There are no two ways about it. Cold calling potential clients can be a real challenge. It’s hard to call a stranger you’ve had little-to-no prior contact with, get them engaged, and then successfully pitch a product or service.
Going through this process repeatedly can be even more challenging.
That said, when done right, cold calling can be a great way to build sales and earn commissions—particularly these days with so much business being handled remotely.
With that in mind, here are some expert cold calling tips to help you bring in more sales.
1. Do Your Homework
The term “cold-calling” is a bit of a misnomer these days. If anything, you don’t want to go in cold. You want to go in prepared.
Study what your clients do, how long they’ve been doing it, and how. Research the best people to call at that business and look them up on LinkedIn or other social media sites. Learn about their experience, responsibilities, and how you might find some common ground. (The chances are good that they’re also looking you up, so have a respectable social media presence.)
While you might not be wholly successful at first, you are more likely to get a positive reception on a follow-up call if you come across as someone who shows particular interest in the company or the person you’re calling.
2. Know Your Prospect’s Challenges
When choosing prospects, select those that need what you sell. Instead of trying to convince prospects to purchase your product or service, find businesses that may be experiencing challenges you can help with.
Any product or service should deliver some kind of solution and value. Don’t waste time with prospects who may not appreciate what you have to offer. Instead, focus on potential clients with a problem you can help solve.
3. Adopt A Cold-Calling Persona
The cold-calling process can be emotionally draining—particularly if you hear the word “no” a lot. It’s hard not to take that personally after a while.
One method veteran cold-callers use is adopting a cold-calling persona. This doesn’t mean being dishonest and coming up with a fake background. Instead, it’s about mentally separating your personal self from your work self. You can do this with a slight change of pitch in your voice. Or simply by tilting your head a certain way when on a sales call.
Consider this akin to putting on a metaphorical business suit you can take off and put aside at the end of the day. It’s a small tip, but it can go a long way in helping you maintain your cold-calling endurance.
4. Know Your Script
If you don’t want to sound like you’re reading from a script, then don’t read from a script.
Memorize, practice, and work in a few alternative lines to make you sound more natural.
Clients can tell almost immediately when someone is reading off a page or computer screen, and it’s an immediate turn-off—knowing your script and presenting it like a human being makes you more relatable and gives you a better chance of success.
5. Try Not To Sound Pushy
Easier said than done, right?
Fortunately, there are three simple tricks to help with this.
Don’t act like a salesperson. Instead, act like a fellow business person or consultant.
Identify your target’s challenges, and then discuss how you can help. Introduce your product or service as a solution to a pain point.
Ask open-ended questions to get the customer to feel more engaged in your call.
The idea is to keep the prospect on the phone. Sounding too pushy will end your call before you can make a pitch for a sale or a follow-up meeting. On the other hand, if you can keep your prospect on the line—with them doing most of the talking—for around seven minutes, your success rates should improve.
6. Identify Why They Might Say No, and Be Ready
Turning a no into a yes.
Before placing your call, see what you can do to identify their reasons for saying no beforehand. If you can figure this out, you’re in a better position to focus on finding solutions and steering your prospect toward finding the value in your product or service themselves and then saying yes to your offer.
We’re All Human
It’s easy to see prospects as numbers and cold calls as mere lists.
Remember that on the other side of every phone call or video screen is a living, breathing person with their own responsibilities, goals, and lives.
The real key to successful cold calling is connecting with people, and the only way to do that is to recognize our shared experiences. We’re all human, after all.
If you are looking for top cold-calling talent for your organization, reach out to Rainmakers!
https://www.rainmakers.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/best-cold-calling-tips.jpg8531280Joe Rhttps://rmblogdev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo.pngJoe R2022-06-22 15:51:592023-04-28 13:56:476 Cold-Calling Tips That Actually Work
The coronavirus has ushered in a lot of change over the last year. Despite initial economic fears of a global shutdown, those in the sales tech industry actually saw a lot of opportunity open up in front of them as companies were scrambling to set up remote workforces. Suddenly, those who were initially hesitant began seeing the value crystal clear as circumstances changed and industries pivoted to meet new consumer and business needs.
This surge in opportunities for SaaS sales might leave employees feeling stuck in overdrive, as if they should continue to strike while the iron’s hot. Couple this with all the transformations in the work environment and our daily lives and it can shake even your best workers. Finding ways to avoid burnout should be a top priority among workplaces today as it is not only crucial for your own individual health, but for the health of the company as well.
In most instances, you know there’s some kind of solution you could implement to help improve your day or a particular pain point. Cutting through the clutter to find what you truly need can be just as daunting a problem in itself, so you end up just tackling it all head on. Luckily, we’ve rounded up a list of apps that can help improve both your overall wellness and productivity so you can remain a sharp salesperson.
Wellness
Not only does the pandemic put people at risk for catching the virus itself, but at this point, it’s been an emotionally taxing issue for more than a year. Many people who did not sign up for remote work are coming up on a full year of isolation from their coworkers. Some people have already made the transition back to the office, or it is coming up soon, as the vaccine continues to be administered.
All this to say, finding ways to take care of yourself has become even more essential. You never know what curveball is going to come next and the stress can really take a toll on your body, which will have an impact on your productivity.
Staying nourished and meeting your daily vitamin needs has never been so important. One of the detriments of a busy lifestyle can be a lack of time to devote to your nutrition and the wear it takes on the body over time. Pre-COVID, you might have been used to meeting up with clients or prospects during lunch, but over the last year this might have changed quite a bit.
Downloading an app like goPuff may just help you keep your edge. Not only does it come in handy when you need a midday pick-me-up, but it is a hassle-free way to get the energy and nutrients you need to make a lasting impression on a prospective client. Plus, this delivery service offers contact-free options.
It’s also helpful on those days when it feels like you’re coming down with something, but need to power through back to back meetings. When this happens, you can get over-the-counter medicine delivered so you don’t have to miss a beat. For other creative, time-saving hacks, browse through what other customers had to say in their goPuff reviews about the delivery app.
Balance the busiest of schedules, without completely sacrificing your personal needs.
With so many people new to remote work over the last year, the internet has been abuzz with jokes regarding poor posture due to inadequate furniture to work from. But let’s face it, even a few hours in the best ergonomically designed chair still warrants some break time.
Especially for SaaS sales, you may have small windows during the day in between meetings with your manager or client calls. Getting up and taking a break to get the blood flow going again might just be the refresher your day is missing.
With FitOn, you can choose from a number of different stretching exercises that vary in time and intensity. This is perfect for choosing the best option that fits within your individual schedule and physical needs. Then at the end of the workday, you might want to consider perusing all of the other exercises they have available, from workouts designed to incorporate children to exercise plans that can be done right at home.
Whether the pressure is on at work, or you’re feeling anxious from any number of things going on in the world today, one great way to stop and refresh yourself is to meditate. Meditation can be particularly helpful, especially now with resources available like Headspace.
Choose from their large selection of guided meditations tailored to your specific needs. It doesn’t matter if you’re new, or have been practicing this exercise for years. Their clips each have someone calmly guiding you through the process step by step.
We’ve all been there, in the middle of a frustrating quarter, and you’re finding it hard to focus or feeling irritated because leads aren’t converting. With guides surrounding focus, anger, creativity and many more, you can have a quick session to work through these moments to renew yourself and pivot your momentum. If you’re unsure if meditation is for you, consider checking out what other users had to say about their experiences using Headspace.
Another impactful part of our health that can interfere with performance is our mental health. Reports of anxiety and depression are reaching new highs, so if you share these concerns know you are not alone. Your mental health shouldn’t just be a priority because it is affecting how productive you are in a day, but because it is our system of coping mechanisms for taking in not only our job but everything else going on around us everyday.
With that being said, you may not have even been aware you were struggling until it started seeping into your workday. Whether or not it gets that bad, its best to try to connect with a professional. For a SaaS salesperson, you might typically find it difficult to add in a commute or a non-work appointment with a counselor to address these concerns of yours. Luckily, with an app like Talkspace, you can have 24/7 access when you need it, and eliminate an extraneous commute altogether.
Talkspace is covered for many by their insurance provider or as part of their company’s employee assistance programs (EAP). Check out your own eligibility to get started on your mental health journey.
Productivity
Once your mind and body are well cared for you can get into the nitty gritty of your individual workflow. As a SaaS sales professional, you’ll need to be keeping tabs on the burgeoning tech trends and also be able to converse with business professionals speaking to some of their more general business interests. Here’s our roundup to fine-tune your productivity.
Spend a day in the life of a SaaS salesperson, and you’re sure to want something to help keep your thoughts organized. Each meeting has a different string of thoughts. Being prepared for a meeting with your manager is quite different than a meeting with a prospective client, not to mention how different your clients might be from one another.
With an app like Evernote you can sync your project and meeting notes across your devices. You also have the capability to add in photos or pertinent documents. Or maybe you want to record the meeting so you are actively engaged in the conversation without the distraction of note-taking. You can add the audio file right to your meeting notes and go back through later to jot down any highlights you may want to circle back to.
There are various note templates available to get you started that can keep even the most scattered of note takers end up with an organized record for each meeting, project, or client.
Working in tech sales means keeping tabs on the industry as a whole. When a prospect asks how your product will fit into their established workflow, you’ll need to be able to speak to how it will improve, supplement, integrate or replace any number of their existing systems.
Staying informed is essential to your on-going success. Every tidbit you pick up is preparation for getting that lead all the way through your sales funnel. While we certainly don’t live in a time with a shortage of information or information sharing, this usually just makes finding the most pertinent resources difficult.
With an app like Flipboard you can cut through irrelevant news to create your very own curated feed of tech and software updates and insights. Not only can you get this customized news, but you can browse through flipboards when brushing up on other industries. Looking for talking points for a prospective sale? Check Flipboard to see if anything of relevance is up and coming in their field and connect it back to your software’s capabilities.
Taking a step back from the tech and software specifics, another great tool at a salesperson’s disposal is being able to touch on the value of the product to their more general business interests. It’s also likely that as a salesperson, you’ll come across young businesses, start-ups, or companies that started out as such. Being familiar with venture capital could really step up your pitch.
With SmartUp, you can dive into the knowledge sharing space and either build upon your business wits or start totally from scratch. This app gives you access to learning communities of your choice where you can share what you learn, ask questions, and make yourself a stronger overall salesperson.
Final Words
As any good sales professional knows, having the ability to be flexible and make the most of opportunities is absolutely essential to your day to day and long term success. However, investing in yourself is also crucial to that success. Being your most productive and valuable self comes from a place of balance and setting aside time to make your health a priority and leaving time for personal development.
https://www.rainmakers.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/meditating_image-scaled.jpeg17072560Michael Fergusonhttps://rmblogdev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo.pngMichael Ferguson2021-03-15 19:15:522023-04-28 14:17:17Top Apps for SaaS Salespeople That Promote Productivity and Wellness
Maybe you’re unaware of this fact, but working as a salesperson ranks among the most common professions in the world.
More than 21 million people worldwide qualify to be known as a “salesperson,” according to a report by the professional networking website LinkedIn. Understandably, the designations may vary according to the company and your location.
Of these 21 million people, half are women, and a small percentage are also underage or minors, depending on the country’s labor laws.
What Does This Mean?
The sheer number of salespeople worldwide clearly points to one thing: almost every business on this planet requires people to promote and sell their products or services. Moreover, as more companies emerge across the globe, especially startups with innovative products and services, the number of salespeople will rise exponentially – to about 25 million – by 2025, say industry experts.
This means hiring a salesperson is vital to every business serious about staying in business. And thanks to the internet, salespeople are no longer required to call upon potential and existing customers physically. Instead, they can work online by sending emails nurturing business and chatting online with potential leads, all while performing other functions simultaneously.
Therefore, making an online presence is becoming increasingly important for every salesperson. If you’re a salesperson that’s serious about your career, it is high time you also craft an excellent online presence that aligns with your personal and professional goals.
Why Should Every Salesperson Have A Blog?
Some may consider sales a profession that doesn’t require or merit blogging, so you may wonder why I’m suggesting it.
Blogging is essential for every salesperson, whether working for a brick-and-mortar neighborhood or selling online for a large multinational company with a global presence.
Here’s why:
1) Blogging Makes You Popular
As a salesperson, you’ll be familiar with this scenario: some people will buy from you regardless of anything. And some people won’t convert as customers despite your best efforts and excellent service. This is part of human psychology; nobody can predict why a person trusts someone while distrusting the other, though both are perfectly honest.
However, it’s common knowledge that people will always approach a popular person when they wish to buy something. This flock mentality, as we call it, leads people to believe that a person is popular due to their honesty, integrity, and skills.
Blogging helps you to develop this trust factor among customers and potential leads. They’re curious about what you’re offering and would like to try working with you.
2) Honesty Breeds Loyalty
Understandably, only some things that your employer sells in the market will match customer expectations.
Blogging provides excellent opportunities to write honest reviews about your selling products or services. With some good writing skills, you can present the pros and cons of whatever you’re selling in a very positive light that doesn’t harm your employer or customer.
When you’re honest about what you’re selling as salesperson through a blog, it’s natural that customers and potential leads will be drawn to you. They’ll be interested in knowing more about a product or service and about you as an individual. Because your honest blog posts and reviews indicate that you’re there to serve the customer’s interest, it makes it easy for them to pinpoint you as a potential resource.
3) Interaction with Customers & Leads
Frequent, healthy interactions with existing customers and potential leads is the secret behind every salesperson’s success. Blogging increases the reach of potential leads you can work with more than cold calling and emailing alone. People interested in your products will ask questions before they buy. When you respond to their queries honestly and resolve every doubt, you can convert these leads into customers.
You can also make special offers to convert a lead into a client. And that works wonders for your career. That’s precisely what happens when you blog as a salesperson. Customers can post questions and comments about the product or service you’re promoting. Responding to concerns immediately by taking proper measures instead of allowing an issue to magnify will make your life easier as a salesperson, and you will be thankful.
Starting Blog from Scratch as a Salesperson
If you recognize how these three advantages can help your career as a salesperson, you might now be wondering where to start if you need to make one from scratch.
Here are some essential tips on how to get started:
Read or Watch an Excellent Tutorial
I’ll assure you that starting a blog from scratch isn’t difficult. However, you’ll have to exert some extra effort. There’re several outstanding tutorials online about how to start blogging. Read a good article written by any successful blogger. Most successful bloggers also have their own YouTube channels. Subscribe to this channel to learn about creating blogs catering to large audiences.
YouTube Videos on Blogging
Usually, every successful blogger shares their knowledge with people like us through their own YouTube channels. Look for these video tutorials from any excellent celebrity blogger from any country. Subscribe to their YouTube channel to get updates on what’s going on in the blogging world, and keep an eye out for trends in content or styling that can help you stay ahead of the curve.
Learn Basic Digital Marketing
Digital marketing consists of various processes that enable you to reach a broader audience looking for something specific such as your product or service. Nowadays, excellent digital marketing courses are very affordable and available online. As a salesperson, understanding digital marketing will help you succeed in marketing yourself and the business you represent.
Invest In a Paid Website
You can open a free blog or invest a little money on a paid website. Nowadays, you can get a domain name and host for as low as $99 per year using sites like Squarespace or Wix, which is reasonably affordable for every salesperson to start a blog from scratch. We recommend you opt for a WordPress website since updating it frequently and performing digital marketing processes are much easier on this hosting platform. There are also free options like Medium.
Use Social Media
No salesperson can afford to ignore the importance and relevance of social media. Your employer already has an excellent social media page on Facebook, a Twitter account, and some presence on YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and other platforms, but you can and should too. Promoting your blog by leveraging social media to get more followers that eventually translate into leads and sales is one of the easiest methods of reaching the largest audience.
In Conclusion
Now that you know how to start a blog from scratch, we suggest you start immediately. Blogging allows you to make money through online resources such as Google AdSense, sponsored posting, and affiliate marketing. So add to the success you aim to achieve as a salesperson by taking advantage of the many benefits of starting a blog. Good luck!
If you’re a salesperson looking to jump-start your career or make the next big move, Rainmakers can help connect you with companies seeking a skilled sales rep like you. Join our career marketplace. Sign-up now!
https://www.rainmakers.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Why-Every-Salesperson-Should-Blog-and-How-to-Start-from-Scratch-1.jpg9001600Michael Fergusonhttps://rmblogdev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo.pngMichael Ferguson2020-02-14 22:56:132023-04-28 14:17:22Why Every Salesperson Should Blog and How to Start from Scratch
This week Rainmakers sat down for a conversation with Hannah and Isabella from Girls In Tech, a global non-profit founded in 2007 that works to put an end to gender inequality in high-tech industries and startups while empowering women in tech and entrepreneurship.
We wanted to find out how exactly Girls In Tech can benefit women who are interested in sales jobs in the tech industry, and how we can help their mission.
Hannah, who is a Partnerships Manager for Girls In Tech, explains how often there is a large discrepancy between the number of men and women on a sales force and how that can affect the perception of what is seen as the right “sales person type.” Girls In Tech provides a place for women to develop their sales skills and practice within the realm of their sessions to ultimately become more competitive in the sales workforce. Isabella also stated the importance of networking and community within the 10,000 members of Girls In Tech, with each part of the organization there to support the dreams and ambitions of women in tech sales.
In addition to offering a wide range of services like boot camps, voting courses, hackathons, and professional development workshops, Girls in Tech also organizes events like the upcoming “Perfecting the Tech Sales Interview” event on January 23rd in San Francisco, CA.
More info on the event is below. If you’re interested in attending, you can REGISTER HERE.
Event Agenda:
6:00 pm – 6:30pm: Arrivals/Networking 6:30pm – 8:00pm: Speed Interviewing and Resume Editing 8:00 – 9:00: Happy Hour and Networking
Companies In Attendance:
Verkada makes enterprise physical security systems for the Internet of Things (IoT) era. Crunchbase is the leading destination for company insights from early-stage startups to the Fortune 1000. VoiceOps uncovers critical coaching opportunities in your calls. Optimized for high-volume sales teams. Rippling makes it unbelievably easy to manage your team’s payroll, benefits, computers, and apps — all in one, modern platform.
Our full conversation with Girls In Tech is below if you’re interested in hearing more about ways they empower more women to join the tech world and how you can get involved:
For women who are interested in making a move into the world of tech sales and are looking for help landing their dream job, check out Girls In Tech and consider attending or volunteering at their upcoming event on January 23rd.
For more information on Rainmakers visit Rainmakers.co
https://www.rainmakers.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Copy-of-What-To-Know-About-Getting-Hired-by-a-Startup-as-a-Salesperson-2.jpg9001600Michael Fergusonhttps://rmblogdev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo.pngMichael Ferguson2020-01-16 19:18:372023-04-28 13:56:28How ‘Girls In Tech’ Empowers More Women To Enter the Tech World
What do business magnate Sir Richard Branson, SEO and social media marketing guru Neil Patel, and best-selling author Mark Manson have in common?
A solid personal brand.
What is personal branding?
Personal branding has become a crucial part of success for anyone with a skill or service to offer the world—the modern-day entrepreneur, merger & acquisition consultant, author, artist, independent contractor, sales and marketing professional, or self-employed freelancer. Through personal branding, renowned experts can set themselves apart from others in their field.
Personal branding is the practice of marketing yourself and your career as a brand. It encompasses your reputation, expertise, skills, personality, values, and attitudes, among a multitude of other things. It is the image that other people see or think of when hearing your name.
Why is personal branding important?
Nowadays, even large companies no longer solely rely on their corporate brand. Instead, they also hinge on an individual’s personal brand (usually their founder or CEO) to build their image and reputation.
Individuals who build their business around their area of expertise, like authors, speakers, coaches, or freelancers also make use of personal branding strategies to distinguish themselves from would-be competitors and to attract clients. The reality is, nowadays, without a powerful personal brand, even experts will find themselves struggling to grow or even maintain their business.
Below are seven clear and actionable personal branding tips and strategies you can follow to kick-start your branding strategy.
Find your niche and build your expertise
The first and biggest step to creating your personal brand strategy is finding your expertise. Whatever industry you’re in, you’ll want to shine in a particular niche within that industry. There’s a common misconception that it’s better to be broad about your specialization for you to capture a larger market. Perhaps this might have worked for some at the start, but in the long run, those who go on to be successful are those who have found that one specialized field they can excel at.
Take Pat Flynn‘s example. From the broad industry of online entrepreneurship and digital marketing, he found his niche as an expert in creating passive income. This can be done in any field or industry. Finding your niche will help unlock two important questions: who your target market is and what your unique selling proposition will be.
Have a consistent visual brand identity (that’s tied to your personality)
Your brand identity is often the first impression your potential customers will have of you. It includes your choices on what to name your business, logo design, color palette, graphics, and even photos you choose to share on your blog, website, or social media.
It even encompasses the way you dress for success. It can be hard to understand why it’s important to build consistent visual brand identity or even to have one at all, but visuals play an important role when it comes to differentiation, recall, and even perception of quality.
Develop a strong value proposition
After finding your niche, the next step is to position yourself within it. Research your competition and figure out what sets you apart. Some questions you can ask to determine your USP or unique selling proposition are:
What specific problems are you trying to solve?
What are the skills you have, and what can you offer to your audience?
Why should your audience care about what you have to say?
What new insights or solutions are you offering?
What are you passionate about? What do you stand for?
Create your content and social strategy
If you’re seeking to establish yourself as an industry expert, content marketing is going to be your best friend.
Remember, content marketing gets three times more leads than paid search advertising, yet costs 62% less than traditional marketing.
Content marketing is also what’s going to help your website rank. Focus on creating long, in-depth articles (1000 words or more) that answer a question or problem within your niche. You can search for top keywords or search queries using free tools like AnswerthePublic or Ubersuggest.
Make sure to stay on top of social media trends and topics relevant to your industry. Offer your audience useful content like infographics or free ebooks.
Figure out your modes of communication
Ask yourself: where can I engage with people from my target audience? Then be there for them. Let them find you where they already hang out. Take advantage of the social media platforms available to you and engage with them by replying to their comments on your posts or any feedback they leave on your social media page.
Consider investing in an official website for your brand. Or, you can start with publishing on platforms such as Medium. What’s important is that you have a platform for sharing your expertise and allowing people to find you.
Seek out mentors and build your network
Building a successful personal brand doesn’t happen overnight, and neither does it happen alone. A study found that 80% of CEOs said they have had a mentor help them in their respective careers.
Mentors can be a great asset when you’re just starting out on building your personal brand. The right mentor can show you how they achieved success and how to avoid common pitfalls or mistakes, and, very importantly, introduce you to more experts and mentors you can learn from.
Final Words
If there’s one key thing to remember when creating your personal brand, it’s to be authentic. A personal brand isn’t a persona or a facade to put on in front of an audience. People have a way of finding out if a person is being genuine or not. Your personal brand should be just that: personal to you. Consider your brand as an extension of all the good things about your personality, values, skills, and expertise.
Moreover, becoming an expert in your industry won’t happen overnight. As they say, there is no shortcut to success. You’ll need to put in countless hours of hard work, create lots of useful content, experiment with different techniques and tools, and above all, be yourself.
https://www.rainmakers.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/salesperson-personal-branding-tips.jpg8531280Michael Fergusonhttps://rmblogdev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo.pngMichael Ferguson2019-12-17 05:24:152022-11-11 18:35:57How to Successfully Build Your Brand as an Industry Expert
The resume is continually evolving and what seemed standard and beneficial just a few years ago can become a disadvantage in the current recruiting environment. With employers receiving an average of 50 to 75 resumes per role they post, making your resume stand out can sometimes seem like a moonshot. Making matters worse, your resume generally has less than 10 secondsto make a positive impression and avoid being flushed down the drain.
While a LinkedIn profile is very important, resumes still matter, and some organizations (especially enterprise companies) will want to see a resume in order for you to apply. In this guide, we’ll provide 25 actionable sales resume tips so you can land the sales job you’ve always dreamed about.
Under these dismal conditions, what should a smart sales professional on the lookout for a dream job do?
First, don’t panic. If there’s a science to selling, there’s an art to writing resumes. All you have to do is learn it. Fortunately, career sites, professional coaches, and hiring managers have been sharing their insight on how best to make your resume shine.
Here are 25 sales resume hacks that will compel recruiters to take your application to next level.
1) Go for high impact.
Ideally, resumes should pack a punch. But that is hardly the case in real life. In fact, recruiting managers regularly receive hundreds of generic resumes that look and sound similar, echoing the same cliches, and even sharing the same grammatical errors. Not surprisingly, weak resumes just become fodder for the recycling bin at the end of every recruiting period.
Remember: The three goals of sending a resume are…
1) to signal an Intention.
2) to convey Information.
3) to make an Impact.
So create one that is unique, memorable, personalized for each employer, and clear about the value and benefits you offer. You can’t sell yourself by being generic or timid.
2) Leave a strongly positive impression.
Making an impact is good, but standing out for the wrong reasons is definitely bad. A resume that seeks to differentiate itself through artificial methods (i.e., larger/smaller paper size, loud colors, too much images, arrogant/disrespectful language, radically different content formats, etc.) will likely get the resume owner into a blacklist.
Do this instead: you can still be creative and impactful while adopting best practices, maintaining high standards, and conforming to effective formats. There are many ways to leave a positive impression: crisp language, elegant and readable formatting, relevant but rare sales skills, remarkable sales accomplishments, highly sought after certifications, awards and accolades.
3) Customize your message for every employer.
Your resume may be about you but it is also very much about the recruiter. Avoid sending a one-size-fits-all resume, especially to employers you really admire and want very much to join.
As a rule of thumb, always think about the specific recruiter or employer you are aiming for when authoring or structuring your resume. Consider one or more of the following —
Mention the specific employer in the Current Career Objective section (if you intend to have one.)
Respond directly to the employer’s job post or ad by highlighting your skills, certifications, training, or qualifications using the style, ordering, or language used by the recruiter.
Research about the services and products of the employer and make the case for how you can sell such offerings.
Showcase the value and benefits the employer gets if they were to hire you.
4) Make it sweet and short.
Your resume is the elevator pitch you use in the job market. Go ahead: Be impactful and make an impression but do both as fast as you can. Go for a single-page resume whenever possible and avoid exceeding two pages. Unless specifically requested by the recruiter, never send multi-page resumes.
5) Always have a summary section.
Provide a quick way for the recruiter to assess your credentials and potential value using a summary section near the beginning of your resume. If you are not using an Objective section, then positioning your career or profile summary just after your Contact Information section is best.
In the summary, showcase unique experiences and accomplishments. Mention the demonstrable benefits the employer can expect to get when they hire you. The summary section should be articulated using elegant and crisp language and should clearly articulate your value proposition.
6) Watch your language.
Avoid trite, formal, legalistic, or jargon-ridden text. Think about recruiters forced to skim through dozens of resumes that sound like a lease agreement or a private policy statement every single day.
Instead, go for a smart and casual business tone using crisp and simple but elegant language. Use power words (contextual terms that resonate with specific types of employers) but refrain from cliches and stale expressions.
Every aspect of your resume — formatting, sectioning, print quality, fonts, language, etc. — should be optimized for readability. Think of your resume as an app or a website and recruiters as users. User experience (UX) must be optimal for recruiters to even consider reading key sections of your resume. If your resume is haphazardly formatted or uses confusing language, recruiters will be more irritated than impressed.
8) Think strategically.
Depending on your situation, you can use a historical, functional, hybrid, or other types of resumes. For example, consider complementing a standard curriculum vitae with a video resume if you are trying to land a job with a media or advertising company. Use a functional resume if you are entering the workplace fresh from college and you have very little employment history to speak of. Always adopt what is best for your particular situation.
9) Answer common questions recruiter/employer
Anticipate the questions employers ask when looking for top talent. Using your resume, provide quick answers to the most pressing questions they might ask. Here are some you should consider:
What are your most important achievements when it comes to sales?
Have you won any award or accolade?
How did your previous employers benefit from your performance?
What is your average win rate for all the employers and products you worked with (Do not answer if your performance is less than sterling.)
What’s the estimated value in real dollars of the deals you have successfully closed for each employer?
Which sales skills or techniques have you mastered? Show proof.
How do you handle challenging leads or situations.
10) Formatting matters.
Adopt a stylish format but don’t get too creative that recruiters begin to focus more on visuals and optics instead of your core message. Consider the aesthetics of your resume but not to the point that you de-prioritize brevity, readability, or conciseness. Use prominent section headings to help recruiters easily find what they are looking for. Deploy bullet points instead of long paragraphs whenever applicable.
11) Organize your profile into clearly defined sections.
The main sections of a standard resume are —
Contact Information
Profile Summary
Relevant Certifications, Licenses, or Awards
Work Experience (typically arranged in reverse chronological order)
Education
Depending on the situation, your strategy, or the availability of information or support, you can include one or more of the following optional elements:
Personal Brand Tagline (this can be a personal quote or a catchy description that highlights your credentials, favorite technique, or mantra/philosophy as a professional)
Current Career Objective
Achievements (Bulleted items. Use if f there are too many to include in the short summary)
Personal Info (Use only if somewhat relevant to the role or company you are focusing on. If so, you can mention volunteer work, hobbies you are passionate about, or non-work related achievements that enhance your character. Avoid mentioning sensitive issues such as politics and religion).
Character References
12) Provide complete and clean contact information.
Make it easy and convenient for recruiters or employers to get back to you when they need clarifications or when they want to go ahead with a job interview. Give clear, complete, and correct email addresses, phone numbers, and home address. Provide the links to your LinkedIn profile, portfolio site, blog, or other personal/professional websites.
However, do not use or mention email addresses, blogs, or other identifiers that do not help your personal brand. Email addresses such as loverboy1299@gmail.com or blog sites such as Bad Girl’s Revenge hardly exude competence or professionalism.
13) Achievements vs. Responsibilities
Always favor accomplishment over responsibility. Describing your skills, tasks, and functions is ok, but telling a story about how you use those skills or performed those tasks to achieve organizational goals is a lot better. So instead of merely saying that you performed sales ops functions as an analyst, you can say that you created a data-driven strategy that helped sellers improve their win rate by 10%.
14) Don’t include the Stone Age in your Work Experience section.
If you have been in the job market for awhile and have worked for quite a number of employers, focus on your career milestones in the last ten years or so. Recruiters are more interested in your current and more recent employment history than they are about your stint as a part-time librarian when you were in high school. For the same reason, arrange your employment history in reverse chronological order. Use brief descriptions and cite noteworthy achievements whenever applicable.
15) Even an A+ won’t compensate for poor sales metrics.
Highlight your academic achievements if you are new to the workplace. Mention relevant papers or projects you’ve made, as well as honors you have earned as a student. If you’ve been around though, prioritize work experience and accomplishments over education. That means positioning employment history above education in your resume.
16) Certified, trained, and ready to roll.
Recruiters seek candidates who have undergone verifiable training programs or have earned relevant field certifications. Position the Training and Certification section if the role you are applying for strongly requires such qualifications. Some of the mostcoveted certificationsin sales include the Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP), Certified Sales Executive (CSE), and Cornell University’s Executive Leadership Certification.
17) Get personal if it helps your brand.
You can opt to add a Personal Information section in your resume if space permits and if mentioning something beyond your sales career enhances your professional brand. For example, volunteer work for a worthy (non-divisive) cause certainly helps create a picture of social responsibility and commitment to a community. A hobby such as scale modeling may explain how you have developed discipline and a keen attention to detail. On the other hand, your sports life may explain your highly competitive nature.
18) Sales is a numbers game.
Quotas, win rates, and revenue are all expressed as numbers. Your sales performance is measured in metrics. That is why a salesperson’s resume without the right numbers will never make the cut. Whenever possible, quantify your achievements to help recruiters assess your potential.
19) Get visual.
If you can fit them in your resume, visual aids such as graphs and charts can add style and clarity to your message. Some resumes look exactly like infographics. However, you should only add visuals if it matches your message and is relevant to the particular employer you are currently engaging.
20) Inaccuracy will destroy you.
The work history, achievements, figures, dates, and other information in your resume should always be accurate. At worst, inadvertent errors will erode your chances of getting selected, specially if you have comparable rivals for the position who have submitted error-free resumes. On the other hand, intentional inaccuracies (i.e., lies) — when caught — can send your name into a database of blacklisted jobseekers. More importantly, you wouldn’t want to be branded as “dishonest” in an industry that already attracts its hefty share of suspicion.
21) ABC means “always be consistent.”
Structurally and content-wise, your resume should demonstrate a high degree of consistency. That means section headings and line spacings should be rendered the same way throughout the document and that entire resume conforms to a recognizable and visually appealing format.
Content-wise, the resume should have a uniform tone and language when articulating your value proposition or when describing your achievements. Furthermore, all information you include in the resume must agree with all the information about you that can be accessed publicly (such as your profile on LinkedIn and other social media sites). Most profile inconsistencies are likely to be minor but a few might erode your authenticity as a sales professional.
22) Review, update, and polish.
Unless you’re close to retiring, resumes are always works in progress that require constant review, updating, and polishing.
Proofread your resume for structural, grammatical, or factual errors. Allow your friends or a professional editor to help you polish your resume. Remember, incorrect grammar and spelling impacts how recruiters view your professionalism, discipline, and attention to detail. Use relevant, crisp, and smart language to show the depth of your understanding and demonstrate your potential as a sales leader.
23) Look at other resume examples
Try to find other resume examples that are relevant to your industry and experience. This can help you zero in on which key words and KPI’s you should include in your own.
24) Go beyond a resume or a LinkedIn profile.
Resumes have traditionally been the primary ticket for navigating the job market. You send a resume to signal that you’re interested in and applying for a job at a particular employer.
There are now many other channels for reaching businesses looking for talent. These include LinkedIn, online portfolio sites, and referral systems. There are even tools that allow you to create infographic and video resumes. These forms are becoming more popular. Lastly, don’t overlook specialist services that provide profile pages for field/sector-specific professionals. Salespeople for example, can create compelling online profiles on Rainmakers.
25) Make your brand worth selling.
You are a brand as much as a seller. If you can sell esoteric products and services few people care about, then you should be able to sell yourself.
As an integral element of your personal sales and marketing kit, your resume plays a crucial role in getting you through the screening door and into the position you are aiming for.
You’re good at selling so practice what you do best: research like crazy about the customer (employer), customize your pitch to establish a strong connection, articulate your value proposition (the benefits the employer gets by hiring you), and clinch the deal.
https://www.rainmakers.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/sales-resume-tips-image.jpg12002000Michael Fergusonhttps://rmblogdev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo.pngMichael Ferguson2019-09-19 17:01:172020-04-30 22:11:5925 Sales Resume Tips to Stand Out From the Clutter in 2020
2020 is around the corner and you want to get a new job in tech sales. Problem is, you’re not sure if you have the experience. Well, you’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we’ll explain how to go about getting a tech sales job in seven steps, even if you have limited experience.
Step 1: Basic Research
Making any important decision in life, like lookig for a new job, often begins with research. In order to wrap your head around the tech sales ecosystem, do some basic searches around tech sales stack examples, major players in the industry, what types of roles there are, and how you can move up the ranks over time. Be sure to also familiarize yourself with the terminology of any verticles you are particularly interested in, as you would not want to be caught off guard in a conversation with a possible recruiter down the line.
Step 2: Build A Tech Oriented Sales Resume
Your resume is a representation of you, so you want it to reflect on you in the best way possible and highlight your strengths. Even if you are competing against seasoned salespeople, you can get the most out of the experience you do have.
Think back to your past experiences and pull together a summary of the most relatable sales skills you can bring over into your new responsibilities as a sales representative in the tech industry.
Not sure what those relatable skills might be? No worries, we’re here to help you out.
For starters, if you have any sales experience at all from a previous job that’s absolutely a great place to start. Whether or not you’ve specifically sold technology, if you’ve gone about selling anything, much of the selling process remains the same.
You’ll still be uncovering as much information as you can about your prospective customer in order to learn what it is that they want or need and then tying the underlying reasons behind that desire back to your product or service.
What if you don’t have any previous sales experience?
Don’t worry, you can still find a way. At the end of the day, sales is simply the profession of persuasion. No matter what kind of work experience you have, you’ll almost certainly have had to do some kind of persuading.
Whether it was persuading your co-workers to jump on board with your new idea or even to go eat together at a particular restaurant, what you’ve been doing is persuading people. That said if you really can’t think of any situations where you’ve done some kind of persuading, well… perhaps you may want to reconsider a profession in sales.
Let’s move on. So now you’ve got your resume all built up and polished. What next? Getting interviews.
Step 3: Begin Your Job Search Process
There are many ways you can go about this. You can go directly to a company’s website to look for open positions if you have a specific one in mind, but more often than not you’re going to need some help with even identifying what companies you’d like to work for.
This is where platforms and recruiters can come in handy. If you do some searching online there are plenty of them, even ones dedicated specifically to tech sales, that you can leverage. Of course, we can help you too.
Step 4: Make Sure You Prepare For Your Interview FAR Ahead Of Time
There are a few things you’re going to want to do before you step foot into the room with your potential employer.
Research about the company itself.
Learn when they were founded.
Learn their products and and unique value proposition.
Discover what differentiate them from the other players in the market.
Find any other details that seem important to be informed about.
Recent news about and announcements from the company are always a plus.
Step 5: Learn Your Target Company’s Sales Process (And Picture Yourself In It)
Above all, you’ll want to really familiarize yourself with their sales process. After all, you are applying for a position in sales.
Prospecting
You need to understand the following things intimately:
Who are your potential customers are and how will you find them?
What tools or services will you be using?
If you’re not sure, this can actually be a great question for you to ask during your interview.
What are the tools and services the company is using today?
Why did they choose to bring on those specific tools?
Engaging
Questions to ask yourself:
How are you going to reach out and get connected with your prospects?
What’s the reasoning behind your strategy?
Based on the company’s target industry, market and customer profiles – what methods do you think will be most effective? And why?
Discovery
Here’s what you should do:
Schedule a time to have a conversation with your prospect to learn more about them.
What is their current situation?
What problems are they dealing with?
Based on what you uncover, think of the ways you can best articulate the ways in which your company’s products or services can alleviate those pains.
Closing
In technology sales, the step that usually comes after the discovery is the demo.
This is where you as the sales rep have the floor and opportunity to clearly illustrate to your prospect how their lives will be improved through the use of your product or service.
You do this by relating the benefits your company provides to the problems they voiced to you during the discovery part phase.
There may be a bit of back and forth after that in terms of negotiation and the need to deal with a procurement team but soon after the demo the final step you’ll want to end with is closing the deal.
This is when your prospect and the involved stakeholders have made the decision to move forward in doing business with your company and are willing to put pen to paper, or so to say.
Step 6: Revisit and Master Stages of the Sales Funnel
A great way to think of this process from a high level is to think of it much like a funnel.
In fact, the concept of a sales funnel is very prevalent in the world of technology sales and is something you’ll likely want to familiarize yourself with as well.
You can easily do a search for this term online and get a quick understanding of what it is and how it would work for a business. As a quick summary though, it’s the idea of taking a large number of leads, which you then refine into prospects based on some target criteria, and ultimately convert into customers by putting them through the sales process.
Awesome. So you’ve done your research and taken the time to understand what the sales process is and how it works. All that’s left for you to do now is nail the interview.
Step 7: Nail The Interview
There’s a ton of advice out there around the best ways to approach an interview but here are a few pointers to help you get started.
Be on time. In fact, show up a bit early so you have some time to spare. Trust me, having that little extra time before the interview to level-set and get your head straight can only bode well for you.
Next, keep in mind that most hiring managers are likely looking for 3 primary qualities.
Those are competency, character and the ability to learn.
Competency is simply a measure of whether or not you can do the job at hand. If given the opportunity, would you be someone the company can rely on to get things done effectively?
Character is important because let’s face it, whether you like it or not, co-workers are people we end up spending a lot of time with. As such your potential boss is probably looking to see if you’re someone he/she can stand having around and, more importantly, if you’re someone he/she can trust.
The last quality you want to make sure to convey to the person at the other side of the table is the ability to learn.
As a bonus, you may want to think about emotional intelligence too. This will help you to become more empathetic as a sales professional, something that employers definitely care about.
Sure, it’s great and all if you’re a good person who’s capable of doing the job at hand but, that’s not all that’s important in the work place. Change is imminent in all aspects of life and business is no different. Your boss is going to want to know that, should it become necessary, you’ll be someone who’s open to new ideas and willing to adapt to the changing circumstances rather than someone who is always stuck in their old ways.
Again there’s a ton more information out there on additional things you can do to do well on an interview but keep these things in mind and you should land your dream job in tech sales in no time. Now go out there and make it rain!
https://www.rainmakers.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/how-to-get-tech-sales-job-2.jpg12702000Michael Fergusonhttps://rmblogdev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo.pngMichael Ferguson2019-09-19 16:33:402020-04-30 22:11:59How To Get A Tech Sales Job In 2020 (Even With No Experience)
What do the CEO of Oracle, the founder of Sequoia Capital, and Mark Cuban have in common? All started their careers selling technology.
Software sales is an excellent way to jump-start your career whether or not you plan on working in tech long term. Here are the primary software sales career paths to know and understand:
SDR to AE
SDR to SDR Manager
AE to Sales Management
In this article, we’ll go over traditional and nontraditional career paths that begin with software sales. Then, we’ll detail how much money you can expect to make and give tips on getting where you want.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term or position, SDRs don’t actually sell software.
Instead, they help expand the pipeline of Account Executives (AE’s) by cold calling and emailing potential clients. The SDR role prepares a new employee to become an actual salesperson in the following ways:
SDRs learn to deal with the pressure of having aggressive sales goals in the form of a quota (not for revenue, but meetings set).
SDRs often have to explain details of the software and its use cases to potential clients in order when a potential client is on the fence about taking a meeting with an AE.
SDRs have the opportunity to join their AE’s calls (or they should be at a good company) and watch the AE complete demos and execute the sales process.
Think of being an SDR as being an apprentice. Depending on your company, you can expect to be an SDR for 6-24 months before becoming an AE.
How To Get Promoted In Sales
Being an SDR is a grind. The work is monotonous and stressful, and it’s safe to say that you want to get promoted out of this role as quickly as possible.
Here’s how you get promoted:
Perform well
Meet and exceed your quota every month
Do your best to be in the top 20% of your team
Behave well
Get along with your teammates and managers
Come to work on time, and don’t be the first one to leave
Be optimistic about working hard and set a good example
SDR to Account Executive
Getting promoted from SDR to Account Executiveis very straightforward, and most companies should be able to enable you to this role within a reasonable timeframe. However, if your priority is to become an AE as fast as possible, you should, as mentioned earlier, work for a small or medium-sized company that’s growing and that sells to smaller companies. On the other hand, if you don’t mind being patient, join a more established company like Oracle, SalesForce, or Adobe.
AE’s in the SF Bay Area make anywhere from $80,000 to $500,000 annually. For example, the top 20% of performers at Oracle make between $250,000 and $500,000. Medium-sized software companies that service Fortune 1000 companies (NGINX, MuleSoft, LiveRamp) also employ AE’s who earn similar salaries.
Typically people start as an AE selling to small and medium-sized companies. However, you’ll have the chance to sell to large enterprise accounts by performing well.
SDR to SDR Manager
Becoming an SDR Manager depends as much on the employee as it does on the company. Often a company doesn’t need a new SDR manager — if you work for this sort of company, you won’t be able to get this position.
At rapidly growing companies, more SDR managers often need to supervise groups or ”teams” of SDR’s within the general SDR organization. Suppose you join a small startup as an early SDR before there is an SDR manager (and you’re reporting to the Head of Sales or CEO). In that case, you could evolve into the SDR manager if and when there are enough SDRs to merit the position.
This is, again, based on how well you perform and how much respect people at the company have for you based on your performance and behavior.
SDR Managers in the SF Bay Area typically make between $120,000 and $180,000 annually. One could hold this position for life or lead to other management and operations roles. That said, it would be hard for an SDR manager to become a Head of Sales if they have no experience closing deals.
AE to Sales Management
Moving from AE into Sales Management within the SaaS world typically happens one of two ways:
Being internally promoted
Joining a small startup as the head of sales
In the first scenario, you’re working for a company that is expanding rapidly (doing well) or has some management turnover due to poor performance (struggling). In the initial scenario, you’re one of the top performers, and you’ve been with the company for a while. However, the sales team is now divided by geography or vertical, and managers are appointed for each category. You’re now responsible for a couple of AE’s and SDRs and are officially in’ ‘sales management.”
In the latter scenario, your company isn’t doing well, so your head of sales is fired or leaves. Given that you’re the top performer, perhaps the CEO will make you responsible for the entire team’s success.
Like moving from SDR to SDR Manager or AE, moving into sales management primarily depends on performance (are you good enough to merit a promotion?) and if the company needs the new role. Moving from sales to sales management is much more complicated than moving from pre-sales to sales.
How Long Do You Have To Be An SDR Before Leveling Up?
We’ve found two primary factors that determine how long you’ll be an SDR before you become an AE:
First, how large are the companies that your company sells to?
Enterprise sales are much more complex to execute. For example, if you’re selling to Fortune 1500 companies, you’ll likely take more time to be promoted as your managers will want to train you for as long as possible beforehand.
How large is the company you work for?
Larger companies typically take longer to promote, as there is less growth than a startup doubling in size. Therefore there are fewer openings for people to move up to.
Consider MuleSoft and Salesforce. Both companies (currently hiring like crazy) are quite large, and both sell to large companies (Salesforce also sells to small companies). Suppose you browse around on LinkedIn for SDRs and AEs at these companies; it’s clear that it often takes nearly two years of being an SDR before becoming an AE. On the other hand, if you work for a small startup that sells to small businesses, it’s much more likely thatyou’lll move up to a sales role within 6-9 months.
Other Sales Career Paths
Often, salespeople move into marketing or customer success roles if they prefer a less intense” part. So we wrote a complete breakdown of all the various sales roles you could also evolve into.
The skills they learned in making sales for a few years (effective communication, problem-solving for clients, time management) are beneficial for account management. Additionally, exposure to people buying software gives salespeople unique insight into what makes people buy, enabling them to be effective marketers.
Some salespeople succeed at moving beyond the sales floor and into the boardroom. Don Valentine, the godfather of Silicon Valley venture capital, and founder of Sequoia Capital, whose investments have a market cap of $3 trillion, started his career as a technology salesman. He wasn’t selling software (in the 70s, too early for that), but selling semiconductors in that period is comparable to the software of sale today.
There are more examples. As mentioned, Mark Cuban and Mark Hurd (CEO of Oracle) started their careers selling technologies. In addition, Dan Fishback, Board member of several silicon valley companies and former CEO of DemandTec IPO’dd in 2008), started his career as a salesman at Unisys.
So there’s no limit to what you can do when starting your career in software sales. We hope this guide has given you a general overview of the various career paths you can take and what you need to do to get where you want to go.
The economy is the strongest it’s been in years, and companies know it. It’s going to be a great year for getting your new job in tech sales, and that’s exactly what we will help you achieve.
One way to ensure you get the best possible job is to first be aware of what’s out there. We put together this list of all the great opportunities that were recently available. Please note that all numbers are estimates and could have slightly changed since we wrote this article.
What employees say: “Expedia is the best place to work. I have been here for 11 months and enjoying every single day. The culture is upbeat, leadership is transparent, clear on direction, and very well-organized process-oriented company. Awesome work-life balance.” — Expedia Software Engineering Manager (Chicago, Illinois)
23. HP Inc.
Overall ranking: #87
Company rating: 4.2
What it does: Maker of laptops, PC desktops, printers, and more.
What employees say: “HP’s global footprint makes it unique in allowing you to have a BIG impact. Senior leaders are quality execs who’ve proven their mettle. Lots of opportunity to contribute given the size of the businesses.” — Anonymous HP Employee
22. NetApp
Overall ranking: #82
Company rating: 4.2
What it does: Data storage solutions
What employees say: “Great team chemistry. Interesting work. This company cares about its employees a lot and there are numerous events at work and outside work which show this.” — NetApp HPC Solutions Architect (Sunnyvale, California)
21. Apple
Overall ranking: #71
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: Computer hardware and software, and more.
What employees say: “The company is AMAZING. There are limitless advancement opportunities. You work with some very cool people and the leadership cares about your development. You may get coaching but you never get battered or belittled.” — Apple At Home Advisor (Lakewood, Colorado)
20. Cisco Systems
Overall ranking: #69
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: IT, networking, and cybersecurity solutions
What employees say: “Military Friendly Culture empowers and gives transitioning veterans the opportunity to learn develop self to full potential. As a Military Retiree I feel there could not have been a better company to transition to than Cisco and the leadership team is very understanding and appreciative of what we bring to the table.” — Cisco Program Manager (Austin, Texas)
19. Paycom
Overall ranking: #62
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: Payroll and HR software
What employees say: “This is honestly the best job I think I’ll ever have. The benefits are amazing and the pay is more than I ever thought I could get. BE WARNED this job is hard. Never in my life have I had so much stress. That’s the reason why it pays so well. Be prepared to be stressed every day and have heavy daily work loads and have new procedures constantly thrown at you from management. But guess what it’s your job so you either adapt or you don’t make it.” — Paycom Specialist (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
18. AppDynamics
Overall ranking: #58
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: App performance analytics
What employees say: “Great encouraging and supportive leadership. Promotional opportunities every quarter. Family atmosphere, where everyone has a genuine interest in you as an individual and employee.” — AppDynamics Business Development Representative (Dallas, Texas)
17. VMware
Overall ranking: #51
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: Cloud infrastructure and digital workspace technology
What employees say: “Lots of smart and talented coworkers who are happy to share information you will learn a lot in a short amount of time but are expected to contribute. Slackers need not apply. If you’re a slacker you won’t survive the high stress and fast pace.” — VMware Technical Support (Broomfield, Colorado)
16. Kronos Incorporated
Overall ranking: #44
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: HR, payroll, recruiting, and timekeeping software
What employees say: “The culture is positive. Employees are hard-working and care. Leadership cares for employees and their experience. The company also cares for their customers.” —Anonymous Kronos Employee (Denver, Colorado)
15. Cengage
Overall ranking: #41
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: Education technology and online textbooks
What employees say: “The leadership of the company has been jaw-droppingly motivated, visionary, and transparent. They have turned a company haunted by downturns in the market into a trendsetter that is adapting profitably. Along the way they have been committed to employee growth and job satisfaction. I am thrilled with what we are doing for learning.” — Senior Cengage Systems Analyst (Rapid City, South Dakota)
14. TaskUs
Overall ranking: #40
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: Outsourced customer support
What employees say: “Taskus puts their people first, they understand that their people are the ones who make their company! I have gone through many interviews with other companies, and Taskus is the first one who truly shows it!” — TaskUs Digital Content Moderator (San Antonio, Texas)
13. Intuit
Overall ranking: #38
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: Business and financial software
What employees say: “Incredible company that has market dominance, yet also has so much room to grow. Management constantly preaches disruption, and it’s reflected in our priorities and work.” — Intuit Data Scientist
12. NVIDIA
Overall ranking: #36
Company rating: 4.3
What it does: Creates interactive graphics for gaming and professional markets, like healthcare
What employees say: “I’ll be up front and say that it has always been my dream to work here. With that in mind, I came in telling myself to look at this place as objectively as possible to not cloud my judgment. After working here for over a year, I must say, the hype is real.” — Senior Nvidia Systems Engineer (Santa Clara, California)
11. Microsoft
Overall ranking: #34
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: Creates computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and more.
What employees say: “Respect for the individual, constant stressing of core cultural values of letting everyone be heard, etc. Decent work/life balance, though it’s hugely dependent on the individual to enforce. Individuals are encouraged to engage with managers at any level (for example, with your manager’s manager’s manager…). There’s a general high level of passion for the products we make.” — Senior Microsoft Electrical Engineer (Redmond, Washington)
10. Compass
Overall ranking: #32
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: Real estate agency and platform for buying, selling, and renting a home.
What employees say: “Having recently joined Compass, all I can say about the company, its mission, and the people in it is… ‘simply amazing.’ Compass is a unicorn. It is that rare company that combines passion, focus, execution, vision, and has a heart and a soul.” — Anonymous Compass Employee (San Francisco, California)
9. Adobe
Overall ranking: #30
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: Software development company best known for its design and photo-editing solutions.
What employees say: “Relentless commitment to customer success. This is the core of most day-to-day decisions and the North Star for all activity. This makes it a place to be proud to work. Incredible products. Amazing benefits and culture that draws incredibly talented individuals.” — Adobe Learning Specialist (San Jose, California)
8. SAP
Overall ranking: #27
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: Develops enterprise software to help manage business operations and customer relations.
What employees say: “We have yoga and meditation classes, mindfulness workshops. Many invited guests from technology industries to provides you with information. Leadership women work shops, global coaching, mentoring programs, and flexible work environment. It is truly a top-notch company that will give back to their employees.”— SAP Manager (Montreal, Québec)
7. Paylocity
Overall ranking: #20
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: Payroll and HR software
What employees say: “Great company culture. People that really believe in what we do, and investment in technology to push the envelope.” — Paylocity Account Executive (Tampa, Florida)
6. Ultimate Software
Overall ranking: #18
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: HR software, including payroll, benefits, and timekeeping products.
What employees say: “Amazing company. It’s the only payroll / HCM organization that truly cares about the customer – and while it’s not easy – the organization has maintained an amazing culture all in an effort to provide the best support to the customer. I love that.” — Anonymous Ultimate Software Employee
5. DocuSign
Overall ranking: #17
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: Electronic signature technology
What employees say: “We’re on a good path with no signs of slowing down and a lot of untapped market potential. This is great news. Because the company is growing fast, there’s a lot of opportunity to grow your career and step up into new roles.” — DocuSign Enterprise Corporate Sales (San Francisco, California)
4. HubSpot
Overall ranking: #16
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: Sales and marketing software
What employees say: “I’ve been at HubSpot now for almost 4 years, and there’s nowhere else I’ve even thought about working in that time. Why? HubSpot is a great place to work. I feel like I’m valued. I have a lot of autonomy in how, when, and where I work. I feel strongly about the mission of the company.” — Anonymous HubSpot Employee (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
3. Salesforce
Overall ranking: #11
Company rating: 4.4
What it does: Customer-relationship management software
What employees say: “Supportive and inclusive environment, clear and reasonable expectations, challenging environment, awesome corporate mission, lots of room and support for professional growth.” — Salesforce Solutions Engineer (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2. Procore Technologies
Location: New York City, New York
Types of jobs: SDR, BDR, SMB AE, MM AE, E AE, Mng
Compensation: $49,000 – $125,000
Overall ranking: #2
Company rating: 4.5
What it does: Cloud-based video conferencing technology
1. Zoom Video Communications
Location: San Francisco, NYC, Dallas, Chicago, Irvine, etc.
Types of jobs: SDR, BDR, SMB AE, MM AE, E AE, Mng
Compensation: Variety
Overall ranking: #1
Company rating: 4.5
What it does: Cloud-based video conferencing technology
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The importance of personal branding for career development is more vital now than ever for career salespeople thinking long-term. Your online reputation is now your resume and the key to future career growth.
Having a personal brand gives you tremendous leverage when it comes to landing great career opportunities. For example, you might lack the job experience requirements for a role you really want, but having a strong personal brand may be able to compensate for that.
5-10 years ago, finding a new job worked heavily in the employers’ favor. Fast-forward 5-10 years later and digital transformation has shifted the advantage to the candidate. The MRI Network stated:
“86% of recruiters and 62% of employers felt the 2016 labor market was candidate-driven.”
Take a look at Tim Ferrisor Gary Vaynerchuk as some key self-branding examples. Of course, they are at the extreme end of the spectrum, but they are the poster children for what you can achieve building a personal brand at scale.
Before diving into actionable personal branding techniques for job seekers (especially those in sales), it’s important to point out a hard reality. It isn’t going to be easy.
Building a personal brand is going to be a huge time commitment and will show little return in the short-term, but the long-term gains for the future of your career are limitless if you put in the blood, sweat, and tears in the beginning.
To get started you need to start asking yourself the questions below and write them down inside a google doc sheet or piece of paper.
Answer these questions to help you build out your personal branding roadmap in 2018:
What is your “value” differentiator?
Who is your target audience?
What channels does your target audience live?
What outcome are you trying to achieve short-term?
What outcome are you trying to achieve long-term?
What is your motive for building a personal brand?
What keywords do you want to be found for?
What is your content strategy?
What KPIs are you going to commit to (daily/weekly)?
1 – What Is Your Value Differentiator?
The importance of personal branding for career development all starts with understanding your “value” differentiator.
This will sound like a daunting task in the beginning. The easiest way to understand this is by understanding your strengths and weaknesses.
What makes you standout amongst the noise as a candidate every employer would want to hire?
What makes you the expert in your field?
This is the key to getting started with your personal branding plan.
Determine Your Strengths/Weaknesses:
Take out a piece of paper and start writing down your strengths on one side of the page and weaknesses on the other. What wisdom do you have in your field that others don’t? Where do you lack wisdom?
If you get stuck, don’t hesitate to reach out to your co-workers and managers from your past and current jobs.
Really challenge yourself to understand your weaknesses because these will show you areas that need improvement.
You should consistently thrive to optimize your value differentiator.
2 – Who Is Your Target Audience?
To capture the right employer’s attention, it’s imperative that you understand your personal brand target persona. This is comparable to understanding personas in sales and marketing.
Make a list of all the influencers, employers, or decision makers you are trying to start conversation with or get attention from. This should help you build out your target audience.
Industry: Thinking long-term about your career what industry do you want to work in for the rest of your career? Narrow this down to your niche as much as possible.
Seniority Level: Do you speak to executives, mid-management, or practitioners?
Job Function: Do you speak to marketing, sales, IT, or accounting?
Industry Influencers: Who are the experts in your field?
3 – Which Channels Actually Matter To Your Target Audience?
This part should be easy. The importance of personal branding for career development starts with not only understanding who your audience is, but even more important, is where do they live?
In most cases, your target audience will be engaged on multiple channels. Pick two channels (three at most), in the beginning, and really focus on those as you are getting started.
LinkedIn
Twitter
Quora
Reddit
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram
Snapchat
4 – What Outcomes Are You Trying to Achieve Short-Term?
In the beginning, when building out your personal branding plan, it’s vital to understand what outcome you are trying to achieve.
What are your short-term goals? These are outcomes you can achieve as little wins in a short-period of time. Most of these will be around audience growth and engagement metrics.
Some recommended short term goals to help you get started:
Grow targeted following
Create 1-1 conversations
Content creation
Content curation
Profile views
Connections
5 – What Outcomes Are You Trying to Achieve Long-Term?
Short-term wins over time will help you get to your long-term goals. Your goal here is to turn your short-term wins into habits that help you get to your long-term goals faster.
Long-term goals should incorporate building real expertise in your field that captures the attention from your employers based on association and wisdom.
Some recommended long term goals to help you get started:
Inbound 1-1 conversations with target employers/recruiters
Increase in number of qualified interviews
More opportunity in higher positions
More qualified connections with industry influencers
6 – What’s Your Motivation For Building A Personal Brand In The First Place?
This one should be obvious, but it must be part of building out your plan, so you don’t lose track of why you are investing the time and energy.
For example, musicians build a personal brand so they can get booked for more shows and gain more fans.
For B2B professionals, you may be looking for thought leadership opportunities such as speaking at a conference.
This exercise might also help steer you AWAY from building a personal brand (and that’s okay).
Ask yourself these questions:
Why am I building a personal brand?
Who is going to benefit from my personal brand?
Am I doing this to give more than I receive (or vice versa)?
Will I be focused on building strong relationships?
If the answer to these questions seem to be more “me” focused than “we” focused, it might not be worth making the commitment.
7 – Which Keywords Do You Want To “Rank” For ?
Understanding keywords that you want to be found for will help drive the long-term success of your personal brand. Keywords play a major role when setting up and optimizing your social profiles (or website) to be found by employers in the short-term and long-term.
Using the “skills” section inside your LinkedIn profile will help you determine which industry keywords employer’s and recruiters search the most. This should be a pretty simple process, but you can also search industry hashtags using hastagify.me to get more granular in your search.
8 – What Is Your Content Strategy?
Want a little known secret to building your personal brand, FAST?
Content. Simple as that.
Content is the key driver when building a personal branding plan that captures attention at scale. The key here is to be super strategic with the content you curate, create, and share.
Aligning your “value” differentiator with your content is key to capture your target audience’s attention. Your keyword strategy will need to be integrated heavily into this strategy.
Focus on these two key areas:
Content Curation – Sharing other people’s content is vital (especially in the beginning) to driving more targeted connections, conversation, and attention. Who are the industry influencers in your space? Who are the key employers you are trying to get in touch with? Use their content to drive the conversation using a value vs ask approach.
Content Creation – Creating original content should be a priority. It’s the only way you will gain the reputation as the expert in your field. This should be a mix of video and blog content. Using LinkedIn publisher should be a key area of focus. This builds your credibility inside your profile and allows recruiters to understand your “value” differentiator. Eventually, building your own website will need to happen as well.
9 – Which KPIs Will You Commit To (daily/weekly/monthly)?
Consistency is the key to driving short-term and long-term success.
How many times a week are you going to curate content?
How many times a week are you going to create content?
How many times are you going to post on dedicated channels daily?
How many times will you engage daily? Weekly? Monthly?
Build out a posting strategy that holds you accountable and turns your activity into a habit. Using social publishing tools like Sprout Social, Buffer, or Hootsuite will help you automate the process to become more efficient.
NOTE: In the beginning, stay away from automation as much as possible. Really focus on the 1-1 conversation to build relationships that matter.
Putting Your Personal Branding Roadmap into Motion
This all might sound like its going to be a lot of work (and it will be), but start focusing on taking baby steps in the process.
After you start seeing short-term wins it will help you pick up momentum.
Think about the next 10-20 years of your career.
Visualize the opportunities that will come your way if you put in the time now, so you can reap the career rewards later!
