The IT sales market is made up of technology companies hiring sales professionals to market their hardware, software, CRM or services. The market is comprised of global giants as well as small and medium sized technology companies.
Technology companies operate different sales models, almost all, incorporating telesales/lead generation, account management and field sales functions in some shape or form. The trend has been for large technology companies to centralize their European sales function into one location. Traditionally these have been located in UK, Ireland & the Netherlands although there are companies with centralized European sales teams in Germany, Spain, France and Northern Europe.
Where a company centralizes their European sales they perform all the sales duties except the face-to-face field sales role. This centralization allows companies to utilize effective marketing campaigns, lead generation and other medium to drive business into the centre. By employing multi-lingual sales staff in one location the training, development and sales methodology can be replicated across the business driving better sales performance and maximizing opportunities. It also aligns sales targets & procedures and reduces costs.
Candidates joining these European sales teams will receive excellent sales training, product knowledge and defined career development.
IT Sales Jobs explained…
Telesales/ Lead Generation: This is the first step in your IT Sales career. Whilst in this role you will gain an introduction to the industry, receive product training and understand the sales methodology. You will follow up on inbound marketing and website leads, develop a geographical area or client list and be responsible for identifying new sales opportunities. You will demonstrate your sales acumen and product knowledge by effectively qualifying new business for the correct technology or services you sell. You will be managed on the numbers of calls you make, opportunity identification, closes, revenue/margin, pipeline management and client meetings for field sales.
Inside sales / Account Management: Professionals performing these roles are responsible for managing a portfolio of clients. This will involve client account management to identify and uncover new sales opportunities in these accounts. You may also receive new opportunities from the lead generation team or field sales that you will need to close and manage through the sales process. Targets include gross sales revenue, margin and in some roles renewing maintenance & support contracts.
Maintenance and Renewals: In the case where the technology company licenses its product or sells a maintenance or support contract this team is responsible for keeping existing customers. The renewals team calls the client in advance of contract renewal to negotiate the next year’s contract, pricing, service levels etc. This is a key role as companies are keen to maintain their customers and the renewals team may have to work hard to keep customers satisfied. Targets based on renewal revenue & retention %.
Field Sales: Experienced IT sales professionals work on the face-to-face sales for large or “enterprise” customers. These tend to be customers with orders in excess of a certain value eg €100k. The field sales professional meets the customer (IT Manager/Director, CTO, Finance Director/CFO, CEO, Procurement...) to get a better idea of the requirements, IT environment and to prepare for a proposal. Field sales are targeted on numbers of client meetings, pipeline management, proposals, revenue and margin.
Pre-Sales: Pre-Sales professionals are responsible for assisting the sales team win the business from a technology aspect. They perform the very specific task of understanding the customers’ technical environment and present/future requirements. They are in-depth technology experts that assist the sale by convincing the customer of the benefits of the product and how long it will take to implement, business disruption and technical issues that concern the customer.
Sales Support: The sales support team are responsible processing the sales order. From contract signature the support team gets involved to process the sale on the system. This involves chasing the purchase order number, setting up the client on the system, ensuring the contract has been signed off by legal, establishing payment terms, bank details and tying up loose ends.
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