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Hello everyone, I wanted to create a series where I identify, highlight, and provide a guide on how I’d break into different tech sales organizations.
This series is for all levels. From those who have zero experience and just a high-school diploma -- to those who have been tenured SDRs at other organizations.
My goal has always been to share free game, that I wish I had when I was trying to break in.
For context, I had almost zero guidance on what I was doing when breaking in. But I did was I have always done, figure it out as I go.
I landed some great interviews at some of the top tech sales organizations… and I’m currently at one of the best Series D tech startups in the world right now.
I didn’t realize of how good of a situation I was walking into & now that I have a really good grasp of the tech sales market, SDR organizations, GTM functions, and where things are headed - I wanted to put a series together that I wish I had when I breaking in. Here’s to a lot more.
Step 1: Find Orgs You Want to Join & Are Actively Hiring
The best place to start is always RepVue. It’s a platform / database that provides transparent crowdsourced ratings, reviews, & market trends with all things tech sales. It features scores of organizations, compensation structure, real reviews, OTEs, etc.
So using RepVue this week I found - Vercel.
Good score: 85+ is a great sign. Teams are hitting quota, & they’re currently hiring. All great signs.
Screenshot from RepVue
Step 2: Head to their Career Page
After doing a little bit of exploring I can see that they have 3 different SDR/BDR roles open.
Now it is time to apply. Really read the requirements & paste the details into your LLM of choice & have it spit out how you can craft your resume & CV to this specific role.
***Do NOT submit a copy & pasted CV generated by AI, it will be flagged
It is also important to submit your application directly through their website, not LinkedIn or other sites.. those get ignored.
Some other keys notes when it comes to your resume, have buzz words that the AI is going to flag (ie, cold called, prospected, etc) + use numbers/metrics. We can do a deeper dive on this is another article… lmk, I respond to all messages :)
A look at their ‘Careers Page’
Step 3: Time to Network!
Now that we have applied & put our name into the hat for the various roles it is time to get our foot in the door.
Let’s head over to LinkedIn to find our prospects. Think of this like ‘doing the job to get the job’.
For this example, let’s say you’re a Senior at Indiana University & graduating in May.
So, just like normal outbound… use anything to your advantage to make the outreach less ‘cold’. Universities are simply just big networking clubs.
For this instance, there are 2 people that you have a common university with - should be easy enough to ask to have a convo with them (especially the GTM recruiter!!!) That is actually golden. Her job is mostly recruiting and interviewing for sales roles.
And there are 139 people that populate when I put in “Sales Development” too.
Now it is a numbers game.
Hit all those people up until you get some conversations rolling. Search for roles like ‘SDR’, ‘GTM Recruiter’, ‘Account Executive’, etc.
Say you get a few people to agree to chat with you over the phone (just offer to speak for 15 minutes, makes it an easier sell)… it is time to get some questions prepped (don’t waste their time).
To get you started with some good questions to ask this article I wrote a few weeks back should help you think of some: Spotting the Correct Sales Org
And at the end of the call tell them you applied to the open SDR role.
Hopefully they will say “Oh great, I can put in a referral for you.” (FYI, most companies offer a referral bonus if the people they refer get hired… so don’t be shy to ask, they get something out of it too)
Boom - you just put your resume at the top of the pile & got yourself a first round interview.
Rinse & repeat until you land a role.
This is the exact framework I used to land my current role. I reached out to an AE who went to the same university as me. Chatted back n forth over LinkedIn & ended up setting a 15 minute call with him. Just by showing this initiative he was happy to refer.
This got me an interview and the rest was history. I hope this helps. I plan on making this a series so let me know if you like it or want to see certain orgs.
Until next week.
– Rook ♜
ps… I respond to all messages