Just transitioned into tech sales from financial services! I have 10 years experience but none in tech! I had to spend about 100 hours fully immersing myself in books, podcasts RU-vid videos changing my CV etc! I needed to mess up my first 2 interviewers to nail the 3rd! Started at a great company on Monday
@@ashleymartin6521 Great to hear Ashley and absolutely, that is the way! You can watch all the videos, read all the books, etc... but you've got to put yourself in the arena and fail a few times while you continually learn and improve. Congrats on the transition! Keep me posted on how it goes and if you have any questions feel free to reach out! eric@gujirecruiting.com
Btw, if you'd ever be interested in a zoom call that we could record and post on the channel, it'd be awesome to learn and share more about your experience. I'm sure there are tons of folks who would appreciate your perspective (myself included, I transitioned to sales at 28 and there was not a lot of content about that at the time).
Absolutely I made some big mistakes! I was so focussed on applying for as many jobs as possible that I didn’t take the time to properly research the company I was interviewing with! Luckily for me it worked out perfect as I landed an SDR role at salesloft
Hey Eric, I saw this video today and it was a slap to the face! I have 5 years of sales experience in the financial sector and decided to hop into tech and did a course last November 2023 and finished in 2 weeks. I am 5 weeks into job hunting and I applied to 70 different jobs and landed 3 interviews, and you're actually right! I have been spraying and praying trying to land interviews without really putting everything I got. I really do believe I am going to break into tech and become an AE by the end of this year because I am a great closer and a presenter and I want to be able to learn more about this industry and see how I can apply my financial expertise to a more dynamic and b2b client-focused capacity. I just have to get my s--t together and focus 100% !! Thanks brother!
Yes!!! Finally someone who tells it how it is. I was an athlete for 18 years/D1 athletics, etc. So many folks get hurt by the harsh reality of things… Get over it and get better. Thank you for your (genuine) content!! Ps I’m a former teacher turned SaaS sales (been 4 years now, and the best decision I’ve ever made).
What landed my SDR role was that I created my own “90 day sales plan” and presented it for my last interview. VP was really impressed as nobody even does this these days. My advice try it…think outside the box and and stand out
Agreed, if you do your homework and do this well, you will definitely stand out. Research and prep are key though, I see a lot of people that try this and basically just make something up, that will backfire. Congrats on the role! Where'd you land at?
@@techsales-higherlevels yea so I took more a different route in this space based on my limited options and due to the fact this is my first official sales role. I just moved to Dallas so even though it’s not a big tech company city I found an opportunity at memoryblue and we are outreached to other companies as SDR’s. The company that I am working with is an enterprise company selling to Fortune 500 companies etc... I took this job mostly for the training, they have a really good training program that is starting to pay off. Of course this is short term as I’m most likely only going to be there for a year and some change. This point in my life when it comes to tech sales is soaking up as much info as I can and experience to when I do go to a big tech company I’ll be ready to make a difference
Thank you, Eric. Your content is invaluable. And it's indeed the harsh truth. I need to embody the idea of tech sales and what a successful SDR/BDR means.
Eric I just found your channel yesterday. I have been literally Thanking God! I absolutely LOVE your content thus far and appreciate your being so direct and cutting out all of the fluff! I have 15+ years of sales experience, to include 2.5 years of SaaS BDR to Data Analytics, but have been running into a wall when trying to get back into tech sales as an AE. This is very helpful! If you have any recommendations or are willing to point me to videos of yours that you think would help, I would greatly appreciate it! Again, thanks for the great content. Very valuable!
I'm in a weird situation. I've been stuck in the SDR role for 5 years and unable to transition away. I've been a top performer in my respective regions wherever, I've worked as an SDR I believe you shouldn't expect yourself to build a career within sales development for the long term. Unfortunately, in the companies I've worked in and despite having received generous packages, they never acknowledge the importance of SDRs apart from being blamed for failures. It's a sad reality but it happens to almost every single SDR team. In my opinion, until this changes we (SDRS) should always aspire to grow in other venues.
@@techsales-higherlevels I have repeatedly brought it up but my company always ensures that AE positions are taken over only by professionals who have had closing experience for about 7-10 years. Almost all interviews I’ve had externally have always ended up with the same response as well (But these responses are associated with companies in the supply chain space where I currently work in)
Varies. Work experience or a degree are typically bare minimum. It also depends on what type of company you're trying to break into. I've seen just about everything with regards to no degree/degree, amount of work experience, etc... we have multiple people with no degrees that worked their way into AWS. What's your background?
@@techsales-higherlevels 10 years of instructional design/corporate training including 5 years of software training and 6 years of sales training, and still can’t even land an SDR job. In my feedback, it comes down to me not having SDR experience.
Hey I have 7 years of sales. 2 in Real Estate, 2 AT&T business sales, and 3 in Car Sales. Should I pursue an associates/bachelors or try to get a job without a degree?
You can likely get an SDR job without college. If you're interested I offer a bootcamp and am also partnered with Course careers who help indivuals break in (check out the description)
I understand the sdr/bdr job is a grind but I often notice a lot of unsatisfied employees giving the reviews on Glassdoor. From top companies to companies with just 1,000 employees. Everything talks about being worked to hell or being cut in 6months. I have used repvue to get some information on companies but try to get company reviews to get a better picture. This has made look past some interviews but has this cost me a opportunity to work? It's a dilemma I'm dealing with, any advice?
If there is a pattern of bad reviews stay clear, or if they are all positive I'd also stay clear. Especially at the SDR level you're always going to have disgruntled employees that tried sales but didn't like it, yet take it out on the company. I'd use repvue as a better source of truth than glassdoor tbh. Any companies in particular you're looking at?
@@techsales-higherlevels I completely agree on your take just needed some perspective. I also network with current employees to also get an idea of the company. If company's are bad that employees are leaving after 1 year or 2 i wonder if it's that bad. I'm often told that it's a great entry into the sector but that's it. I've come across companies like Varonis Bigpanda Brandwatch Sprout Paycom Sailpoint
@@R26Roman All pretty solid companies - just get clear on what the daily responsibilities are. Make sure they're not expecting 200-300 dials a day, etc... Keep me posted as you get into it but all of those are a solid start.
@@techsales-higherlevels that's a good reference for cold calling I'll keep in mind. I've been looking for a sdr position for about 2 weeks now. 150 cold calls is what they are expecting with something called 200 automated dialing. Not sure if that's included with the 150 calls. Regardless I appreciate all the information your videos provide. I've been through 3 1st round interviews but if I land one I'll let you know.
Hey just did a first round interview with SAS. I think it went really well I have 2 summers of door to door and another lead generation job. Im 22 and about to graduate. Do you think this is enough experience to land this job if I crush the interview?
Absolutely, if you got the interview, your background is just a foot note now, 99% of your evaluation going forward will be based solely on how you perform in the interview. Also a new grad with sales experience is already a great background. Keep me posted how it goes!
