Break Into Software Sales

Learn an uncommon shortcut and the basic sales skills needed to easily land entry level software sales interviews

Created byJoe Madre

Last updated 8/2017

English

What you'll learn

How to land an entry level sales interview with a tech/software company in the United States.
The basic sales skills you would learn in a sales internship to prove you're worth an interview.
Why you rarely hear back when you apply via career and company websites, and how to get a much higher response and interview rate.
What hiring managers are looking for in an ideal candidate, and how to give them exactly what they want.
Read the requirements carefully, please. I don't want to waste your time.

Course content

7 sections • 21 lectures • 1h 33m total length

An Overview Of The Entry Level Sales Job4:05
0:36 - Responsibilities of an entry level salesperson
1:15 - Environments entry level salespeople work in
Earnings Potential In Entry Level Sales And Beyond7:46
1:47 - SDR salary
2:40 - Entry level closer salaries (SMB)
4:19 - Experienced sales salaries (Enterprise)
6:10 - My journey

Notes:

$80k and $110k was ~3.5 years ago, not 5. I misspoke.
When I mention I expect a couple years below $200k at 7:23, I would estimate that it would be around $180k - $190k. Nothing substantially below $200k.

Intro0:33
Subject lines3:25
0:03 - Why subject lines are important
0:18 - Guideline - be bold
1:06 - Guideline: Be relevant subject lines
1:18 - Guideline: Be Informal
1:48 - Examples
Personalization7:37
1:20 - Example of personalization
3:00 - Results of personalization
4:47 - Tips on personalization
6:18 - Places to do research on personalization
IMPORTANT: How to Write a Persuasive Pitch (Bad Email Teardown Inside)6:33
0:28 - How to write clearly and concisely
2:07 - Crappy email example
2:59 - Looking at the email through the mindset of a hiring manager
5:08 - Questions you should ask to make the email more exciting

Notes: - At 0:36, when I talk about only writing what would get the hiring manager excited. Anything that shows the hiring manager you'll be a good entry level salesperson will get him excited.
Formatting your email0:44
Strong Email Example (Exercise Inside)6:12
0:15 - Email example
1:16 - Subject line review
1:48 - EXERCISE. Pause for 30 seconds to analyze the email. Does every sentence make an impact?
2:12 - Personalization
2:55 - The pitch
3:50 - IMPORTANT: Showing the hiring manager you can do the literal job. 4:33 - Bullet point review
Sales Characteristics to Highlight In the Initial Email and Resume8:01
0:30 - Characteristics you're showing from reaching out via email.
1:40 - Work ethic
2:10 - History of excellence
3:39 - Being comfortable with failure or rejection
4:42 - People skills
5:48 - Effective communication skills

What a Good Resume Needs to Do2:50
Resume Basics6:00
Resume Teardown10:05
1:10 - What the hiring manager sees.
1:57 - Pros of his resume
2:40 - Ways he can improve the resume
3:15 - Ways he can improve his resume (Work Experience)
6:30 - Ways he can improve his resume (Leadership and Extra cirriculers)

If you want to copy the formatting, here's the link to Ryan's resume: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_JA9kYLsqa9cmB...

Intro - Why We're Finding Emails0:50
How to Find the Right Companies and People To Reach Out To6:20
IMPORTANT TIME SAVER: You can re-use contacts that you find from one company for another company that you apply to. For example, if you find multiple companies that are selling to Software Engineering Execs, you can reuse those names.

Notes:

- You don’t want companies to be very big <5,000 employees because the larger companies have multiple “correct” email formats. This makes finding their emails much harder later. Smaller companies generally have the same syntax for most people, making emails easier to find.
Verify the Email Address - Using This Website1:26
Common email formats:

firstinitiallastname@companyname.com firstname.lastname@companyname.com firstname@companyname.com firstnamelastname@companyname.com firstname.lastinitial@companyname.com firstnamelastinitial@companyname.com

Tip: Once you find the correct email format, you can reuse the format for a different position in a company. For example, if you find a VP of Engineering's email address, you can likely reuse the email format for their VP of Marketing. Two birds, one stone!
Figuring Out Who the Hiring Manager Is5:00
0:40 - Who NOT to look for
1:02 - Who to look for at small companies
2:09 - Who to look for at medium size companies
3:57 - Who to look for at large companies

Requirements

You MUST be a college graduate from the USA or another English-native speaking country. A native-level mastery of written and verbal English is NECESSARY.
You MUST be in a native-English speaking country (UK, USA, Australia, etc) because those tend to have the demand for these types of jobs and the highest salaries as well.

Description

***** This course is now FREE. Also, I'm no longer supporting this course because of my new duties as CEO. Please do not expect answers to your questions, although I suppose it never hurts to try *****

It can be hard to land an interview in the tech world. Especially if your resume isn't "relevant" by conventional means. If you have a low GPA, no sales internships, or heck, any sales experience, it can seem downright impossible to get a call back after submitting 1947 resumes through job sites. That's why I created this course.

In it, you'll learn basic sales skills commonly used at tech companies. Skills that would be taught to you in an internship, but never in a college class. You'll also learn how someone hiring for salespeople thinks and how to give it to them on a silver platter. I have a history of being a top performing salesperson and hiring was very important to me so I know exactly what hiring managers are looking for.

You should be able to land an interview in 1-2 weeks if you watch all the videos and apply all the concepts and exercises.

This course will teach you:

Why sending in your resume is a terrible way to get an interview, and how to take a little known shortcut.
Basic sales skills. Having these skills will get you a better chance of interviewing than Ivy League candidates with no experience.
How to frame your limited experience in a way that gets managers excited to give you an interview.

You'll be able to get an interview for an entry level sales position at a tech company after completion of this course. No experience necessary.

Who this course is for:

Smart and hard working people who want to take the first step towards earning six figures a year as salesmen. (I earned $300,000+ in 2016)
People who are looking to switch professions/industries into the lucrative technology field. Success in previous roles a big plus but not necessary. Experience dealing with customers a plus but again, not necessary.
Recent graduates who have been involved with extracurricular activities. Clubs, meetups, sports teams, running a small side business, etc.
Non-tech salespeople looking to break in to tech.

Who this course is NOT for:

People who do not have a strong grasp of written and spoken English. Communication in sales is very important and it's out of my realm of expertise to teach it to you.
Recent graduates who literally just went to class, partied, and watched YouTube videos. You gotta give me something to work with on your resume, even if it's just a hobby or a organizing a meetup group.
People who have been unemployed for 1.5+ years. Resume gaps are hard for me to help with. This is workable if the gap was intentional, ie: kid, traveling, etc. but not if you've just been totally unemployable.
Lazy people. There is homework involved in this course and you must do the work to succeed.

Who this course is for:

Someone who is hard working and driven, but might not have the most applicable experience or strong GPA.

Break Into Software Sales

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

An Overview of Entry Level Sales2 lectures • 12min

How Recruiting Works and How to Shortcut The Process2 lectures • 6min

Writing a Perfect Email to the Hiring Manager7 lectures • 33min

Creating A Perfect Resume3 lectures • 19min

Finding a Company to Work For2 lectures • 6min

Learn Sales Skills to Impress the Hiring Manager4 lectures • 14min

How Much Time You'll Need to Finish the Course1 lecture • 4min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: