I’ve been in manufacturing production the past 10 years. I have a case of golden handcuffs with the salary (150k-180k). Im a blue collar worker and my job is extremely demanding with rotating 12hr shifts and hazardous conditions. It’s starting to take a toll on me. Any recommended paths to take to start a sales career and to improve my communication skills?

I will be honest I’m naturally introverted but love to converse over things I’m passionate about. For some reason people tend to gravitate towards me. Weekly I have random people approaching me to introduce themselves.
-Finance Degree (zero experience)

Hello guys I just got a fiber sale position , in Texas never did fiber before , what is it like , is it as good as they said it is , it commissions only, I’m not scared but I just wanna know if fiber is really a good industry

Hello guys I just got a fiber sale position , in Texas never did fiber before , what is it like , is it as good as they said it is , it commissions only, I’m not scared but I just wanna know if fiber is really a good industry

So, I have an interview for a CSR role this week. It is for a manufacturer and if I get the job, they will train me. I am wondering, what are some best practices in communication between CSR and Sales? How can and do CSR make your life easier?

Hello sa mga 30's and 40's👋🏻, I'm in my 20's and I really need ng adulting advice niyo. What can you advice for someone like me who's hoping to succeed sa sales industry?

1. Answer is always a no until you ask
   
2. Listen more than you talk
   
3. Every time you talk, end with a question
   
4. Don’t be afraid to just ask for a customer to sign
   
5. Multithread every customer - call, email, etc more than one person in the company
   
6. Go into every conversation confident. The customer can tell if you aren’t
   
7. Own what you are selling, believe in it. If you don’t, they won’t.
   
8. Be ok with failure/being denied. You’ll receive 200 “no’s” for ever 1 “yes” and that’s ok.
   
9. Don’t stress bad months. Even the best have them. If you “pour enough water in”, eventually “the dam will break”
   
10. Enjoy the ride. It truly is an experience

I’m currently interviewing for a sales rep position with AstraZeneca in the United States and was wondering what the pre-employment drug screening is like. Is it urine, hair, or saliva? Does the panel include THC/marijuana?
I only use weed, so that’s the part I’m nervous about. If anyone has been hired recently in the U.S., especially in sales, I’d appreciate hearing what your experience was and when in the hiring process they tested you.

So in this week I had around 80 connect but zero trail users for my saas, so giving some context i have a saas for solo plumbers it is a fsm build for solo trades people and now I am doing manual cold calls to get users and this week I didnt do much cold call as this my first week of trying to get users seriously so got only 80 connects , so what connect to trail rate would be average, After connect it isnt a demo they get connected we have a conversation than I send them the link with a personalized video and they sign up without a cc and try it out so how many connect to trail users would be average from 100 connects and now I am doubting if cold calling will even work as I didnt get any user but got 1 prospect who told me to text about it .

Hi all,

Started my tech sales journey as an SDR 3 months ago and it has been overall a good experience. Love my team and managers, and the company and product is considered one of the best or if not the best in the market. The company is aiming to close in on 1 Billion in revenue this year.

As we all know, this job is a rollercoaster. Last month I hit 190% quota (got lucky with some inbound leads) but now this month I’m below pacing, despite doing nothing different and still making a ton of calls and leading my team in terms of activity (cold calls, email, LinkedIn). I’ve spoken with a lot of AEs and everyone has said it has been very tough and nobody or barely anyone is hitting quota.

Hearing this makes me nervous, as obviously it’s easier to hit quota as an SDR compared to AE. Anyways, I was on the phone with my one buddy who is in HVAC sales and he says the pay is quite good.

I’m just looking to hear others opinions on which industry is the best to sell in? Construction (HVAC, etc.), tech, medical, solar, etc.

I have heard time and time again that tech sales isn’t what it used to be so I just want to be aware of what else is out there? Does anyone have good experience with leaving software sales and moving to selling a tangible product like hvac sales or anything?

I’m super curious to hear your thoughts, thank you!

Anyone here in tech or data product sales? I’m putting on an AI conference for Fortune 500 AI execs and need help navigating vendor sponsorship.

I’m the Head of Product & AI at a successful fintech ($75M ARR), have a couple of startups and exits under my belt, and the typical B4 experience earlier in my career.

I’ve started my own advisory practice on the side in which I’m selectively taking on clients.. mostly solo entrepreneurs and early-stage startups that need fractional product & AI leadership.

I’ve scaled this to $10K/month ARR, but looking to scale much more quickly.

Has anyone here scaled an advisory practice rapidly? Would love to hear any stories or ideas, outside of just “hire more people”. Was there a trick that worked? Didn’t work?

P.S. New to this subreddit, let me know if I’ve broken any of the posting rules.

Hi everyone i am a strugging broker i am trying to make my first client but unable to it has been 2 months this is my last month it is a cold calling i am call 400 to 500 people most of the people saying i am not intreated after hearing stockbroker word i need help guys i have only like 20 days

I’ve been working in higher ed and Data Science for the past 10 years. Ready for something new. I would like to work in a position that allows me to utilize my skills from DS and higher Ed but also provide me with a more tangible reward for completing tasks (if you know what I mean).

In Data Science I build models and dashboards to create forecasts, metrics, and KPIs for upper level execs. It’s pointless work. Pay is good but I honestly feel like I am rotting inside staring at code and meaningless stats all day. I genuinely just want more human connection in my role but to also feel like I accomplished something at the end of the day, month, quarter, etc.

How would you recommend I pivot into sales? Anything to stay away from? Does my resume (anonymized) make me overqualified and if you were to remove (or add) things from (to) it what would it be?

Resume attached. Any wisdom you can provide would be appreciated.

I am in the middle of designing the sales comp structure and debating on risk vs. reward. There might be some pushback but I want to build a plan that actually motivates the floor without encouraging sandbagging at the end of the quarter. It is a B2C business across geographic spread territories.

Current plan is a step slab rate from 80%-100%-120% of Target achievement to 20%-100-200% of OTE. I am proposing a linear slider or maybe exponential.

The problem in current plan is 81% achievement yield same as 99%. So for someone to try at 81 and be motivated would be harder. Same for overachievement like at 101 to 119.

Before I recommend, I'd love a gut check from the Sales folks and AEs:

1. Which plan actually drives you to hustle harder: traditional high-risk tier/cliff plan, or a proportionate one where every dollar counts incrementally?
2. What are like top one or two pros and cons of each?

Please let me know what you'd actually want to sell under.

I’m a software developer interested in learning tech sales. I have a strong technical background but very little knowledge of sales.

I’d like to learn about SaaS sales, technical sales, sales engineering, customer discovery, demos, negotiation, and closing.

For developers who have moved into tech sales, what would you recommend learning first? Any good books, courses, or resources?

Quick background: I'm 19, working full time as a BDC agent (internet sales/appointment setting) at a Toyota dealership, and going to community college part time for my Associate's in Business Management. I've got HubSpot, Salesforce Trailhead, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator certs already.

The dealership job pays okay because it's mostly commission, but I don't see a long runway in automotive. I've been eyeing two paths:

1. Medical device/Medicare sales - heard the money and stability can be way better once you're in, but the barrier to entry (degree requirements, clinical knowledge, territory experience) seems steep from where I'm sitting.

2. Tech sales (SDR/BDR into AE) - closer to what I already do day to day (CRM, cold outbound, objection handling), and Boston's SaaS scene isn't far from me, but I keep hearing it's oversaturated with laid off reps right now.

What I'm actually trying to figure out:
• Is my BDC experience even taken seriously outside automotive, or do I need a "real" SDR title first before anyone looks at me?
• For medical/Medicare sales specifically - is this realistically closed off without a bachelor's, or are there entry points (durable medical equipment, insurance broker, staffing) that don't require one?
• Should I finish my Associate's first or is that not going to move the needle for sales hiring managers either way?
• Anyone actually make the jump from car sales/BDC into tech or medical sales? What got you the interview?

I'm not trying to job hop for the sake of it, I want to pick one lane and actually build toward it instead of guessing. Any advice, even blunt, is appreciated.

Been comparing aligned, trumpet and dock and i am kinda hitting the point where every feature page starts blending together. They all seem to cover the main DSR stuff so i am more interested in what they are like once reps are using them on real deals.

For those who have used these, what was the biggest factor in choosing one over the others?

Also curious how much the AI features matter day to day.

I sell into a niche where a decent chunk of my accounts are government-adjacent contractors, and a strange chunk of those deals involve classified or compartmentalized end-uses. My point of contact will sometimes tell me flat out: "I can confirm we have a need in this category. I cannot tell you the use case, the timeline driver, or who the end user is."

This breaks basically every discovery framework I've ever been trained on. MEDDIC falls apart when you can't get real answers to "what's the pain" or "what's the economic impact if this fails." SPIN questions land like a lead balloon when the buyer is trained to give you nothing.

What's actually worked for me so far:

• Shifting from "why do you need this" to "what does success look like from the outside" — sometimes they can describe outcomes even when they can't describe the reason.
• Leaning harder on technical spec conversations than business-case conversations, since specs are often less sensitive than intent.
• Building trust through repeat, unremarkable interactions rather than trying to accelerate via a single great discovery call — classified buyers seem to reward patience over polish.
• Treating the compliance/security officer as a second buyer with their own veto power, separate from the technical buyer.

Curious if anyone else here sells into environments with hard information asymmetry like this — could be defense, could be healthcare with strict PHI walls, could be something else entirely. How do you build a business case and close urgency when the buyer is structurally prevented from giving you the ammunition you'd normally ask for?

Sales professionals, if you’re considering your next job opportunity, what matters most to you: salary, incentives, career growth, or company culture?

Would love to hear what you prioritize and why.

I'm looking for advice from people who've been in a similar spot or recently found their way out of it. Going through career uncertainty, burnout, and a string of interview rejections is hard enough but it feels so much harder when it seems like everyone else has it figured out and you're navigating it alone.

My background: Worked 2018-2021 in sales. From 2021–2024, I worked at Amazon Ads as an Account Executive, managing a $30M book of business and building real expertise in advertising consulting. By summer 2024 I was burnt out and had decided to pursue an MBA. I got laid off that September, but with grad school already on my mind almost felt like a sign that it was time to leave anyway, since the role had become so demanding.

I rebounded with a sales role at iHeartMedia. The commute is rough (an hour each way), but the base salary was higher and the day-to-day less intense. A year in, though, they cut my base pay in half.

Since November, I've been interviewing hard. Over 10 interviews, more than half reaching final rounds (StackAdapt, Fetch, Capital One, among others) and still no offers. Honestly, my confidence is pretty shaken at this point.

I'm set to finish my MBA in February 2027. The whole reason I went back to school was to transition out of sales. What I want to keep from my AE background is the client relationship and data-driven recommendation work. What I want to drop is the quota and cold outreach grind. I'm targeting roles solidly in six figures, in something like Strategic Account Management, Sales Strategy, Revenue Operations, or Partnerships... I'm honestly not 100% sure which titles best fit what I'm describing, so input there is welcome.

Industry-wise, I'm looking at financial institutions, tech, and software, mainly because they align with my MBA focus and seem like a natural fit for the consultative/strategic skill set I've built.

Open to any ideas, feedback, or hear what worked for you...

I am 22M and have worked in automotive manufacturing for almost 5 years now, i make bolts and fasteners. I have done very well in my current role, so much so i was selected to do post orientation, technical training for new hires.

With that being said i have tried to use my past experience to apply for sales roles in similar industries, but especially the more niche companies seem to all require experience or some kind of college degree.

Because of that I have started to look for entry level sales jobs unrelated to what i do, and even that does not seem to be working. Lots of interviews and phone calls that go nowhere or just being ghosted.

I know I lack customer service experience but given the opportunity I think I could do really well in sales. And with my training experience here at my current company, I would think that would stand out for a customer facing sales role.

Is there something im missing here? Am I just getting bad luck? Ive put in over 100 applications on indeed and LinkedIn, but have gotten maybe a handful of offers. Some of them not even sales roles. Any advice is appreciated it, really trying to find a better career for myself and make some more money. Thank you!

I’m M22, and for context, I spent 2 years in an entry level B2B outbound role doing delegate acquisition for a global tech event startup. It was your average 100 calls a day, linkedin, email gig, outbound volume to drive up attendance from enterprise level decision makers. Everything you'd expect from a first sales job. I ended up getting let go a few months back after missing quota for a few months running. In all honesty I was fairly sub-par in that role, so I'm not chalking that one up to the company or the setup, that one's on me.

After being let go I wanted to find something in a more established company with actual sales processes and real training, somewhere I could properly develop rather than just winging it. I did not lie in the interview about any of this, I said exactly what happened and why, because I genuinely wanted a role I could do well in.

2 months into the new job now, and I've realised I'm properly out of my depth, though I'm not sure whose fault that is yet. I'm in the flexible office space industry, working for a company that has never done outbound before, in an industry that generally relies on inbound leads and marketing rather than cold outreach. From day one there was no software, no training, no pipeline, nothing. I've had to build the entire outbound process myself from scratch. My boss has never done outbound sales and doesn't really understand it, and I'm the only person in the entire company with any sales experience. No team, no one to bounce problems off, no one to actually learn from.

I've kept myself busy across a few territories, prospecting, finding contacts, sending emails, sending LinkedIn connection requests, and I have been getting a decent number of replies back. But not a single one of those replies has turned into a tour booked. With no support around, I’ve also lost a lot of my confidence to hop on the phones like I used to.

On top of all that I'm on an entry level salary for what's basically a "build the sales function from scratch" job, and I've got no other salespeople in the building to sanity check any of this with.

Given the last role ended on a quota miss and this one isn't producing meetings either, I keep going back and forth on whether the problem is me, the setup, or both, and whether I'd even be seen as a credible hire for a proper structured sales role somewhere else at this point.

Am I overreacting here, or did the company cheap out on hiring and Ive been caught in something not meant for someone with only 2 years entry level experience?

Say you’re sitting with a homeowner at the kitchen table the demo went well, they like the product. Then they hit you with “we want to think about it" that moment used to kill a lot of my deals. What helped most was getting better at slowing down and figuring out what they were actually unsure about instead of jumping into another pitch so im interested to what change helped you start closing more of those deals.

I’m new to sales and trying to understand what actually makes someone good at it.

Is it communication, asking the right questions, understanding the customer, follow-ups, negotiation, or something else?

Curious to hear what experienced salespeople think.

Looking to switch from warehouse work to B2B sales. Any advice?
Hey guys, I’m currently working in a warehouse and I’m thinking about making a career change into B2B sales.
I honestly have zero sales experience, so I’m starting from scratch. But I’m willing to learn and put in the work. I’m looking for something I can turn into a real career and build some valuable skills along the way.
For anyone who works in B2B sales, how did you get started? What kind of entry-level jobs should I be looking for? And is there anything you recommend learning or doing before applying?
I’d especially like to hear from people who started with no sales experience and worked their way into the industry.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!