Tech Sales Career Paths

Sellers often ask me how to break into tech sales. So often, in fact, that I already wrote about it. That article includes a lot of great info about what tech sales is, the skills you need to be good at it, and how to get started. 

However, I haven’t covered the different paths your tech sales career can take once you have a foot in the door.

Consider the following Tech Sales Career Paths 101. Every sales rep’s career journey is unique, of course, but this can give you a good idea of what to expect early in your tech sales career and opportunities you may have in the future.

See also: 5 Reasons to Choose Tech Sales as a Career

Early Years in Tech Sales

If I were just getting started in sales today, this is the path I’d want someone to recommend to me:

Break into tech sales as an entry-level SDR.

On-target Earnings: $70k
What to do within the role: Work really hard, and set yourself apart 
Timeframe: 9 months

Parlay your first role into an SDR role at an established company.

On-target Earnings: $85k
What to do within the role: Work really hard, and set yourself apart. (Again.)
Timeframe: 1 year

Turn that role into an SMB Account Executive role (ideally the same org)  

On-target Earnings: $120k
What to do within the role: Work really hard, and set yourself apart. (Sound familiar?)
Timeframe: 2 years

Use that role to get another AE role with larger deal sizes 

On-target Earnings: $175k
What to do within the role: Work really hard, and set yourself apart. (Rinse and repeat.)
Timeframe: 3 years

Options for What to Do Next

Once you’ve been an account executive for several years and worked larger deal sizes, your career path has some options.

You can:

Take an Account Manager role with higher base, but lower upside

Some would consider this a bit of a “safer” option

Or you can:

Take a management role with higher base and OTE, but lower upside

This possibly puts you on track for the C-suite. If that’s your goal, expect it to take 5–7 years.

Or you can:

Stay on the AE track

Parlay your previous AE roles into a senior or enterprise AE role with on-target earnings of $300k. Keep working really hard and set yourself apart — and just make bank. 

Top performers in these roles are clearing $1 million per year. You can, too.

Follow the Lead of the Best Tech Sales Reps

Every one of these decision points and transitions requires one constant from you:

Work hard. Set yourself apart. 

How do you do that?

• Do what’s required. 
• Do things that you don’t really feel like doing today. 
• Do those things again tomorrow. 
• Do more of them next week and next month. 
• Make a few extra calls. 
• Send that follow-up this evening instead of waiting until tomorrow. 
• Check in with deals  you signed a few months back. 
• Don’t complain that “1.5 years is too long to stick it out”

A path to $1 million is in front of you and any other sales rep who chooses to take it. But so is the path to 7 different companies over the next 10 years, never getting to your OTE.

Some of it is out of your control. But a lot of it isn’t.

Compare thousands of tech sales orgs, company cultures, quota attainment data, and salaries here.