How To Get Into Software Sales
Are you interested in a career that provides several prospects for career progression, excellent wages, rising demand, and job security? Have you considered working in software sales?
The tech industry keeps growing at a fast rate, and software plays an increasingly important part in many industries. Therefore, a job in tech sales is a solid and rewarding option to be at the forefront of assisting firms in using software to solve problems.
Software sales roles are in high demand at software firms worldwide, giving possibilities for people with the necessary expertise and skills. Although there are several opportunities for sales representatives, starting in software sales is not always simple.
The companies that sell Software as a Service (SaaS) mostly recruit candidates with past sales experience. Companies also prefer candidates with higher education and familiarity with the technology they market. Determining how to enter into tech sales gets more difficult if you lack expertise and specialized knowledge. But it’s not impossible!
So if you wonder how to get into a software sales career, here are some ideas.
How Do You Get Into Software Sales?
Software sales is about selling software to companies of all sorts. Ranging from small companies to international firms, government entities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), major universities, and health professionals. With the growth of companies that sell software-as-a-service (SaaS), software sales is an interesting growing market.
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Tips To Start a Software Sales Career
A software sales career requires basic or natural skills like being friendly, results-focused, and possessing good rapport-building skills.
- To begin with, customize your application materials for each job description.
- Furthermore, carefully read the job descriptions to understand what kind of sales accreditations the employer demands, and then work hard to obtain those credentials.
- You can get a mentor in the field. An ideal sales coach will push you to be the best version of yourself. Utilize meetings and events, gain professional education, and attend seminars and events to locate a mentor. Also, using social media and searching for conversation communities is a good idea.
- Update your online presence for a successful software sales career. Employment recruiters research prospects online before considering them as a candidate. Always keep your profile ready in a professional way on your social media sites like LinkedIn.
Also read How To Grow Your Software Sales Career: 7 Tips.
Apply For The Position And Get An Interview
Here's the thing with job applications: it's really similar to selling. You may apply to a number of positions before receiving a response from a recruiter.
What Skills And Education Are Required?
Many SaaS businesses exclusively recruit college-educated salespeople. Based on the firm, an entry-level sales position may require a bachelor's degree at a minimum. A master's degree is sometimes required for management positions such as sales manager or vice president of sales.
A software sales career requires a basic degree in computer science, so if you have technical skills, it will help you to acquire a career in this field. Business administration, management, and economics are other popular majors. A college education is frequently sufficient to fulfill the basic educational requirements for a sales position.
Apart from education requirements, excellent interpersonal skills, a track record of teamwork, and the capacity to adjust an organization's marketing procedures are helpful.
Also having experience using sales tools like a customer relationship management platform (CRMs), forecasting technology, analytics, and predictive analytics software skills are expected for a software sales career.
The Functions of a Software Sales Representative
1. Cold Calling And Lead Generation Sales Skills
Make calls to targeted users and schedule meetings. The greater the number of potential customers in your network, the more sales you will close and the more revenue you will make.
2. Product Education
To meet the needs of the customer, a salesperson must be well-versed in product specifics. Product expertise is required of all software sales reps.
3. Customer Care
Knowing your customer and taking care of every want or need, is a vital aspect of your sales model. It assists you in developing the long-term client connections necessary to advance in your sales career.
4. Social Media Interactions
Being active on social media will improve your company's revenue and reputation to a great extent.
How Much Does a Software Sales Job Typically Pay?
A software sales representative's earnings differ based on the individual function, level of experience, business, region, and company. Most sales representatives also receive transaction fees in addition to their base compensation, which can significantly increase their typical earnings.
Studies show that entry-level software salespeople can earn roughly $40,000-50,000 per year in base pay, with incentives boosting their overall average remuneration to around $70,000-$80,000 per year.
Mid-level sales professionals can earn a basic income of roughly $60,000-$80,000 per year, with incentives raising their total annual remuneration to around $120,000-$160,000.
Senior technical sales managers can earn a basic salary of roughly $100,000-$150,000, with commissions and incentives, pushing their total annual remuneration past $200,000-$300,000.
What Are The Typical Software Sales Roles?
The following is a list of typical sales jobs seen in various businesses. If you're thinking about a career in software sales, the jobs mentioned below constitute a popular career trajectory.
1. Inside Sales Rep
Identifying fresh and genuine leads, scheduling meetings through cold calls, and analyzing customer requirements are the major roles of an inside sales representative. Also read: what is an inside sales rep?
2. Outside Sales Rep
Outside salespeople are often in charge of the initial sales cycle. They sell to prospective customers in person by attending trade shows, online demo meetings, and meeting them in person.
3. Account Executive
The account executive meets with prospective customers (both online and in-person) to establish a business connection. The account executive walks the customer through the whole sales process.
4. Account Manager
The account manager follows up on the sales triggered by the sales rep. He attempts to cross-sell new support and assistance and provides continuous technical support.
5. Sales Operations
Sales operations handle anything that enables salespeople to accomplish their tasks.
6. Sales Engineer
A sales engineer is often a certified professional who understands the intricacies of a bit of software and can show potential customers how well the technology works as well as how it might address a customer's problem.
Related article: Software Sales Recruitment
Want To Start Working in Software Sales?
Are you excited about a career in software sales?