Considering a career in tech sales? Understanding the role of business, marketing, data analytics, project management, and web development can significantly ease your path into this dynamic field.
Tech Sales Prerequisites
Working as a Sales Representative for a technology company is an exciting and lucrative career with a bright future. You might worry that tech sales will be too hard to learn. This guide will help you understand the best methods for learning tech sales and what you should study first to make the learning process easier. While there are no formal prerequisites for learning tech sales, there are some skills that can make it easier to learn the job. Experience or training in business and marketing, data analytics, project management, or web development can provide a useful background for studying tech sales.
What is Tech Sales?
Tech sales is exactly that: selling technology. Technology Sales Representatives work for companies that make hardware, software, or provide services like cyber security or financial services, but tech sales is focused more on solving a problem than on selling a product. Building a relationship with customers based on meeting their needs is the foundation of tech sales.
Tech sales is a business-to-business sales model, also known as “B2B.” Sales Reps spend a lot of time reaching out to potential clients through cold calling or emails. Once they’ve made a connection, Tech Sales Reps often pass the clients on to an Account Executive to complete the sale, but the Rep usually stays in contact with clients after the sale to make sure they are satisfied.
Because businesses continue to embrace technological solutions, the field of tech sales is easy to get into. There are many opportunities available, and the pay is very good. As long as technology is booming, tech sales will be a solid career.
Read more about what tech sales is and why you should learn it.
What Can You Do with Tech Sales?
Do you have a passion for technology? Are you always reading about new devices and what they can do, but you don’t know how to code and aren’t really interested in learning? You can turn that passion into a new career in tech sales. Selling software as a product relies less on the development of the software and more on what problems it can solve. If you are outgoing and enjoy talking about what software products can do for people, you can use those skills in tech sales. This is a rapidly growing field that offers numerous opportunities for advancement and lucrative pay.
When you work in tech sales, you can find a job in different kinds of companies. Some sales reps work for firms that sell hardware products, others develop and sell software, and others sell services. If you want to change to a different type of product down the road, that won’t be a problem in the high-demand field of tech sales. It is easy to get into and jobs are plentiful. Most businesses use some type of technology product, so tech sales is likely to remain strong far into the future.
Is Tech Sales Easy to Learn?
Tech sales is not particularly difficult to learn. If you are an outgoing person who likes to talk to all kinds of people, if you are motivated to succeed, and if you are good at identifying opportunities to make a sale, you should have no trouble learning tech sales. You will need to learn to use some of the popular sales and data analytics tools, but the company you go to work for will train you in the tools they use.
What to Know Before Learning Tech Sales
There are no clearly defined prerequisites for learning tech sales, but there are some areas of expertise that might make it easier for you to learn tech sales. Experience or education in business or marketing is helpful, as is some familiarity with data analytics tools. A background in project management or web development is also useful for learning tech sales.
Business and Marketing
A degree or some training in business and marketing can help you learn a new skill like tech sales. Even a part-time job in sales is a background you can build on. Sales or marketing experience teaches you the foundation of sales. Taking classes in business and marketing is helpful, too.
Data Analytics
Tech Sales Reps use data analytics to collect, analyze, and interpret data to map out business and marketing strategies. Sales quotas and other metrics are based on information gathered with these tools, and experience or training with a tool like Google Analytics looks good on your resume.
Project Management
If you have had a job that involved managing a project, this is a useful prerequisite to a job in tech sales. Successful Project Managers are organized, good at time management, know how to follow a budget, and can act quickly to solve problems when they come up. Classes in project management can give you an idea of how to manage time and solve problems.
Web Development
Web development is another area of expertise that can help you switch to a career in tech sales. If you have ever created a website or app, you have a better-than-average understanding of technology. You can use this knowledge in your search for a job in the tech sales area.
Key Takeaways
- Tech sales are not particularly hard to learn.
- There are no formal prerequisites, but experience or training in some fields can make learning tech sales easier. Some of these fields are:
- Business and marketing
- Data Analytics
- Project management
- Web development
- You can receive comprehensive tech sales training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.
Learn Business & Marketing Skills with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop
You can learn project management and digital marketing through Noble Desktop. Noble’s Project Management Bootcamp covers methods for running projects effectively and managing scope, time, and resources. Noble’s Digital Marketing Certificate covers creating internet marketing campaigns, including SEO, social media marketing, paid and unpaid search, and analytics. Noble also offers classes in Excel, Python, and SQL if you want to take your business practices further.
Classes are taught by industry professionals who have real-world experience in their subjects. Class sizes are small, and you can choose between in-person training and live online sessions. Each class offers a free retake option within a year, and upon completion, you will receive a digital certificate that you can attach to your resume or LinkedIn profile.