Remote Sales Jobs - Tech Sales Jobs
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Have you ever wanted to get a remote sales job? Tech Sales might be the easiest way to get a fully remote sales job in existence and it is all thanks to the Covid shift that started in 2020. When that occurred tech companies scrambled to find ways to keep their employees productive while all working from home. Luckily over those two years they found that employees stayed productive (if not more) and were able to do things easily fully remote!
TLDR: here is our list of fully remote sales jobs
If you don't know much about tech sales and why it makes a good role for being fully remote, we've done an outline below for you!
Defining Tech Sales
Let’s begin with a clear-cut tech sales definition. Tech sales is the process of selling technology as software, hardware, technology services, or having to do with online (like online ad sales). Something technology oriented.
That’s a pretty broad definition. As a tech sales rep, you might be selling only one kind of tech product, such as Salesforce (a customer relationship management software system - CRM). Or, you might sell a product that combines different components, like a networking piece of hardware with a software license associated with it such as HP.
Here’s a breakdown of some different products you might sell as a tech sales rep:
- Software products. Software solutions can be sold as on-premise programs that are directly installed onto the customer’s computer or as SaaS (software as a service), which runs on the vendor’s servers and operates through an Internet browser. These kinds of products include CRM software, accounting and document-signing programs, email automation apps, marketing platforms, HR platforms and many others. The bulk of tech sales is moving towards SaaS and this tends to be very lucrative.
- Hardware products. Tech hardware is the physical product used to run the software. This includes laptops, desktop computers, servers, tech accessories, phones, and other physical devices. Big names in this space would be HP, Dell, Apple, etc.
- Tech and IT services. For IT tech sales rep might sell consulting and troubleshooting services to companies that don’t have a dedicated IT staff. Whether these IT shops have a single specialty (internet networking) or a wide range of IT skills (software, support services, and networking hardware specialties), it’s the salesperson’s job to land clients who need that knowledge and are willing to pay for it.
- Online Advertising Services. Every time you search something on Google you'll see paid advertising search results and much of the internet is funded by companies buying advertising spots. Tech sales reps in this department help companies optimize their advertising spend to get the highest ROI per dollar spent in online advertising.
The bulk of tech sales is working with customers to find exactly what challenges they’re facing and what technology exists that will help them out. Some companies may just need a new line of laptops. But with higher-value accounts, they could need many different technologies such as IT hardware with numerous different software products to help protect their network from bad actors... and then every other SaaS platform to help run their business better.
Roles, Levels and Salaries of Tech Sales
It's important to understand the hierarchy of different levels when it comes to tech sales to understand where to start. We also wanted to put general ranges of On Target Earnings (OTEs) at each level so you have a basic understanding of what kind of money you can make in this line of work.
For individual contributors
Entry Level (Compensation: $50k - $100k OTE)
The two common names for entry level sales reps are "Business Development Representative" (BDR) or "Sales Development Representative" (SDR). Most people in this position are just starting out in their sales career or maybe have a year or two of experience. In this role you will be learning how to talk to people over the phone or in person and understand their challenges in order to try and see if what you are selling might be a good fit. Once you do find a "qualified lead" or someone who has a need that your product might fit, you pass that conversation on to an Account Executive who will learn more and hopefully close the sale with the customer. Compensation tends to be based on the amount of "qualified leads" that the rep is able to convert on a monthly or quarterly basis and send to the Account Executive team to close the sale.
Mid Level (Compensation: $120k - $300k OTE)
"Account Executive" or "Account Manager" are the typical titles you will see in this role. You may see other variables of this like "Inside Sales Rep" or "Mid Market Account Executive" as well. Most people in this position have at least 1 year of sales experience and typically come from a BDR position when they get promoted. In this role individuals are usually doing outreach to companies, educating these companies on the product, matching customer needs to the product, and ultimately closing the sale. Compensation is usually structured 50/50 base salary to variable compensation i.e if you have an OTE of $150k then you'll make $75k of base salary and $75k of variable compensation if you hit all your sales numbers. Where reps can really make a lot of money is when they overachieve on their sales numbers and accelerators kick in so that they start earning even more money than their OTE.
Enterprise Level (Compensation: $250k+ OTE)
Usually these are listed as "Enterprise Account Executives" or "Outside Sales Rep" where reps have 10+ years of sales experience and have been working in a particular sector for a long time. Day to day is similar to the mid level account executives but you tend to only have a handful of larger "enterprise" accounts that are buying from you. The difference at this level is it is typically less but bigger transactions when you make a sale and it is usually a long relationship history with that customer.
For Management
Entry Level (Compensation: $130k - $200k OTE)
Entry level roles typically manage the SDR team or younger AE team. In this role you will be responsible for 7-10 reps and have a quota that is likely the sum of all of your reps combined. Lots of young sales managers usually come from an AE role where they have done the job before but want to get into management and leadership. Day to day in this role is hiring/firing, coaching your team, getting through issues that your reps are having, and driving everyone to hit their sales quotas.
Mid Level (Compensation: $180k - $350k OTE)
Mid level roles in management are typically managing a Mid Market sales team or are a Director of Sales and managing a whole territory. Once you are at the Director level you are managing managers which would typically have anywhere between 30-80 people underneath you at a larger sales organization. Day to day you will be leading strategy, coaching managers, managing up to higher ups, and helping hire/fire any individuals.
Top Levels (Compensation: $250k+ OTE)
"Vice President" and up to "Chief Revenue Officer" depending on the size of the company are common titles for roles at the top of the sales organization. In this role you are managing directors. In this role you are leading direction of the oranization, setting up incentive plans, managing the budgets and growth plans, working cross functionally with the marketing team and generally making sure the business is growing. Lot's of compensation at this level will come from stock units in the company.
Why a Tech Sales Role is the perfect Remote Sales Job
Based on what you know now about Tech Sales and the types of roles you can get, it should start to make sense why tech sales is the easiest way to land a remote sales job. The fact of the matter is everything can be done over video calls or the phone and with powerful software you never have to be in the same location as your customers. Due to this you can work from anywhere in the world!
Ready to land your Remote Sales Job? Check out the bottom of this post on how to land a job for our tips and tricks to get you that first remote sales job!