Something that is always on everyone’s mind while trying to know about the profession of Information Technology Sales is how much of Technology do you really need to know to be successful on the job. Proficiency in Technology is definitely a criterion, but before we get into how much Tech proficiency do you need, let’s discuss the other skill sets you need to do well.
The word ‘Technology Sales’, ‘Tech Sales’, ‘Information Technology Sales’ or ‘Info-Tech Sales’ has one word in common: Sales. Which means that to get into the niche of Technology Sales, you should know sales skills as a basic. And the basic of sales have the following:
- Communication/storytelling: It goes without saying, that to do well in sales, you need to communicate. Communication can be in many ways – speaking, texting, body language, emails, mails etc. Being good at two or more of those can help you get the edge. Storytelling does not mean that you have to spin up stories at the drop of your hat, but the way you articulate a situation to folks in a simple way.
- Building Relationship: If you are in the world of technology sales, quite often you’ll be managing an account or set of accounts (handling one or more customer organizations). This also means that you’ll be interacting with a lot of individuals from the same company, and over time these acquaintances will turn into long term professional relationships and in some cases good friends too. As is the case with any relationship, you have to put in the effort to build them up. Learning and acquiring the skill sets to turn meetings into long term relationships is an important quality within sales.
- Understanding the customer: Contrary to the popular belief that you sell by talking, it’s the listening and comprehension that’ll give you better success in the professional world of technology sales. When you listen to your prospect/customer, you understand the needs of the person to whom you are selling your product/services. And by providing them the right set of products/services, you build a trust with the customer, that’ll stand you in the long stead.
- Customer Relationship Management tool experience: Though not the most critical, it’s a good skill to progress in your career. Anytime you are looking for a professional sales career, this is one question that you’ll be asked. In most cases, the answer to this question is ‘Salesforce’ or a version of it. But if you have used another Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution, then making a mention of it will lead credibility to your sales position pursuit.
- Time management: Here we are going to take a deviation from what you need to say in your interview, to what you are actually going to be doing in your job. In a sales profession, time management is going to be critical. Especially if you are going to be making it big in your career, you’ll need to be exceptional as you manage larger portfolios. You’ll have to juggle between existing and new customers, and with travel being a part of your job, you’ll also need to navigate between travelling and completing your regular tasks along with it.
- Understanding of sales methodologies: If you haven’t already, go through my blog on Sales cycle. It’s the typical process every sale has to go through. While it’s not necessary that each step will be followed in every sale, it is a good way to gauge how far or close you are to the actual sale. A distinct ability that every salesperson gather over years of experience is the quality of the lead he/she is pursuing. Often in the beginning of the career, a sales professional tries to pursue every lead they get. But over time, and with a pipeline that is full, a time comes when the salesperson has to take a call on whether the lead is worth pursuing. This can be on two factors: the size and the likelihood of closing it. When there are a lot of leads to follow, it’s but natural that anyone will choose the larger opportunity. Also, pursuing opportunities that have a 80% or higher rate of closure is better than pursuing something that has 20% chance. Making this choice early on in your sales cycle, will give you precious time you’ll need to close more deals.
- Tech-savvy: This is the most asked and debatable question out there with respect to Technology Sales professionals. In the beginning of my career, I had the same thought in my mind: How much technology do you really need to know? I’ve been a straight A student with a silver medal in my college, which means that I had a pretty good hold of technical subjects. Even with qualification, it would be daunting trying to learn all the technologies, and with all that’s happening in the world, there is some technology that you’ll skip out all the time. It’s later that I realized that getting a basic grasp of how technologies work is all that you need. In fact customers are more interested in outcomes, so if you can demonstrate the ability of your organization being able to complete the task/program/project at hand, it’s all that you need. You’ll not find a technologist who has proficiency in every technology in the world. And as the world keeps marching on, there will be technology used from the 20th century along with all that’s to come in the 21st century. That’s when your ability as a team leader (sales professionals are leaders around whom an opportunity revolves) to get the right set of people who understand the technology and business to satisfy the needs of the customers come in.
- Prospecting: We’ve talked about this skill enough. This is especially important in the beginning of your career or in an organization where you won’t have a team to get you leads to close. And even if they do, it’s always good to keep yourself grounded by continuing to get your prospecting hat on so that you do not run out of opportunities at any stage of your sales journey. I have covered this topic in detail in many blogs. Do take some time out to go through some of the prospecting techniques that’ll give you the edge in your sales career.
CONCLUSION
Sales remains one of the easiest professions to enter. But it’s one thing to enter the profession and an entirely another thing to be successful in it. What differentiates a great sales professional from an average one is the ability to learn the various techniques and skills mentioned above to continuously improve in your career. While there is an element of luck in every sales profession, being prepared with the right mindset and enough expertise is what’ll help you close your deals.
