IT Sales- Does anyone know about it? (interview, owner, jobs)

[SaltyDog42]

Does anyone know about sales jobs related to information technology? Or perhaps sales jobs that pay a base salary + commission. I want to market a product that sales itself and NO door to door stuff. WAY TOO DANGEROUS.

Figure I'd give the sales thing a try since I have a small security net now. Any good books on the matter would help as well. Thanks.

[WendyEF]

Funny you ask.

I was hired by a software development firm as an administrative assistant a little over 6 months ago.

Just last week on Friday, my boss told me not to do the accounting anymore and asked for the mailbox key back.

He told me that he wanted me to totally focus on recruiting. I never was a sales person nor do I have experience in marketing. He and the owner know all of this.

He quickly gave me a web-site, and one (1) resume to work with to place this candidate. That's it, no book or nothing. Then he left the office. So far, I only had a few phone calls for this person and not an interview with the client.

I guess I'm gonna have to get used to this for now until I find another job.


What I'm trying to say is if sales is for you, then go for it. But it has to be with the right company. You can make some good $$$ when you're good at recruiting.

They threw me in this because they lost consultants and are desprate to re-place them.

Sorry to bore you, but I thought it was ironic that you ask.

The best of luck to you.

[AnthonyB]

Originally Posted by SaltyDog42

Does anyone know about sales jobs related to information technology? Or perhaps sales jobs that pay a base salary + commission. I want to market a product that sales itself and NO door to door stuff. WAY TOO DANGEROUS.

Figure I'd give the sales thing a try since I have a small security net now. Any good books on the matter would help as well. Thanks.

IT/software and equipment sales pay a base + salary but they don't sell themselves, the area is extremely competitive and dog eat dog. You need to know your product and your customers well. You would still have to cold call and visit - businesses not homes as B2B sales is more lucrative.

The hottest products tend to have dedicated sales reps with lots of experience -such as medical records.

[grmi66]

Used to work for a software company that sold software to car dealers, auto repair shops and body shops. Problem was that only two companies have the budget to develop this type of software, so it was like trying to sell Coke or Pepsi. Everyone knew what your software does and you have to try and convince someone to switch brands. Because everyone knows your software the company started phasing out real sales reps and had telemarketers selling the product and 60% of our sales dept. was shown the door.

Then tried selling for a couple of upstart sales companies, but the issue was that the sales cycle is long, people are hesitant to invest money in a company that may or may not be around in two years. The potential to make huge money was there if you were willing to starve to death for a year until you closed some sales. From what I saw, there was some potential if you could be a independent rep and carry 3-4 different product lines. Even the Fortune 500 company that I was selling for is moving in the direction of getting rid of dedicated sales reps and hiring independent reps.

Like most of the sales world, I believe most software companies are going to go in the direction of hiring independent agents. The potential to make good money will be there, but the downside is no base salary, no benefits. It is a very tough market to crack and get into.

[Sunnnee]

IT Sales is no joke. If you have Sales experience, that helps, but knowing the product inside and out is what will help you secure a job with any company. I work in IT and I see many vendors come and go (meaning they change companies all the time), but once hired, you will get training for whatever product your selling. Dell, Compellent, IBM, HP, Syncsort, Coraid and other companies are always hiring. Good luck!