Want to break into the tech industry but don’t have technical experience, sales experience or know how to code? No worries!

A career in tech sales could be exactly what you're looking for. I’ve worked in sales my whole career—starting in an entry-level sales job making less than $30K a year. In under five years, I moved into enterprise software sales, and let me tell you—it’s one of the most rewarding career paths out there.

Tech sales is all about selling software, hardware, or tech services to businesses or consumers. It’s about understanding a potential customers business issues/challenges and showing them how your product can help.

This involves researching potential customers, reaching out to them, asking the right questions, and learning about their business issues/challenges.

Then, you present your solution through sales calls, product demos, and sales presentations.

Different tech sales positions focus on different parts of the sales cycle, but the ultimate goal is the same—sparking interest, building strong relationships, showcasing how your tech product can uniquely solve their business issues/challenges and guiding potential customers through the entire sales process.

Why Do People Choose a Career in Tech Sales?

Tech sales is a great career choice because it offers low barriers to entry (no tech background or years of experience needed), high earning potential, career growth, and remote flexibility.

✅ High Earning Potential – Let’s be real—income matters. A job in tech sales is one of the few careers where you can hit six figures fast through a mix of base salary, commissions, and bonuses. Many top tech sales reps earn $100K+ within their first one to two years.

For example, in my first year as a Sales/Business Development Representative, I made $72,000.

In my second year, I broke $100,000.

From there, I moved into an Account Executive role earning $130,000+, then into Enterprise Sales Engineering, where I made over $180,000+

With hard work and the right strategy, tech sales can be a life-changing career—and you don’t need a technical background to get started!

✅ Career Growth – Tech sales opens doors to many career paths. Once you get in, you can grow into roles like Account Executive, Sales Engineer, Sales Director, Product Manager, or Customer Relationship Management—and much more.

We’ll dive deeper into career growth later in this article.

From my experience, the more technical knowledge you gain, the more valuable you become. Sales isn’t just about charm anymore—the days of winning deals over fancy dinners are fading.

While relationships still matter, what’s even more important is understanding your customer’s business challenges and showing how your product provides real value.

✅ Remote Flexibility – Many tech sales jobs are fully remote, giving you the freedom to work from anywhere while maintaining a great work-life balance.

✅ No Tech Background Needed – You don’t need a computer science degree, coding skills, or years of sales experience to break into tech sales.

If you’re willing to learn and put in the work, you can build a high-paying, rewarding career—no technical background required!

What I love most about the tech sales industry is the chance to learn, grow, and move up into new roles as I gain more experience and knowledge.

Let’s talk about entry-level positions and other tech sales jobs so you know which ones to aim for when starting your career in this field.

Sales Development Representative (SDR)
SDRs focus on inbound sales - leads that come in from marketing. Their job is to qualify sales opportunities and set up meetings for senior sales reps, but they don’t close deals themselves.

Business Development Representative (BDR)
BDRs find sales opportunities through outbound sales by reaching out to potential customers through cold calling, email outreach and social selling.

Please note. These roles sound very similar. So please keep in mind that job titles and responsibilities can vary by company. For example, some companies use the title Sales Development Representative (SDR) for outbound sales tasks.

That’s why it’s important to carefully read the job description and ask specific questions during interviews to understand if the role focuses on inbound or outbound sales.

These are the entry-level sales roles to look for when you're ready to start a career in tech sales.

Account Executive (AE)
After an SDR or BDR qualifies a lead, the Account Executive (AE) takes over. They build and manage client relationships, understand business challenges at a deeper level, and lead sales presentations.

AEs also work with other tech sales teams to support prospects throughout the sales cycle, handle negotiations, review legal contracts, and close deals. Their main job is to manage all customer interactions through the sales pipeline and turn them into paying clients.

Most AEs have prior sales experience and are often promoted from an SDR or BDR role.

Account Manager
Once a sale is made, the Account Manager steps in. They maintain strong relationships with customers, ensures customer satisfaction, and look for opportunities to upsell or cross-sell additional products or services.

Sales Engineer (Also Known as Solution Consultant, Technical Sales Consultant, or Pre - Sales)

This role goes by many names, but for this article, we’ll call it Sales Engineer. Sales Engineers work closely with Account Executives to help close deals.

They have strong technical skills and deep technical knowledge. Their job includes leading discovery calls to understand customer needs and preparing software demonstrations to show how the product can solve their problems.

One of the best things about the tech sales industry is the opportunity to grow and move into different tech sales roles.

1. Start as an SDR/BDR: While tech sales career paths can vary, most people start as an SDR (Sales Development Representative) or BDR (Business Development Representative) before advancing to an Account Executive or Sales Engineer role.

The best part? You can move up quickly—often in just 2–3 years!

As an SDR, you’ll build skills in research, prospecting, cold calling, and qualifying potential clients. Once you gain experience and see success, you can take the next step into an Account Executive role.

Keep reading—I’m about to share insider secrets on how to land a tech sales job, get promoted fast, and build a successful career in tech sales!

2. Move Up to Account Executive (AE): Once you’ve proven yourself as an SDR and have been in the role for 12-18 months, you can step into an AE role and start closing deals.

3. Advance to Leadership: Top AEs who have achieved success in tech sales—such as mastering sales strategies, sales management, know how to build strong relationships, developed excellent interpersonal skills, soft skills and leadership skills can move into leadership roles like Sales Manager, Director of Sales, or VP of Sales.

The demand for tech sales professionals ins't going anywhere (check out #8 on the this list!). With the rise of new tech start-ups and artificial intelligence means the tech industry will keep growing, and companies need technical sales representatives who can:

• Explain complex products simply
• Help businesses transform digitally
• Build long-term relationships
• Drive revenue growth

This means more jobs, better pay, and lots of opportunity!

We've made it! Let's get into insider secrets [That No One Tells You] to lucrative career In tech sales and how to break into tech sales with no experience.

I hope by now you realize that you don't need a college degree, coding skills, or years of experience in sales to do well in this job.

I know this firsthand - not only did I break into tech sales without a degree in tech or years of sales experience, but I've also worked with many successful tech sales reps across the country who started with no experience.

In fact, some of our best Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), Account Executives, and sales managers came from completely different backgrounds.

But if this isn't news to you, keep reading because what I'm about to reveal below is what most people, blogs, and YouTubers won't tell you.

A. To succeed and make a career in tech sales, focus on building the right skills & knowledge tech sales companies really want.

B. Show off your skills on LinkedIn to catch recruiters' attention. Make sure your profile highlights what you've learned so hiring managers notice you when they visit your Linkedin profile.

C. During interviews, speak to how these skills, knowledge and experience (if you have some) can help you hit the ground running fast and help the sales team meet their quota.

This is the key...

💪 Get the right knowledge & skills.

💪 Promote yourself and then speak and convince the interview panel you're
the best candidate to perform the role because of your skills, knowledge and
experience (if you have some).

Let me share two examples:

Dan is brand new to sales. He has no sales experience and has no background in tech sales. He hasn't sold anything before and has only worked a few jobs.

Brittney has never worked in tech but has sales experience selling consulting services.

Let's see how both Dan and Brittney are able to land their first entry-level tech sales roles, even with different backgrounds.

Both Dan and Brittney can prepare for tech sales jobs in different ways:

For Dan (completely new to sales):

• Take a basic sales course or 6-8 week tech sales bootcamp to learn how to sell technology products or services to customers, learn proper sales management, sales process, pre-call planning/research, prospecting, qualification and more.

• Read key sales books like Challenger Sale, New Sale Simplified, and Spin Selling.

• Learn sales basics like research, finding customers, and how to qualify sales opportunities.

For Brittney (has sales experience):

• Skip basic sales training.
• Take a tech-focused sales course or tech sales bootcamp to learn about selling technology as a SDR/BDR.

A good tech sales bootcamp helps both Dan & Brittney learn:

• How to talk about specific tech sales strategies during interviews - helping them out-perform others during the interview and receive more job offers.

• How to find, engage and qualify prospects once hired in the role - so they can thrive in the role, earn more money and get promoted fast.

Tips for choosing a tech sales bootcamp:

• Don't pay more than $300.
• Make sure it includes a community.
• It provides a tech sales certificate so you showcase what you learned on LinkedIn.
• Check that it teaches current tech sales methods
• Make sure it teaches modern job search strategies to breaking into tech sales - so you land more interviews and job opportunities.

Early in my career, I invested a lot of time and effort into learning how to communicate and present my ideas clearly.

This skill set made a huge difference for me—it helped me stand out in interviews and excel in my job.

In fact, I believe it’s the reason I was able to move quickly from an entry-level sales role to enterprise sales.

If you want to succeed in sales or tech sales, here are the top skills you should focus on:

• Interpersonal skills
• Clear communication

I’d suggest both Dan and Brittney take an online course or join a local group like Toastmasters to learn how to share their thoughts and ideas in a way that grabs attention.

These skills will boost their careers, help them stand out in interviews, and open the door to more job opportunities.

LinkedIn has been my secret weapon throughout my career. It’s helped me land three different jobs, each with a 20-60% increase in pay.

According to LinkedIn, users with All-Star profiles enjoy a 40 times higher likelihood of receiving contact from others. And what's shocking is that (as per LinkedIn) only 50.5% of users have profiles that are considered 'complete.'

Having a great LinkedIn profile picture, headline, and background image creates a strong first impression. It shows you’re professional and helps you stand out to recruiters and employers.

These elements build your personal brand and make your profile shine in a competitive job market.

The hardest part of improving your LinkedIn profile is just getting started. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and give up, so let’s focus on the 20% of effort that will give you 80% of the results.

Here are the only sections I’ve used to reach LinkedIn’s “All-Star” status—and what I recommend Dan and Brittney focus on:

• The Headline
• About Section
• Experience Section
• Education Section
• Recommendation Section

In a future post, I’ll walk you through exactly how to build each of these sections so you can rank higher on LinkedIn and get noticed fast.

The key to ranking higher is creating a headline, about section, and experience section that focus on your accomplishments and career highlights. If you want to see an example, feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile!

Focus on LinkedIn first, then your resume. Your LinkedIn profile helps you get noticed and shapes how tech sales companies see you when they visit your profile.

But don’t forget—your resume still matters!

Hiring managers and recruiters spend only 7-11 seconds looking at your resume before deciding whether to interview you.

That’s why it’s important to tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for. Make sure it highlights your successes, achievements, and career highlights.

Avoid just listing your responsibilities. Hiring managers and recruiters want to see proof of your success and that you have a results-driven mindset.

Here’s an example to help you get started:

Instead of: Managed a sales team and met monthly quotas.

Write: Led a sales team to exceed monthly quotas by 20% for six straight months, resulting in $500,000 in additional revenue.

Focus on outcomes, not just tasks! Please see an example of an outcome-drive resume template below.

During the learning phase, I'd get familiar with popular sales software tools you will using as a tech sales professional. Here are some common tools you will use on the job.

📌 CRM Software – Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho for managing leads.

📌 Sales Engagement – Outreach.io or SalesLoft for automating email sequences.

📌 Sales Demo Tools – Gong.io for recording and analyzing sales calls.

📌 Video Conferencing – Zoom or Microsoft Teams for virtual meetings.

Most of these companies offer free trials for their tools. If the tech sales bootcamp or sales course you’re taking doesn’t cover them, I’d recommend downloading the free trial and exploring the tools yourself.

This way, you can say you’re familiar with them and know how to use them. By doing this, you can focus on building your sales pipeline and qualifying leads instead of wasting time learning the tools later.

Here's a recap of everything we've discussed:

1. Learn the foundation (both basic and advanced strategies) of sales/tech sales. A good tech sales bootcamp should cover this.

2. Develop the right skills tech sales companies want.

3. Build & Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile.

4. Optimize Your Resume for tech sales.

5. Start Applying for Entry-Level Tech Sales Jobs.

6. Network on LinkedIn before & after you apply & start following tech sales leaders on social media.

7. Prepare for the Tech Sales Interview.

Remember, everyone starts somewhere. The key is to take that first step!

Want to learn more? Join our community of aspiring tech sales professionals and get weekly tips on breaking into the industry. Try it now!

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Ready for a career in tech sales? If you like working with people, solving problems, and want high earnings, this could be a great career for you!

The pay is great:

• Starting average salary: $50,000 - $70,000
• Potential earnings with comission: $70,000 - $100,000+

Want help getting started? Check out our NextGen SDR Accelerator program.

You'll get:

• Modern tech sales strategies so you know to do the role better than 99% of people currently doing the role.
• Real practice exercises to apply your knowledge.
• A supportive community to learn and collaborate with others.
• Proven methods to find companies that match your goals, background, knowledge and experience.