Sales in S&T vs (Tech) Sales
Hi there guys,,
I would like to work in sales instead of IB, because I have great communication skills and interpersonal skills and I think I am capable of outlining and presenting complex issues in a simple manner. I am good at figuring out how to solve problems independently and I am always generally curious about how things work. I would like to talk to smart people, not to stupid and ignorant people.
What are the best industries for a career in Sales? Do you think S&T Salesman are still a good long-term-career?
What are the downsides of being a Salesman? All I would like are some opinions (even if you've never been a salesman) and experiences.
I work in Tech sales at a large global fintech. Very different from S&T, depending on what role you are in. You are dealing with mostly mid/back-office people at the firms you target and they don't like talking to sales folk. Very little inbound lead activity, so you have to constantly be pinging these folks for meetings and then somehow work their colleagues as well to expand your sphere of influence.
Deal cycles are 12-24 months, every new product sale has a very thorough evaluation process, which includes an RFP with 2-3 competitors. It's extremely hard to rip out existing, competitor, software and banks only replace their operational software every 7-15 years (depending on the nature of the solution). So when you have a live deal, you usually have a team of 10 pre-sales engineers/consultants working it non-stop. Multiple presentations/demos/etc. Long (3-4 month) contract negotiations with shmucks in procurement who get paid 30k a year.
From a comp perspective, most Senior reps are getting a base of 125k-180k (higher for more specialized products) and an OTV (commission) of 80k-120k. That being said, the best salesperson in our company (~500 reps globally) is pulling 1M plus, due to the lumpiness of the deal values.
The bad: Sales is a grind. Nobody likes sales reps, so we make up titles like "Account Executive" to hide our true intentions. Even your internal colleagues will look down on you, because on paper presenting a story to a room of execs seems easy. They don't realize that if it was easy, everyone would do it. You'll get sick to your stomach before every sales call, because the low volume of opportunities ups the stakes. You'll do the same repetivive BS everyday, trying to grind out another meeting.
The good: You're a badass MF'er who brings in revenue. The best sales reps in tech become CEOs. Close 10-15 deals and you are promoted.
Thanks for your response. What would you recommend to me? Tech Sales or S&T?
What S&T group and tech company ?
bump
I've never worked in S&T but I did do IB and now work in tech, and for me it'd be tech sales:
Hours are way better, especially at the junior level. My buddy manages a team of BDRs (basically the analyst equivalent in large sales orgs) at a huge tech company. These BDRs are literally forbidden from working more than 40 hours a week.
Comp is gonna be worse in tech sales at the junior level but it's still pretty good like 70k base plus maybe half that in bonus at that co above. At the mid/senior levels, you can definitely make a lot of money too - as an anecdotal example, my mentor had a friend who got let go during the recession and wound up at Salesforce making more than he did in S&T.
Career flexibility is also somewhat better since there are thousands of tech companies who all need salespeople, plus you're running consultative sales processes.
Plus there's no realistic risk of your job going away for structural reasons, unlike in S&T.
I personally wouldn't go into sales as it really is a grind - quotas, nonstop talking to people, etc. But if you're interested in sales generally, tech sales can be a pretty good place to be.
Hey dude,
Noticed that you said you did do IB and your tag says PE but you work in tech - care to expand on what you do in tech?
Sure, I don't work in PE anymore (don't know how to change the tag). I have a role in corp strategy/development at a tech company now and I like it
bump
Does S&T also convert towards CEO?
If you are really passionate about the markets, S&T. Then transfer into what you are most interested in after deep networking.
However, if you aren't crazy passionate, tech sales. It isn't sexy. But it can open doors for you at a F500 tech company. Many people who develop the necessary skills for other job functions transfer from tech sales to other roles within big tech after developing an understanding of the companies products. You can't go from tech sales to PM without developing the prerequisite PM skills, duh. But if you spend your free-time taking online classes stuff like that is doable.
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