Breaking the Sales Stereotype

What do you think of when you hear the word “sales?” Sales has a reputation of being a faux pas to say around most people. Sales roles at companies often don’t include the word sales anymore. Titles like “Solutions Advisor,” “Cyber Security Specialist,” “Client Associate,” and “Growth Lead” are commonly adopted by sales representatives, even though their title could just be Sales Representative.

In the 21st century, sales transformed from a transaction where the sales person is focused on winning every time into a profession centered around adding value. This stereotype surrounding the word “sales” may prevent many people from trying a career that may bring them the success they’ve always been looking for. In sales, it’s all about picking the right industry and sector that has a consistently growing need for solution-focused salespeople.

Enter: High-Tech Sales

High-tech sales is defined as the profession of selling technology-based products and services to customers. When high-tech products or solutions are sold, the sales representative is not focusing on “what” a product does, but how it impacts a number of business metrics: increase revenue, marketing engagement, software replicability, organization, or visibility,  and decrease cyber risk or time spent on manual data entry… you get the point. High-tech B2B sales solves a problem that a company has in Operations, Sales, Marketing, R&D, Internal Communications, Corporate Governance, Software Development, and/or IT.

Breaking the Stereotype

According to Business Insider, 10 emerging technologies in 2022 include work from home technologies, monitor improvements, on-screen keyboards, and more. Now is better than ever to take advantage of the rapid adoption of these new innovations in what many characterize as the Information Age. By becoming a high-tech sales representative, you’re able to capitalize on the ever-growing need for innovative technologies while also utilizing the complexity created by technology to create the need for new problem-solving tech.

Starting on the Right Foot

As an Sales Development Representative (SDR) at memoryBlue, I’m exposed to several sectors of the technology industry, giving me insight into several different markets for technology. It’s difficult to say what tech solution you would “love” to sell as an entry level SDR if you haven’t experienced selling in different tech sectors, prospect profiles, and/or company sizes. It’s nearly impossible to find a company, like memoryBlue, that will give you exposure to so many different tech products and solutions.

Forget What You Think You Know About Sales

If you were like me before I started my sales career at memoryBlue, you are unsure if high-tech sales would be a good profession to pursue. One misconception that you may have about choosing a high-tech sales career is that only extremely confident, loud, extroverts see success in sales. This goes back to my original point about “sales” having a connotation or stereotype associated with the word. The opposite is true in the high-tech industry – many different personality types find success. This includes introverts who can lean into their understanding of deeply technical specs, people who like debating and explaining complex information, and athletes who know how to practice and refine their skills to be at the top of their game.

It’s Good To Be Different

No path is the same for every SDR –  you will quickly find out what you like and don’t like to do. This is a good thing because you will quickly find out your career goals and can make action plans to get there. Every next step at memoryBlue involves gaining more responsibility that fall under the umbrella of a revenue generating – sales -role. A revenue-generating job is one that when vacant, no revenue is generated. Revenue generating roles will always be vital to any company and stay in demand in economic booms and downturns – especially for high-tech companies. High-tech has a unique interest in accelerated “growth” as many tech products/solutions need to innovate and grow fast to avoid the risk of being left behind. Without high-tech sales reps, their growth would be reliant on marketing, and their product being a “unicorn,” which is rare.

The Road Ahead

Becoming a high-tech sales professional sounds great, right? Well, it is not an easy task. One of the biggest factors that determines whether a new SDR will become proficient in the role is their grit.

In psychology, grit is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state.

Developing a strong level of grit is done through life experience- it isn’t something you fain overnight. On top of grit, soft skills that are largely “unteachable, such as emotional intelligence, communication, and active listening, are core to success in sales. If you’re able to balance your grit with your soft skills, you would benefit from a role where those skills propel you to quick career growth and success.

If you’re looking to launch a professional sales career right now, we’re hiring new SDRs from coast-to-coast!