Believe it or not, a lot of people on this planet are in the world of sales. There are no statistics that will give you the exact number, but from pure deduction you’ll be able to understand why I’m making that statement. Every company in the world needs customers to survive and thrive. How do they get those customers, by having sales folks amongst their midst that’ll do the job for them. Walk into a mall and you’ll see it filled with sales men and women who are promoting their respective company’s products. Multiply that with the countless shops and industries that exist on every street in the world and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
What is the reason I even brought out this fact? To show you that the sales job is more common than you think. What isn’t common though is that a good sales person from any industry be good in the information technology sales industry too.
What makes the tech sales industry different though?
Reps in fields like retail or insurance primarily sell to buyers at the very end of the sales cycle. When you are walking into a shoe store, you’ve already made up your mind on the brand you want to purchase it from and most likely know which shoe you want to buy as well. With you, the buyer having already made your decision, the main difference maker is whether the sales rep is likable or not. That success doesn’t always translate to tech sales, where buyers have more choices and the deals are more complex (it’s no way as simple as purchasing a shoe).
Tech sales culture is a little different too. Some candidates come from places that still promote a “always be closing” culture. As a result, they may think their ability to sell ice to an eskimo is an attribute that is appreciated everywhere. Not quite, in fact that can be an immediate turn-off for hiring managers at tech companies.
Those differences make it more difficult for sales reps from other industries to break into higher-level tech sales roles like account executive.
So, how does one actually get into information technology sales?
Here are the four things that you should definitely do, in order to land a job in sales (and keep it):
1. Learn the skills
This is the basis for starting off into a sales career. Before you apply for any role in the industry, you have to convince not just others but yourself that you are suitable for the job. While there is a flair and passion in sales that is natural to some folks, it contains highly specialized and acquired skills. And, if you have to learn them, you have to put in the effort. These are a few ways that will help you get started.
a) Read books (or listen to them)- A lot of successful sales personalities have written plenty of good books on sales (I’ll cover some of the titles in a future blog). Pick them up and read them. I know, some people just don’t like reading books, and there is an alternative to that. You can just use the audio versions for them. The important thing is to gain the knowledge that these books have on offer. How you do it is up to you.
b) Join a course or a program- The previous activity of reading(or listening to audio) books is an ongoing exercise, but if you are in a time crunch, this is a good option to go for. This is the knowledge-age, which means that you have plenty of avenues to learn from. There are plenty of sales boot camps out there that will teach you the basics of sales (tailored courses for tech sales may be hard to come by but not impossible). Choose a program that includes practical work. Also make sure that you enroll in a sales course based on enough positive reviews (preferably from someone you know). Some of these programs will be pricey, but are sure worth the money.
2. Networking
Networking is an important sales attribute. This is something that you ought to do well, if you want to land a good sales role (or a good prospect after you have landed the job). I know a lot of sales managers who choose prospective sales employees by this method. In fact one of them chose his employee by the amount of follow-ups he had done. A brilliant way, as that is arguably the most important trait of a sales person. In the current day and age we live in, networking has become more simple. While the impact an in-person meeting makes has its own value, the easier way to pursue networking is through social media channels, the most prominent of which for professionals is LinkedIn.
3. Keep a goal
If you don’t know what you are aiming for, you’ll never know if you have reached it. This is not just a sales trait, but something to keep in mind if you want to be successful in life. Listen to some of the life coaches and they’ll tell you that it’s even better to write it down.
There is a huge difference if you want to get into a sales role for being an entrepreneur or for getting into a job. Even in an Information Technology (IT) job, you have to make sure you know the specific industry clientele you’ll be serving (IT, FMCG, Finance, Healthcare etc.) or the type of role (Inside Sales, Door-to door, corporate etc.) you aspire to have. I know, when you are starting off, it’s not easy to ascertain what exactly you want but fix a broad area based on your personality.
4. Don’t wait for the ideal role
I kept this point the last, as this is the final thing I wanted to leave you with. All the above points are a must do, not just if you are starting off in sales but even when you are well entrenched into it. Having said that, it’s not a sequential list that you have to follow in order to be successful. Life in most cases throws surprises at you. I, for one, was offered a sales role (prior to which I hadn’t even thought of getting into sales). So I took the role and then started with the above mentioned list. There are many times when you will have choices which are not ideal. My personal advice is if you have something that is not great but a good enough start, just take it. You can improve your skills and always get into something better.
CONCLUSION
As I mentioned in the beginning, this isn’t an exhaustive list of things to do, but a practical way to get started in the world of sales. There are a number of things that can be done and with all things in life and opportunity can be a big factor of what your first tech sales job will turn out to be. But your first job doesn’t have to be the final job. Once you have mastered the skills and would like to move out, then that’s an option that’ll come easily with the experience you would have gained from your experience as a technology sales professional.
