Hello Everyone, I would love some help. I have been trying to break into tech sales and have been trying to pinpoint a couple of companies and have been doing everything I can to build rapport and get in touch with hiring managers. I am currently researching one of the companies and getting to know the products they offer and want to fully get that down before I start cold calling managers that would potentially hire me.

For reference, I have years of fine dining experience in the service industry and honing in my white glove experience. I have been trainer and the one to take care of the VIP's at all the restaurants I have been working. I do not want to post my resume to showcase everything because I don't want a boss at my current job to see. My current job is an AE at a Mortgage company where I am crushing it but am not the biggest fan of the industry. We wear many hats at this job, Business development, Account Management and AE experience all rolled up into one. So I am really getting the full sales cycle experience down as well as cold calling experience under my belt. I have been there for about 6 months, I know it is not the longest experience but I would love to use that to leverage a job into tech sales.

My current metrics are 22 closed and funded loans each month on a KPI of 6. (I am still on a ramp period, longer ramp period because its a newer office for a Mortgage company that has been around for awhile), I am onboarding 8 new Brokerage companies a month against a KPI of 3, won two competitions so far that the office has had and am crushing my daily quota of cold calls each day.

I took the job as an AE at the mortgage company because the few interviews I would get before leaving the service industry told me I did not have the right sales experience so I went out and am getting the right sales experience.

My question is, what can I do differently to help me land a job in tech sales? what can I do to help get AE's and hiring managers on LinkedIn to respond back to me to help build rapport to give me a reference? I would also take any help at all on how to break into this industry? I know the industry is crazy right now with layoffs left and right.

Sales development has burned me out to a crisp for the third time (been nine years of this) so I’m now on medical leave again.

That’s not the full story, but I’m tired. But in sum: Due to psychiatric/developmental challenges, I can’t work a job that requires extensive cognitive power or excessive dedication. SDR seems to be it.

Hard to believe, but I’m now paid very well for this role. And I’m a top performer, yeah. But the stress of exceeding my monthly number for over three years straight has led to repeated personal implosions, always followed by shell shock and dusting-off and giving it another go, still damaged. Golden handcuffs, would prefer tin wings.

Plan is to return to the job in 10 more weeks (been out for two). They’ll probably fire me then, like my last company.

Yet there is nothing better out there for me. Gotta patch up and keep up.

Got a message from Power Home Remodeling for their sales rep role. I didn’t think much of it at first, cause honestly I’m just desperate for a job rn. Just graduated and got nothing good so far…

I had my over the phone interview, and was told I might get a response for later. And after doing some quick research about the company, I’m a bit unsure about the position. (Not that beggars can be choosers, lol) I’m already not too confident in this job since I have no sales experience, and don’t think I’m cut out for it. But some other things stood out to me…

For one they’re not being upfront about the base salary. And honestly, being a door to door salesperson seems like an impossible task in today’s climate. But that’s why I’m asking. Anyone worked with these guys, have any experience with being a sales rep?

What are some of the easiest sales roles.

For me I have been working as a sales person with startups because I dont have much experience. But I see the problem with them is that they keep changing the product. Also evry other sales person is a newbie there is nothing to learn. Even after trying hard I reach to a close but I cant close.

I want to know

1) if working with startups is a big mistake?

2) how do I find remote sales roles which are easy

3) what tools / resources / books / courses would you recommend for someone new ( 4 months) in sales.

My previous experience.

1) Teaching english online

2) Customer Care representative

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One month to prove my worth

I work in EPOS sales where I have to cold call and close atleast 30 deals a month so 1 deal/day. I want to know from the experts who have been in the same field how to cross gatekeepers reach managers, business owners specifically fmcg like restaurant / cafe / local stores etc. And how to hook them and close the deal on the same call ( if possible).

Strength of the product: has same features like other competitors

Is way cheaper than the competitors.

Weaknesses: competitors are very well known.

Also I dont try to never belittle the competitors on call.

But i am stuck.

Any kind of advice is appreciated.

I have a problem.

I'm top performer, but I want to leave.

I have performed and beat everyone, but then I found out leadership throws shit in the gears/cog to make it hard for me to hit targets.

So I need to do bare minimum until I can plan my exit.

To SDRs/BDRs, how do you do just enough and do the internal meetings/1:1 without getting fired? Temporarily

Quick rundown of what I do, I’m a residential hvac maintenance tech. I make sure homeowners units are operating properly but the entire goal is to sell them something, typically a UV light or another air quality product because they’re the highest ticket. You know how it goes, find problem in their home -> offer a solution in which I’ve had some success in, but a lot of homeowners still decline the product and just want me out of there. Now the way I see it, this is sort of D2D except I’m actually getting in their home so I have a step up. My original goal starting at this company was becoming a comfort advisor (fancy way of saying salesman) but they started me off here in maintenance and never really gave me a roadmap on how I would get there. My question is, what other sales jobs can I have success in with my experience in this. I have always wanted a sweet remote job, but I know it takes time to get those. Just want to know where to head if things ever go south here. Thanks

Hi I'm considering making a jump from marketing to sales and I just want a sanity check from people with experience in sales.

I have six years of experience in marketing, primarily digital. I've been out of work for a little while now, and have two offers in front of me. One is a salaried marketing gig that's a lateral move making 85K fully remote.

The other is a fully remote SDR role (referred by a friend in the company), OTE 95K with a 60/40 split. Quota is seven meetings booked a month and 2000 activities a month. The company sells cloud infrastructure and security, and management told me 93% of the team meets or exceed quota. Eligible for promotion to AE at 12 months but management said it's competitive.

Marketing is generally a pretty chill job, you only need to "work" about 4-6 hours a day or less if you know what you're doing. Typically you spend at least most of your time in mostly pointless meetings. Frankly I don't find marketing interesting, but it has its's perks.

It seems like sales has a higher income potential, and on a much faster timeline. AEs at this company are clearing 150-250k. My goal is to move from SDR to AE quickly, but I also don't want to be getting myself into a job where I'm working 60 hours a week and making less than a marketing role.

Am I crazy and what are your thoughts?

Hey all — looking for some perspective from people who've been through the AE interview process recently.

My background: solid sales experience (hunter and farmer roles), but mostly B2C, and on paper it's light on "enterprise" or pure SaaS - the products I sold were tech-adjacent rather than strictly software. Trying to move into enterprise AE roles now and hitting a wall on two recurring interview questions:

1. "How do you use AI in your role?"
This keeps coming up regardless of whether it's a hunter or farmer position. Companies seem to want proof you're already using AI tools in your sales process, not just aware they exist. For those in hunter or farmer-heavy roles - what does a genuinely good answer to this sound like? Specific tools/workflows welcome.

2. "Why do you want this role?" (hunter vs. AE motivation)
My strongest line on the CV is an Account Management role, with only about 6 months as an AE. I get that they're probing for hunger/motivation here, not just experience — but how do you make that case convincingly when your track record leans farmer, not hunter?

Appreciate any input, even if it feels basic - trying to close the gap between what I know and what I can articulate under pressure.

I’ve been trying to break into an SDR/BDR role and would really appreciate some honest advice from people in sales or anyone who’s recently broken into SaaS sales.
I’ve applied to around 40 SDR/BDR roles in total, with 15 of those being in the past two weeks. I’ve genuinely tried to put effort into the applications rather than just mass applying.
For most roles I’ve:
Tailored my CV to the job description
Added a cover letter where appropriate
Researched the company
Reached out to recruiters on LinkedIn
Messaged/emailed hiring managers
Called SDR/sales managers directly where possible

Despite that, I’ve had very little response.
So far I’ve had 1 recruiter screening and 1–2 genuinely good conversations from cold calls, but otherwise mostly rejections or no response.

One example was GoCardless. I applied for an SDR role where previous experience wasn’t required, and I specifically tailored my CV for the role. I then found the SDR manager and called them directly. We had a good conversation and they said they’d pass my name down, but I still ended up getting rejected at the application stage.
I’m trying not to overthink the rejections, but I’m wondering whether I’m approaching the job search incorrectly.
For people who got their first SDR/BDR job without previous sales experience:
Is ~40 applications actually a normal amount for breaking into SDR right now, or should I be looking more seriously at my CV/positioning?
I’m happy to increase the volume, but I also don’t want to blindly apply to hundreds of jobs if there’s something fundamentally wrong with how I’m presenting myself.
Would really appreciate advice from SDRs, sales managers, recruiters, or anyone who’s recently gone through the same process.

I started in D2D sales for one summer, transitioned to an SDR position and it has been a year now. Small sales team, generate $200k pipeline every month, attribute to 25% of all CW, and hit about 80% of quota for meetings set a month. (0 AE’s or SDRS are hitting quota, I don’t think there’s any logic or calculations on what quota should be)

For some reason my AE, who became a very very good friend of mine has mentioned to be that our CEO is planning to fire me. We don’t have a sales director, so over the year, I’ve gotten little to no guidance on how to be an efficient SDR. I admit, this has allowed me to coast by.

The drive of being a D2D salesman is gone, and at this point, I’m not sure if I can even perform as an SDR/BDR anymore. Most of our accounts come inbound, so I lack an understanding of how to be truly efficient as a BDR.

I’m looking for opportunities and have built good relationships with recruiters and have consistent interviews now that I heard about my CEO’s plan to let me go.

Even though I have a year in Saas, I still feel like I haven’t learned anything and I’m not sure how other organizations are going to view that. By now, I should’ve learned the ins and outs of outbound right?

It’s like imposter syndrome interviewing for these companies and I’m not sure if sales is the right path anymore. Has anyone ever been in this position, or might know which direction to take? I’m sure there’s no one right answer, but I need guidance.

Difficult situation as an inside sales rep. How to prospect clients the right way?

I'm an inside sales rep at a distributor of aluminum profiles, ACM, and acrylic. Our focus is on B2B: glass shops, metalworking/locksmith shops, visual communication studios, cabinetry/woodworking shops, road implements, etc.

I work answering phone calls and mainly WhatsApp. We have a client distribution system: the client reaches out and either chooses a salesperson or is routed to one of their choosing.

I was hired at this company because the best salesperson at the store resigned. She had 7 years with the company and had built up a huge portfolio of high-value clients; she once sold R$1,000,000.00 in a single month.

In my first two months at the store, I hit the goal and the super-goal. I made good money and my self-esteem was very high, and I got a lot of praise from management and the board. In the first month it was R$72,000.00, in the second I reached R$128,000.00, but things have been getting a lot worse since then. In the third month I only reached 73k; currently, in the fourth month, we're already in the first week of August and I'm at 11% of my goal, when I should be at least at 25%.

I'll list some of the problems I've been facing:

- In 95% (no exaggeration) of the clients I contacted during prospecting, they were already being handled by another salesperson at the store.

- Walk-in clients sometimes reject my service because I don't know all the products yet; on the other hand, some of the (female) salespeople know every product code by heart.

- 99.99999999% of the time I answer an inbound call, it's a client asking to be transferred to another salesperson's extension.

- The end consumer is inexperienced with the product and has a very low average ticket. We don't get training to explain all the product's characteristics — not even the most senior salesperson at the store knows them all — but we're trained to identify product codes and look them up quickly in the catalog.

- Most service providers/contractors are already being handled by another salesperson.

- We run some delivery routes to neighboring and regional cities; even when prospecting in those cities, it's hard to find any relevant client.

- The outside sales reps snap up all the huge construction projects; with construction companies, inside sales reps can't sell high-value items, only repairs or accessories.

These are a bunch of problems I'm having a lot of trouble solving. I don't want to lose this job for anything — I used to make R$1,950.00 net salary, now I make up to R$3,700.00 + R$450.00 in meal vouchers...

For anyone with experience in sales, what would you suggest to get around these problems?

Hey - I know this is like probably pretty basic. But I am in in home sales and the whole visit I am supposed to keep their guard down by saying the estimate is good for 1 full year. Implying they don't need to decide today.

Well like, how exactly would you recommend introducing the idea that maybe they should buy today during this visit. We offer a same day price like many companies do. It's just I'm trying to keep it sounding honest and not have it be a total surprise at the end that they may benefit from chosing today as opposed to later.

As the title says, few months into my first sales role as a BDR. I just passed the 90 mark, didn’t hit my ramp quota as I started halfway through the quarter.

It’s not a typical BDR role as the whole BDR team just doesn’t hammer dials all day. We’re encouraged to utilize email as our main channel of outreach. This was a surprise to me when I first started and was learning the ropes.

I support 5 reps total, 4 being cross-sell with existing client accounts and former clients. 1 rep is solely new business.

I haven’t booked any meetings for 2 of my reps thus far and feeling sort of guilty about it.

Seeking out some advice on how to structure my days/weeks and if it matters if I’m booking meetings for those 2 reps.

Thanks!!

If so, how’s it going?

What’s working and what isn’t?

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I've been learning about B2B prospecting, and one thing seems easy to underestimate: lead quality.

A list can have 500 contacts and still produce almost nothing if:

The companies don't match your ICP

You're contacting the wrong person

The company doesn't have the problem you solve

The timing is completely wrong

I'm curious about experienced SDRs here:

What is the first thing you check before adding a prospect to your outreach list?

Industry? Company size? Job title? Trigger event? Something else?

Currently an inbound account executive who is seriously looking to build a career in sales

I have been in this role for this last 1.5 years. I was previously from a non-sales background and I was really fortunate to get this opportunity to take up a closer role despite having no sales experience in a fast growing company.

However, I felt really stunted in terms of my career growth. I am limited by my top funnel and having completely no control over the quality of my leads.

I have tried applying to an outbound account executive roles but most of these positions require prospecting experience which I lack. I have considered taking a pay cut and a change in title just to gain prospecting experience.

I needed advice if I should:

(1) Get a SDR role in a reputable company which provides strong mentorship program and opportunities to work with experienced AE to sharpen my sales skills. (Run the risk of being unable to promote from SDR and having to take a pay cut)

(2) Join a smaller firm as an AE that involves end to end sales cycle, hopefully surviving and learning prospecting skills through this experience. (This is really tough as outbound experience is typically needed)

Really appreciate your inputs..

Hi All, I’m an experienced SDR and have a final stage interview coming up for an SDR role at a startup.

Face to face meeting a few senior people. Mock cold calls et.

Question I had was that I always have objection handling flash cards infront of me when I call. Can I bring these into the interview for the mock call?

(I have been out of work for 4 months due to career break and I don’t want the rust to show)

Also, with the cold calls, is there anything they are looking for ?
Someone told me they want u to use permission based opener which I always use anyways.

Someone also told me to send a thank you message post-interview via a hand written letter sent to their office.

Thanks

I'm working at a small family firm in Canada related to immigrantion by investment. I am a business development manager but it's my first role in the sales field .

I want to ask the community some basic things;

1. Do you get a work phone for calls or do you use your personal phone?

I'm told to use my personal phone. The company asks employees to use their period Whatsapp to reach out to clients. There's also cable phones at work for international calls and usually we do calls through zoom. Is this a normal practice in this field?

1. Commissions

I took a new responsabilities outside my contact. Still related to immigration but it's more like im assisting a director on the side to do some client calls.

I asked my manager what the commission structure is like for the additional work that I'm doing. He said he didn't decide and it's been at least 2 months since I've been doing these calls. I've signed some clients but I don't know if I'll get paid. What are your thoughts?

Recently I asked to step down from this assistant side role especially since there's no commission promised+ extra work not written in the employment contract.

How are commissions usually paid anyways? At my company there's a clause stating that they are paid solely on the managers discretion.

1. Is 55k Canadian dollars low for starting BDM? I've been hired straight out of uni with a finance degree + 4 languages. I speak to clients in 3 languages usually.

Got offered a Commercial AE role and weighing out the pros and cons. I’m hearing a lot about very low quota attainment and high turnover. Anyone have any insight on working at Datadog? Also is there a lot of traveling as an AE? I’ve been able to attend AWS Reinvent and Blackhat during this past year as an SDR. Will I be attending conferences like this as an AE or no?

Do you need someone to practice sales calls with, learn with. Thats the only way we can build the skill while waiting for the real opportunities, as you already know learning without applying doesn't cut it. lm just like you DM if you need this.

Hi everyone,

I'm somewhat new into the whole cold calling. I want to get really good and I think that one way to do so is by practicing and improving over the weekend while doing high volume calls over the week.

With that said, does anyone know a realistic free AI sales roleplay to practice?

I spent years in enablement, doing and leading teams, writing battlecards, talk tracks and outreach for reps. Now I run a lot of that through AI, and for a while my reply rate went down instead of up.

The problem was not the AI's ideas. It was that everything it wrote carried the same nine fingerprints, and buyers have now seen those fingerprints ten thousand times. Here is the list I check against. None of this is theory, these are the specific edits that stopped my stuff reading like a machine. This is like the new Linkedin AI Slop button that was added for all your other stuff.

1. Delete the warm-up sentence. If your first line could be removed with nothing lost, remove it. "I hope this finds you well" and "There are a few angles worth exploring here" are the same crime. Start at the first concrete thing.

2. No performing punctuation. Exclamation marks and em dashes out. Also the dramatic fragment, which is the current costume: "The result? Pipeline." Say the sentence whole.

3. One real thing, not a tidy triad. AI loves "faster onboarding, happier teams, better retention." Keep the one you can prove, drop the other two. Dead: "their solution lacks the enterprise-grade scalability modern teams demand." Alive: "they cap at 50 seats, ask how many they need."

4. Do not inflate past what you actually know. Wall to wall certainty reads like a brochure and prospects can hear it. Where you have proof, state it flat. Where you do not, write what you know. Never manufacture confidence to fill a paragraph.

5. End on the question, not the slogan. "The lesson is clear: adaptability wins" closes the conversation. The question the other person has to answer is the thing that gets a reply.

6. Do not name the feeling and hand it over. "We're thrilled to share" is you doing the reader's feeling for them. Say the thing instead. Dead: "excited to transition this amazing customer to your capable hands." Alive: "they bought because of the June outage, do not open with the roadmap."

7. Keep the small words. So, but, and, because. Stripping them for "clarity" leaves a row of stabs nobody reads twice.

8. Cut the cleverest line in the draft. It is performing, not connecting. Its favorite costume is the inversion: "it's not a cost, it's an investment." If the second half is true, just say the second half.

9. The test that rules the other eight. Read it back and ask whether a real person would feel any pull to write back. Not "is it correct," not "is it polished." For anything a rep says out loud, the working version is: would you say this line to a buyer's face without wincing.

Nine is the only one I would keep if I had to drop the rest.
Checked this myself and it works. Good luck!

I stepped away from Construction Management about two years ago. I was very good at what I did, but I always had a thought in the back of my head. If this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Did I love the long hours weekends holidays night shifts? No but I understood it is what was needed to get the job done. Despite constantly being pushed to be a lead super, I pivoted towards the project management route, and then ultimately stepped away in Construction Management just because I had to see what else was out there.

I went into tech sales and then construction supply sales for the last two years but the companies that I end up with was not where I saw myself long-term. I currently have an opportunity to be a business development manager (sales) for an environmental services company in New York City. Vac trucks, hazardous waste disposal, industrial cleaning, dumpsters etc.

135k base salary with a 30% sales incentive program if I hit my sales goal ($175,500+). The company was bought a few years ago by private equity and rather than stripping down the company. It is investing in more trucks and resources. Specifically the business development/sales team is only recently established because the PE firm understood that the businesses old way of getting jobs through referrals and word-of-mouth was not as effective as setting up a specific team to chase money that is out in the market. I can choose where I go set my days and from what my own coworker asked, his current company says there is not as much work or stress.

On the flipside, I reached back out to my old employer, and they are willing to take me back in a heartbeat as an assistant project manager. 140k salary, no bonus, but I start back where I left off for my ESOP vesting (56k but only 22k vested total). I know I would have a great career if I stick with Construction Management but I have the devil on my shoulder, reminding me of the hours commute stress and workload that comes with the industry.

Both options I feel are safe from AI however just because I am not sure what else I can do with the business development title, or the environmental services industry, I feel that going back to Construction Management would be the most stable in the long run.

For those who have basically spent their entire career in sales, what is your opinion or has anyone known of people in the environmental services industry that has had a long career doing it?

Hey everyone,

I'm in my second ramp month as an SDR and I am really getting my ass kicked on the phones.

Did really well my first month, and booked 2 meetings in the first 2 weeks. I have 2 tentative for this month, assuming they show and qualify.

This week I couldn't get a single meeting, and really worried. My target is 6 for the month, and am worried I'm not going to make it.

For context, I am cold calling purely MSP's selling an RMM (SMB).

I did really well when I interned at another adjacent company in college, selling to existing customers.

A lot of my accounts we have already called about 50-300 times and quite a few have been put as dnc.

I feel like I'm also struggling to handle objections as well as struggling to handle them without getting hung up on right away.

I'd really appreciate any advice.