into tech sales. Would also much appreciate if anyone can help with any kind of referrals! YOE: 3 TC: 105k #salesforce #oracle #aws #google #meta #azure #airbnb #adobe #stripe #slack #redhat #paloaltonetworks #dropbox #splunk #tableau #zoom #asana #box #servicenow #workday #apple #netflix #qualtrics #databricks #snowflake
SDR or BDR for 1-2 years. Mid market AE after that for a handful of years. Eventually he can get into Large enterprise or many other various things. He can hit me up if he would like.
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Ahh I remember this like it was yesterday when I pivoted from doing an IT service desk job for a telecommunications company to doing sales at a pretty big Tech company. The path that worked for me with 0 sales experience was getting my foot in the door through an SDR (Sales Development Representative) role. - in this role you learn the basics of sales that carry’s with you throughout your sales career - you won’t be able to actually close a deal, but you’re basically qualifying and de qualifying prospects and booking meetings for your Account Executive (AE) who would then close the deal. - most people get burnt out or demotivated in this role. Find a group of people, keep your head down and do the work (you’ll pass a lot of people just by doing this) - There’s a lot of companies I know that are always looking for hungry people to hire for this role. - it’s a grind but totally worth it from a learning perspective - once you’ve mastered this role (you’ll know when) you can look to jump to an AE role (if you’re still feeling like sales is it for you) where you will actually be able to close a deal and get a pretty good comp depending on your plan - I know a lot of people that went from being an SDR to product marketing, product management, and sales enablement to name a few. So don’t feel like sales is the only path you need to take after this role. How to get your foot in the door: Referrals help! - Get someone to vouch for you and your determined attitude. - start looking at SDR roles within Amazon - grab a coffee or a few minutes with an SDR manager where you work and let them know you’re hungry and looking to make a pivot - make it your 20% project that no one needs to know about but you (stole this one from Google) - reach out to people on LinkedIn - start reading sales books (there’s a lot out there - lookup sales podcasts (sales enablement podcast with Andy Paul is one I like) - make it your goal to learn everything about the sales process and customer journey Most importantly learn to be your own motivational speaker. There are going to be a lot of up’s and down’s in this career path and you will need to be able to count on yourself to keep waking up in the morning and have a positive attitude. Hope that helps and good luck!
Thanks for the reply! This really helps! What would you recommend as for big tech companies which hire ppl with 0 sales experience but lots of potential?
Dm
Have to be an SDR for at least a year or client success/implementation associate. I can refer to one of those.
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Tell him to work with recruiters too! CloserIQ does sales placements
Thanks for the advice!
Why not calling him your husband. Confused.
Recommend taking it one small step at a time. First transition to an Account Manager or Customer Success Manager, then one you have enough client facing experience, apply laterally to an Account executive. At Google a lot of Tech AEs started as Tech AMs, the role has some overlap but does not require a ton of sales experience to start
Would you or if you know someone would be able to help with any kind of referrals possible for an AM role at google? He’s learned some basics about GA and Google cloud