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It will take time for sure. Don’t let anyone tell you other because there is no fast track. I’ve been in high level IT sales in NY for 15 + years and I am learning new things every day. You can’t learn everything in a few months but if you research, subscribe to related blogs and read you can try to be on the same playing field as they are. Fake it till you make it … but make sure you educate yourself.
I remember feeling this way. Especially around two months when you are really used to selling and ready to roll, but it still took me 3 to 4 months to be ready. hang in there. In a couple months you will wake up one day and be ready to start making some calls!
Thanks! Great advice. I’ll keep plugging along!
Practice makes you better, not perfect. I’ve been in for b2b tech for almost 4 years now and still occasionally feel imposter syndrome.
Remember it’s okay to say you need to check with your engineer. DO NOT TRY AND BS YOUR WAY THROUGH IT. They will know and you will lose the sale. They didn’t hire you as an SE, don’t try to be one. Your job is to manage relationships and incorporate the appropriate resources. Even your engineer is going to need to ask for advice.
But to answer your question, probably 6 months to a year until you start to feel comfortable your covering all the topics you need for good discovery.
What exactly aren't you comfortable with? It's kind of hard to answer your question without context.
I've seen top reps come in and hit goal faster than their peers despite being from a different industry. Personally, I really don't think it's all that different... There are just buzz words and acronyms, like any industry would have.
My best advice, don't psych yourself out. Learn from what the best are doing and be open with your boss around where you need help. Also, it may put your mind at ease if you ask what a typical ramp is to hit your goal. You may find out you're actually ahead of the pack.
Not comfortable speaking tech language.. it’s so different and not comfortable with it. So I wanted to see how long it took people to get comfortable. I’m afraid the prospects that I speak with will be able to tell my novice abilities and lose the prospect.
First, its natural to feel imposter syndrome when moving into a new vertical, field, line of business but you have to stay confident in yourself. Your company hired you for a reason!
I would shadow demos, get to hear the customer questions, which usually are repetitive. Watch demo videos. See videos or presentations from your competitors. What are industry analyst saying about your niche or product? Why? Where does your product have gaps? Understand customer value stories. Why do customers buy from your company? Why do customers leave your company? You should be able to article all of these points, with confidence and I'm sure you'll feel like you'll start to "get it" within 6 months. Most ramp up time I see at my company in Tech is usually at the 9-12month mark.
I'd also stack rank your accounts, the lowest propensity accounts that you & your manger think it would be a stretch for them to buy, use those as practice. Refine & hone your pitch. Practice speaking with confidence with these low ranking accounts.
However, the onus is on you. If you're not doing something to learn everyday, be more efficient, gain market/product knowledge....perhaps you never had the chops to be in sales? Laziness catches up with you in the end.
Perfectly said. Thanks!
I would bring this up to your leadership team. This all depends on your product/service. If your selling something more complex it’ll probably take longer to feel like you got it.
You got this, like what others are saying, be patient with yourself. Remember that EVERYONE is learning in your industry constantly. You may not know everything, but you know enough. Good luck!
It's possible that you are intimidated by the prospects with more YOE. But do not let that hinder your growth and development. It's normal to feel that way at first.
That is what Solution Engineers are for. You cover the sales side, they cover the tech side.
It is amazing if you can demo a technical product yourself, but not necessary to succeed in tech sales.
There is no exact timeline. When you get used to the things you do everyday you will eventually get rid of the negative feeling. I'm pretty sure you'll get by.
3 months min
I been in SMB for a year. I do well. I know the importance of running a proper discovery meeting. I heard some enterprise guys run their discover and I was blown away. There’s levels to this.
Rising Star
Listen, communicate what you know, talk business not technicals.
Don’t be afraid to afraid to admit to a prospect that you don’t know something, but be prepared to put someone in front of them who does (an SA, a functional lead, someone from your team with more experience).
These technical leaders don’t expect a sales person to be an engineer, and you only lose trust if you try to talk out of your ass rather than admitting your skill set lies elsewhere.
That was me 20 years ago. Ramp up is 4-6 months realistically from a technical standpoint, but nothing stops you from leveraging peers and technical resources and doing what all good sales people do…developing contacts and relationships. The technical side will come.
Becoming competent and comfortable is all up to you. Educate yourself, practice and then make sales calls. That’s the only way for you to gain knowledge and become comfortable. There’s not a magic pill or book to read. You have to make the decision and work at it. I’ve seen new to industry reps take off after a couple months and others take a year plus. When I say take off I’m not just talking about hitting their numbers, really excelling and accomplishing their goals.
A great way to grow in a controlled environment is to get your supervisor or peers to do regular role play scenarios. Ask them to push you and make yourself uncomfortable. That’s the most controlled environment you can have to test what you’ve been working on.
Chief
Do you work with an SE?
Chief
I have found that senior executives, particularly start-up CEOs, have a technical partner in the organization. If you want to learn the product better, have your SE talk you through a demo like a good Drivers Ed teacher while you do the hands-on demo. It helps.
Keep asking questions and clicking around in the product.