What is Tech Sales? A Detailed Guide
Information technology has been observed to be the fastest growing industry all over the world. Technology ranks as the top industry with the highest number of fastest-growing companies in Europe and the United States.
When we talk about information technology, we just do not pertain to the technology itself but a wide range of things. For example, in an organization, the IT department has different responsibilities that include keeping systems up to date, heightening cybersecurity, and keeping all systems up and running.
One of the facets that define the grand scale of IT is digital technology. Digital technologies have become an imminent determining factor in a country’s economic growth, security, and global competitiveness.
In fact, the digital economy has become more essential than ever with its influence on the world’s movement as it affects resource allocation to the distribution of income and growth.
One of the most rapidly growing areas of the digital economy is technology sales. Tech sales is a remarkable industry that makes it possible for tech companies to introduce modern digital solutions to the market. Find the various sales pipeline stages available and how to build it for your business.
The tech industry is a continuously booming business, and so is the field of tech sales.
However, many are still not aware of tech sales as a field, more so as a career.
For a lot of people, when we talk about the concept of ‘sales,’ you may think of that guy in business attire walking around in malls trying to persuade you to buy something that you do not actually need. But that is not the case!
Tech sales professionals are focused on connecting consumers with available technology to solve their current pain points.
In this article, we will shed some light on what tech sales is, what entails to become a technology salesperson, and what it takes to become someone in the tech industry.
So if you are interested in knowing more, you might want to read along!
What is Technology sales?
Technology sales or tech sales as most would know is a common term that pertains to selling technology.
Different companies sell a variety of tech products that can range from hardware, specialized computer software, and even services.
- Hardware – Apple is a company that is focused on selling hardware such as laptops and iPhones.
- Software – Spotify and Netflix are consumer applications primarily used for entertainment.
- Services – Consulting and integration providers such as Cognizant and SAP.
Basically, the process of tech sales begins with identifying the customer’s pain points and how your solutions fit their needs. It is usual for tech companies to have their sales team who are primarily responsible to look for lead qualifications and prospective clients and convincing them to purchase what they sell.
When we talk about the tech sales environment, B2B and SaaS are two of the most prominent concepts in the industry.
B2B or Business-to-business is when a company sells its product or services to another company deemed fit for its needs. For example, a software company sells its CRM software for startup businesses to manage their customers more effectively.
On the other hand, SaaS or Software as a Service is when a company builds a certain type of software and lets users access it through the internet for a monthly or yearly fee. SaaS companies can also have a B2B framework. Examples of SaaS are Spotify, Netflix, Gmail, Shopify, and Salesforce.
So when a particular company is great at selling products, closing deals, and being successful at that, there is a high chance they have a great sales team.
As the tech industry is continuously expanding, there is wide room for opportunities for those people who want to try out for a tech sales career.
Moving towards a tech sales career?
So, let us say that you finally made up your mind and want to become a tech sales professional.
What does being in a tech sales position mean?
For starters, having a career in tech sales involves a lot of product immersion and client research. As tech sales representatives, you have to have technical knowledge of what product you are selling and at the same time who are you selling it.
Put it this way. As a tech sales rep, you will have two primary goals:
1. Promote your product and show how it is valuable to your client, and
2. Make sure that the prospective clients understand why they need your product and that they are getting their money’s worth.
Tech sales often involve a multi-step process that includes lead qualification, understanding the needs of prospective clients, identifying the organizational structure, presenting the product, and providing after-sales support for the client.
In a nutshell, having a tech sales career involves not only keeping the company’s interest as the top priority but also highly considering the client’s needs as well.
So what is in store for you as a tech salesperson? What is yours?
Aside from endless sales opportunities, working in tech sales entails a wide range of responsibilities on a daily basis. Like what we mentioned earlier, your main goal is to connect the solutions that you offer to your potential clients. However, aside from researching as a technical skill, it is also important to know what the tech sales job description is like.
Many tech sales professionals may also find themselves responsible for the following tasks:
- Designing technology packages for potential customers
- Discussing the benefits of the hardware or software products
- Utilizing sales technology in connecting with clients
- Updating sales reports and data
- Creating and setting up deals for high-paying clients
- Drafting contracts and invoices after closing deals
- Providing aftersales services
- Updating and revisiting profiles of existing customers and clients
Why is the tech field the most lucrative industry for a sales job?
If you are someone considering a sales job for a career or thinking about moving to another industry, then tech sales might just be something you should consider. Aside from being one of the fastest-growing industries, there are just a lot of tech products such as cloud products, cybersecurity products, analytic tools, digital payment solutions, and e-commerce tools, among others. Here are some reasons you may want to consider a career in tech sales.
Tech is continuously expanding at a high-speed
Tech sales is one of the fastest-growing sales industries in the global market today. The technology industry continues to expand with its staggering amount of $5 trillion and is projected to have a 5% annual growth rate by 2024. This only means that for tech salespeople, there is nowhere to go but up! It will not only mean more profit but more career opportunities available in the tech sales industry.
The pandemic also fueled the continuous growth and expansion of SaaS in disrupting traditional sales markets such as in the education, health, and financial industries. Given the uncertainty and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the once unbreakable traditional business sectors, companies were left with no choice but to fast-track digital transformation projects.
The tech industry is continuously progressing to redefine innovation
Technology is in constant movement with global progress. When they say technology rules, it actually really does!
And we are not just saying this from a tech company’s point of view, as cloud-based technologies have driven tech startups to drive growth in the most recent years. Since 2007, the number of tech startups has increased by up to 47%, with 1.35 million tech startups initiated every year.
So if you want to explore tech sales careers that are sure to be innovative, disruptive, and constantly to evolve, maybe this is the right field to be in!
You can also expect that the industry fosters an entrepreneurial type of thinking and fosters a lot of interpersonal skills, communication skills, and sales skills that will not only contribute to your growth as a tech salesperson but as an individual as well! Let’s find which kind of follow-up emails are working for sales.
Technology products are the most profitable among other businesses
If you are invested in knowing the most profitable industry, you may really want to consider sales in the tech environment.
Typically, in a sales job, you need to work day and night to achieve sales goals and sales quotas. However, having a career in tech sales may just be different. CNBC ranked software sales as one of the highest-paying jobs in the United States, with an average base salary that ranges from $50,000-$141,000.
Despite the need and difficulty of hiring a number of software engineers, building a team of tech sales professionals is also just as hard. And yes, we have to repeat that tech sales professionals are on-demand.
It has been a problem experienced worldwide to find efficient and capable sales talent from entry-level positions to senior executives.
So this can come off as good news as there are a number of unfilled demands for tech sales jobs all over the world which are high-growth and well-paying that is only sure to continuously expand and progress in the years to come.
Reframing jobs for tech sales professionals
So now that you know what is tech sales, what the tech sales job description is, and what tech sales roles are, what is next?
Indeed, there are many advantages to working in a technology company as a career path. Aside from fostering out-of-the-box ideas, you get to witness the next technological breakthrough and possibly be a part of it!
In the tech sales ecosystem, it is normal for technology sales teams to beat everyone as first in line to learn about modern technology trends. You get to have an in-depth view of technical products and experience them first-hand!
We can say that working in tech sales is a calling rather than a simple career. It requires the soft skills to understand what the ideology behind the product is and to make people actually believe it to be.
Sure enough, there will always be a need for tech sales positions to be filled in this industry. Startups and existing companies alike will never get tired of breaking technological barriers to come up with needs-based solutions for consumers and fine-tuning and innovating their own products.
These traits may just be the endgame for you as they make tech sales positions a stable career to work in because new technologies are always just around the corner.
If you manage to land a career in tech sales, for sure there will be endless opportunities for you to grow, and rest assured that tech sales may just help you be ahead of the curve!
Remember that being in sales positions, you hold the company’s lifeline. A company may have the most brilliant product, but without passionate, dedicated, and skilled tech sales representatives, it just would not suffice. Check out what is b2b sales and how it’s working in the market.
Be equipped as a tech sales rep
Of course, being in the tech field would always have its perks as well as its challenges. Now that you have a deeper understanding of what is tech sales, it is also vital that you know the right tools to use, should you go any further!
Sales outreach tools and sales engagement platforms are just some of the key tools that every person in technology sales should utilize, simply because it makes their jobs easier!
How so?
Well, if you are lucky enough to find the right application for you and maximize its features then you are sure to have a more organized way of conducting your sales, managing your sales leads, and carrying out the end-to-end sales process!
Let us make it easier for you with Sloovi!
Being in technology sales, Sloovi can help you get the job done in a single unified platform. That is right. In just one platform.
With the automation and innovative features, Sloovi can help you reduce the time that you spend on repetitive tasks without compromising any of the parts of the sales process.
In fact, it will only help you get better at fostering, communicating, and tending to your clients’ needs.
Sloovi gives you options that can make your engagements with clients more seamless with its adaptive and customizable tools that are according to what you or your business needs. Now, you can simplify daily sales engagement tasks with automation without ever having to remove your personal touch of reaching out to your leads.
Save time and effort and work your way up closing more deals than ever!
Check out Sloovi today and be a pro in tech sales!