Blog

Landing a highly sought-after position at a cutting-edge tech company is certainly not an easy feat. An executive sales position in the technology industry is even more challenging.The application process is essentially an audition — before you can sell the service, first you must sell yourself to your potential employer. Even if you have many years of experience, you may feel like your job applications are just being thrown away without consideration. I understand how this can feel defeating, but don't lose your motivation.The good news is, if you are experiencing a lack of replies, there's a good chance it's not due to lack of ability. You probably just need to rethink the way you are tackling the application process. For example, working with a recruiter is highly beneficial, but you need to find the right one. Networking can do wonders for your career development, but you don't want to waste your time. As a recruiter, I hear the frustrations of job-seekers just like you every day. At the same time, I also hear first-hand from tech companies on what they are looking for in the ideal candidate. I've compiled knowledge from both sides of the playing field to create this list of the five most effective practices for landing a position in technology sales.Finding a recruiter you connect with will make all the difference If you are eager to grow your career in enterprise SaaS sales, partnering with a stellar recruiter is not only going to be ultimately game-changing, it's going to be the distinguishing factor in landing your dream role. Connecting high-growth organizations with the right candidates is what recruiters do for a living; it's their passion. They are experienced and eager to provide you valuable insight into the interview process, and even suggestions on your resume. They'll help prepare you for finalizing offers, including compensation conversations and tips for turning in your resignation. Most importantly, your recruiter knows what's out there; they will be able to point you in the right direction for the highest growth opportunities.To get the most out of your recruiter, be upfront and transparent with them from the very beginning. With collaboration from you, your recruiter will schedule top-notch interviews for you and advise you about the growth path that is best for you and your future. Start the relationship off on the right foot by telling them not only your strengths but also the areas in which you need to improve. They'll take the time to help you frame your weaknesses as opportunities while making your experience stand out from the masses. Your recruiter will be your greatest advocate, as long as you allow them to be.Always keep your finger on the pulse of the latest industry news Even if you are content with your current position, you must stay current with industry trends and developments.  In technology sales, the last thing you want is to look out-of-date. In addition to helping you build credibility, staying current will give you resources to offer everyone you talk to — such as your boss, colleagues and clients — a valuable piece of information. Soon, your peers will view you as a thought leader, and they will seek you out for expertise and wisdom.Reading the news from relevant publications every day will keep you current on what is happening around the globe, and how it impacts your industry. Having this unique insight will not only impress your potential boss but will also make you appear knowledgeable to current and future clients. Additionally, find journals and blogs that you enjoy reading and sign up for their email newsletters, this will make it very easy to keep track of the latest trends and technologies. Put yourself in the best position to seize opportunities before the rest!Networking is crucial Opportunities are often hidden in the most unlikely places. You should never, ever put networking on the back burner, especially if you are looking to move up the sales career ladder. Networking consists of using your peers, both professional and personal, to assist in the achievement of career goals. A study conducted by LinkedIn found that 70 percent of people were hired at a company where they had a connection. Regular online interaction with your professional network will keep you current on the latest job opportunities, help you create new partnerships and give you an insider perspective on the company you've had your eye on. Professional conferences and networking events are outstanding resources for meeting like-minded professionals and learning about opportunities coming up. It can often be challenging to identify which events will bring you the highest return, so talk to your recruiter; they'll be able to help you uncover the best ones.Market yourself wisely If you are growing your career in SaaS sales, you are likely competing with some of the most skilled sales reps out there. It's essential that you know your worth — and that you are prepared to talk about it. Interviewing is all about storytelling and marketing yourself. You'll want to tell your story by painting a story of how all of your sales experiences have led to this very moment.Luckily there is a growing number of professionals who can help you market yourself and prepare you to compete against other people in your industry looking to grow. Career coaches can help you make knowledgeable decisions about your career course and the next steps in your professional development. They can even help you with your resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile. Make sure you find one with plenty of experience in your industry.Understand your personal metrics To a seasoned business development professional, this may often seem too basic, but in fact not understanding what makes you successful or holding yourself honest can be the downfall of performance. Setting sales key performance indicators (KPIs) for yourself, regardless of the ones your company has set for you, is critical for being able to sell yourself during an interview, especially in the SaaS industry. Though some primary KPIs are still important, modern-day SaaS salespeople should embrace newer sales goals, as this industry has less focus on selling a product, and more emphasis on providing trustworthy customer service. Measurements should concentrate on turning leads into happy monthly customers, and then upselling them to more premium services.Here are some common KPIs to measure:New leadsClient acquisition ratesSales volume by locationCompetitor pricing strategiesExisting client engagementUpsell ratesNet promoter score (NPS)Sales cycle lengthOnce you've analyzed your data to come up with the KPIs, practice talking about how you got these results, determine how you can improve upon your performance, and outline the steps you are taking. Make sure you are meeting your self-set quotas every month and try your best to be in the top 20 percent of your team.Working with cutting-edge technology, meeting talented people in the industry and having the opportunity to learn and grow with your peers are all great benefits to working in technology sales. I work with many of the world's fastest-growing tech companies who are looking to recruit exceptional sales talent, such as yourself. With a background in middle- to senior-level sales myself, I have a unique perspective on supporting employees in making big career moves. If you have a proven track record within SaaS sales and are eager to grow your career to the next level, reach out to me today at lynn.tang@adaptivetech.io.I look forward to hearing from you; the possibilities are limitless!

Displacing an existing solution is one of the toughest challenges in sales. Here’s how to tackle it.Running into an incumbent supplier throws down a gauntlet to any ambitious account executive.It’s a true test of salesmanship to uproot an existing provider, but it can seem like an impossible task to triumph in the face of your established competition, especially when they likely have longstanding relationships and superior customer knowledge in their favour. However, the rewards of doing so can be exceptional.Toppling incumbents requires research, strategy and outstanding execution.How do you pull it off?PositioningHow you first approach the discussion with a prospect is critical. Adopting the stance that you are competing directly with the existing solution - as though you were both pitching for the same first-time business - quickly leads to a head-to-head feature battle where you are the unknown contender up against a reigning champ.Inertia and resistance to change will quickly win out.    Rather than take this path, move the discussion to a choice between investing in your solution and maintaining the status quo, positioning the incumbent as the ‘doing nothing’ option rather than revitalising them as a competitor to be defeated from scratch.  Re-framing the dialogue in this way helps add freshness and momentum to your proposal and legitimises a discussion around change and an investment opportunity with ROI potential. Find Someone Who Really CaresEvery sales rep’s training double-underlines the importance of pitching high up the org chart and impressing the fabled C-suite.While this is important (we’ll see why later), somewhere in the decision-making group is someone whose job performance (and potentially, career path) will change if they have a better tool to deliver better results. Rather than waste time presenting feature comparisons to a disinterested boardroom, invest this time detailing the superior functionality your solution offers to the key user group and getting them personally invested by understanding the impact this investment could have on their own trajectory.If you’re working at a smaller vendor, the chances are that your product goes deeper in key areas and has a high chance of evolving faster than a creaky enterprise solution that has workarounds, patches and add-ons used to tape over the cracks. It also helps to weight your demos towards any short-term feature advantages, so that prospects can envisage real-life improvement with your solution straight out of the gate.To back you up, work with marketing and sales enablement to get real-life customer success stories. It’s a cliché for reps to tell customers that “tons of people are moving over to our product”. Even if it’s true, it sounds hollow.Few things hit harder than a compelling customer testimonial detailing why they switched and what the results have been.If your company has a genuine chance of winning business away from comfortable incumbents on a meaningful scale, it’s worth showcasing the rationale to move in full.Aim high, think bigJust as your interactions with those closest to the product should be big on user benefits, it’s vital to switch gears when your time comes to pitch to senior leadership.A few things are important here: Demonstrate value creationSenior business leaders are primarily concerned with cost, risk and revenue.Moving away from an established solution creates risk.Unless your offering is significantly cheaper, any cost savings may fail to outweigh the risk of change (plus disruption caused by migration, integration, retraining etc.).This leaves you with revenue.Focus on how your solution creates new revenue opportunity for the customer wherever possible (quicker time to market, creation of actionable data insights, employee productivity, advanced competitor intelligence etc.).Keep in mind that hinting at and demonstrating revenue potential aren’t the same thing. If you’re pitching to a large buyer, you’ll need to show detailed projections in your proposal exactly as an entrepreneur would pitching for investment. Treat your C-suite audience as investors and show them how adopting your solution leads to top-line growth.The chances are that the incumbent is asleep at the wheel regarding the way their product is impacting the customer’s financial performance, so if you deliver a compelling presentation you stand a chance of pitching against an opponent who fails to show up.Sell the dreamTo win over big-picture thinkers in senior positions, reps need to present their solution as a long-term game-changer that helps the customer achieve their strategic goals. This means beginning with a vision of the full solution in action, showcasing all the ways that it supports business objectives. Taking this as a start point has a radically different impact from beginning with a feature-led product demo and working your way up to how the solution creates value in the long term. Meet risk head-onA big headwind against anyone trying to displace incumbents is the risk associated with change. From who shoulders responsibility if a supplier switch goes south, to the financial and performance impacts on a business level, risk is on everyone’s minds.Leaving this up to the customer to figure out on their own is only delivering half the pitch.Instead, you need to work (much) harder than your customer to show that you have stepped into their shoes and understood the risk of change, creating a thorough, actionable transformation journey that demonstrates how each relevant risk factor can be managed and mitigated. ***Check out Adaptive Tech's SaaS sales jobs across the US and Europe in our job listings here.We recruit for AEs, CSMs, SDRs, VPs and Sales Engineers across fast-growing and established SaaS vendors at all levels.