Ask HN: How to switch from software engineering to sales | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to switch from software engineering to sales

2 pointsasimjalis4 comments

I have worked as a software engineer for over a decade. I have always been fascinated by the sales process. Any suggestions on how to switch?

My big problem is that I have only limited sales experience. I have done some non-profit fundraising. And I taught programming classes for a year, which I sold with some success.

How can I acquire the kind of sales experience that would make me get hired into enterprise sales?

Are startups a good place to try? Or should I aim for larger companies?

Any tips or suggestions would be great. Thanks!

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One other thing, my motivation for doing that kind of work is basically the same as yours: Fascination with the sales process.

Truth is, that process can be approached technically. There is more of a science to it than one would believe at first glance.

For those who do that, the rewards can be significant. One example is qualification. Work smart, not hard. Opportunity costs on poorly qualified deals is huge! Often, the fall back is just to entertain a ton of deals and hope for good numbers.

A technical approach to this will yield dividends. Good qualification requires a keen understanding of the prospect, their ability to buy, their willingness to buy and what their value perception is as opposed to what they are telling you it is. Their process is critical too. A poor selection process can have a major league impact on the overall potential for success.

Critical analysis of these things will focus you and your team onto closable deals more of the time.

It's been a lot of fun, and I really do enjoy the more complex, high risk, high reward scenarios. When you are part of, or are leading a great team, it's all kick ass great!

The other place I've found I really enjoy is competitive analysis. Competing products overlap, and or offer different approaches to value. How people see that value is complicated, and the competitive analysis can yield very high value information useful to your team, you as a sales person for qualification, and the product managers seeking to maximize the product.

@ddingus Thanks! These are all great.

I am definitely interested in sales more than pre-sales. I want to qualify leads and work smart instead of building proof-of-concepts for badly qualified leads.

The question is how do I get started in this.

Do you have any suggestions for how to find VARs?

What tools do you use, or have familiarity with, or are interested in?

Follow those back to the vendors, and then from the vendor, find out who is in their channel sales organization.

Have lunch with the regional managers and basically pitch them on what you want to do. They will either see potential or not, and if they do, they will have some of their partners in mind and hook you up for a follow on discussion.

That dialog will tell you a lot.

You can also go to the VAR directly. Many enterprise B2B software houses have a direct sales force for larger accounts and a channel sales force for smaller accounts. (vars)

For a given kind of enterprise software, there are also services typically associated with them. You can do sales on both, or one or the other. Services through their organization are targeted toward the larger or major accounts. VAR organizations are more oriented on smaller or growth type accounts.

What you need is a keen interest in the software or service, ideally some experience using it, relevant industry experience, or willingness to do all of the above. The more you lack, the less you will get to start, but you can also get in and learn a lot too.

I got my start in CAD. I love mechanical CAD, am really good at it, have a lot of direct, applied industry experience, and enjoy the sales process immensely. I do not do it full time at the moment, contracting instead, but that's also due to a career shift into management that I'm doing personally.

That was a fairly easy path. Perhaps you've got some similar experiences to leverage.

You may have to either:

1. Take a modest sales position to get some experience. That might mean inside sales, cold calling, etc... Those are considered foundation type things and they demonstrate your character as a hunter, farmer, etc...

2. Do some pre-sales to participate in deals and work your way up to sales.

3. Take much higher risk, like commission only sales, where their investment is low, and you can make it instead.

I have a few suggestions.

First, I am technical with lots of experience in manufacturing, systems, software (CAD) and some programming. (mostly low level / embedded type programming) Just for context.

Do you have people skills? I got them from the performing arts and various other activities in my life. Basically, if you have a personality and can just engage people, you may be well suited for sales.

Secondly, will you close? This is the qualifier. Lots of technical people will support the sales process, but are reluctant to close. Asking for the business can be extremely difficult for some people.

Based on that qualifier, you may consider pre-sales, which is basically supporting sales people by defining the value proposition, technical proof of concept, discovery, demonstrations, competetive (fun), etc...

Or, you might consider sales and lead others to do your pre-sales support.

If you think you are the latter, you could do very well in enterprise sales as you have technical qualifications that really help you directly understand the deal, it's worth, viability, etc... You can also get some credibility strictly sales only people often find more difficult to establish, though the good ones do establish it by selling their team as well as the software solution.

Suggestions:

1. Consider a VAR. Many VAR type organizations aren't always the best places to work longer term, but they are also more willing to take risks on good people wanting to get into sales. Many are technically hungry and or wanting to improve on their close rates with better / more sales people.

You could approach a VAR for either pre-sales, or sales and perhaps accompany an existing team to learn the ropes. From there, you would get your number and start hunting! Or, you find you are more pre-sales oriented, and join a team and start helping put deals together.

2. With no direct sales experience, you might also consider applying at an enterprise company for pre-sales. This is a more formalized environment, and you will get a lot of exposure to the sales process, network with sales people, and maybe get some opportunities to close deals.

Good pre-sales people can be hard to find. If you are personable and able to communicate complex concepts to people successfully, you probably won't have much trouble.

Startups are a mixed bag, compared to established B2B enterprise companies. Risk is higher, but so is the excitement level.

One thing you need to consider is risk / reward. Many technical people are risk adverse and prefer consistent income. If this is you, target pre-sales.

On the other hand, if you are fairly secure taking some risk, sales can pay very, very well.

Good luck. Have fun!

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