Any one here in business development/ sales?

[wealthviahealth]

I know that we have a lot of engineers on here but I am wondering if there are folks on here in the world of
biz dev and sales.

I am starting to look at career paths that are related to mine and finding out if this avenue would be a good fit, specifically in the tech sector. It seems like there is a lot more room for growth in this industry than in mine.

Any one here in sales? If so, what do you do/ how had the field treated you?

[samburger]

I'm in the industry, but I don't have a sales role currently. If I had the stomach for it, I'd hop into sales in a second. It can be a fast track to FI if you're good and can get into the right company (those are big "if"s!).

I'm at a Fortune 500 infotech company. Our salesforce does business-to-business sales with a long sales cycle (i.e., they work deals for months and months--years, even). Our worst sales people make probably $80k? Our best get over $300k. Most start in inside sales (which I've done), and move to field sales when they get good, where the earning potential skyrockets but their work-life balance falls off a cliff. When they start to burn out, they can almost always segue into well-paying, comfortable sales-adjacent jobs like mine.

As for growth, everything depends on your company and its products. My company is an industry leader in what it does, so it's a sweet gig for sales folk because businesses are always buying our products. If you're at a company whose products (or industries) are tanking, sales is just about the worst place to be, since that's food out of your mouth.

[FabricStache]

I worked in the CPG industry for the past dozen years or so.  Almost all of my roles were in something sales related.  My last 10 years were in field sales with a large global company.  Pay is "great" if you can grow your business year on year with less resources and less funds while taking beatings from your customers and your company.  I put "great" in quotes because the hours are long and the stress level is high and work/life balance is laughable.

I don't know about tech but if you can look up some reviews, salaries etc on glassdoors and judge for yourself.  Here are some titles from the CPG industry if you want to look into these at a manufacturer or retailer, not a broker:  Business development manager, trade marketing manager, region sales manager, customer business manager, category management manager, category development manager.  Granted these are all manager level positions so you have to work towards them.  If you really want big money look at the director and above levels.  Their bonuses are pretty outrageous.

[theonethatgotaway]

Hi.

My husband works for Twitter w/their (not in/ but along-side) sales team.

There is tremendous growth opps in this area, the hardest part is getting the job. They train you relentlessly (which is what you want starting out). They have specific targets they have to reach each quarter. Long hours. Etc Etc. Interesting work!

My father works in sales. He loves it, but he's also a bit of a sociopath, is wildly successful, and a workaholic so he might be an anomaly. I met a lot of other sales types when I was younger due to his biz, they made a lot of money and generally liked what they were doing after the first few 'make or break' years.

I would say give it a try for 2 years if you are already interested in it. You'll know if it's for you or not in that time-frame. Selling is a great skill to learn regardless of if you go into the actual profession or not.

[hodedofome]

In the tech sector look for growing companies, sales will be easy in those types. It will be really difficult to sell in a company that is not growing well.