What Is Technology Sales? (With Duties, Salary and Skills)

Updated 24 January 2023

Technology sales is an impressive industry that helps solve unique challenges for consumers. Some technology companies might even sell their products and services to help improve the efficiency of other businesses. If you're hoping to work in technology sales, it's important to understand the major responsibilities of the job and the advantages of the career. In this article, we discuss what is technology sales, list common duties of a tech salesperson and mention essential skills to improve to succeed in the profession.

What is technology sales?

Understanding 'What is technology sales?', is important because technology sales is a field that connects consumers with innovative tech solutions and products. Some of its primary objectives include identifying consumer needs, finding a solution that could help them and showing them that it can meet their needs.

People who specialise in this type of sales work as tech salespeople and can sell various products and services, such as computers, servers, operating systems or cloud computing. If you're interested in working in this profession, you can represent a company from one of the three most common types of tech sales, including hardware, software and SaaS (software as a service).

What's a tech salesperson job outlook?

If you're interested in working in tech sales and would like to know more about your job outlook, you may start by taking a closer look at the development of the tech industry. According to the Department for International Trade, the UK is a global technology leader with one of the world's largest technology ecosystems worth $585bn, including thousands of companies and start-ups operating in the industry. The tech industry has been growing at a rapid rate in the last decade, which has created a demand for employees of all professions who want to specialise in tech, including salespeople.

There are many areas of IT that have been leading this race and creating more new jobs. One of the fastest-growing is the safety tech sector that focuses on developing and selling safety solutions. In recent years, the sector has observed a 30% increase in jobs and a 40% increase in revenues in the past year. It's, therefore, safe to say that the tech industry is a safe option for those interesting in pursuing a career in sales.

Common duties of a technology salesperson

Tech salespeople are often tech experts with excellent negotiation and analytical skills. Here's a list of common duties that you may perform if you decide to work in this role:

building and maintaining relationships with business and corporate clients
constantly updating their knowledge about the newest trends in tech solutions
analysing customer behaviour to define client needs
designing and putting together technology packages
using consumer data to create product promotions or deals
preparing sales invoices and contracts
staying in touch with existing clients to increase consumer satisfaction rates
working towards maintaining the company's good reputation
explaining complex hardware or software concepts to clients
travelling regularly to attend client meetings
reporting to managers about sales numbers

Salaries in technology sales

Knowing how much you can make as a tech salesperson may allow you to better plan your career and set realistic goals for yourself. If you're starting in the industry and looking for an entry-level sales position at a tech company, you may want to apply for a junior or assistant role. The average salary of a sales assistant is £22,506 per year. After some time at the company, you may advance to a sales representative position and make around £26,224 per year.

Once you've got enough experience and can work in a fully independent role, you may become a senior sales executive with an average base salary of £36,356 per year. It's important to note that many salespeople earn a commission on top of their base salary. The more effective you are, the more you can earn. Typically, a successful tech salesperson may expect to take home an additional £10,000 to £20,000 per year in commission payments on top of their salary.

Related: 15 Sales Jobs That Pay Well

Advantages of working in technology sales

Being aware of these basic advantages of working in tech sales can help you better plan your career growth:

Modern technologies

Working in technology sales is a great opportunity to gain experience and knowledge of modern technologies and useful tech solutions. This way, you can also get early access to the company's software. If you're passionate about computer science, hardware or related fields, you may enjoy learning about advanced solutions and selling them to business or corporate clients.

Networking

Typically, tech salespeople work among other sales representatives and various clients. This creates an ideal environment for them to network with influential and experienced professionals from different industries, including tech or IT. If you're thinking about gaining sales skills, but your long-term dream is to work in tech, starting as a technology salesperson might be the first step to achieving that goal.

Growth opportunities

Working within such a dynamic work environment creates various growth opportunities for tech salespeople. While working in this profession, you can expand your professional network also beyond the industry. This might give you a chance to change careers and move into other sectors of the tech industry.

Essential skills for working in technology sales

Here are some essential tech sales skills you may consider strengthening to increase your chances of succeeding in this profession:

Excellent knowledge of tech solutions

Working as a technology salesperson requires not only excellent sales skills but also that you're aware of recent tech trends and solutions. Typically, tech salespeople's main priority is to know everything about the products or services they sell. Being a tech generalist passionate about modern advancements can help you learn about complex tech concepts faster and better understand your consumers' needs.

Analytical skills

Salespeople need analytical skills to design, test and implement sales strategies. Some specific analytical skills you may consider investing in include customer experience management, customer retention or strategy execution. This may help you increase your commission and make sure the company meets the customers' needs.

Persuasion

Persuasion is an essential skill in sales because it allows you to influence others to make important purchasing decisions easily. Being a successful tech salesperson typically starts with performing an in-depth analysis of your customers' needs. You can then use the information to design a strategy that would show or persuade them that what you're selling is precisely what they need in their life or at work.

Adaptability

Working in sales can be dynamic and competitive. To make sure you can overcome the basic challenges that the technology sales industry brings, consider working on your adaptability skills. Adaptability makes it easier for you to adjust to new work environments and equips you with the essential skill set and knowledge to sell different products. It's a universal ability that you may use in other professions, too, even if you decide to change careers later on.

How to become a tech salesperson

Here are a few basic steps that you can focus on if you want to improve your sales skills and succeed as a tech salesperson:

1. Know yourself

Assessing your strengths, weaknesses and talents is one of the most important steps to build a successful career in sales. By analysing your skills and potential, you may increase your self-awareness and ensure that you know how to set realistic and ambitious goals for yourself. Be sure to make self-improvement one of your habits and continuously improve your qualifications to advance your career in tech sales.

2. Think long term

The most successful salespeople focus on long-term investments and strategies to build their careers. It's because a salesperson's salary may often vary depending on how many sales they make in a month. Therefore, creating a long-term plan is a great strategy to guarantee that you can support yourself and your family while advancing your career in tech sales.

3. Invest in education

Typically, you don't need a university degree to become a salesperson, but remember that education is one of the most important elements of working in sales. To keep improving your sales skills and gain expert knowledge in your tech field, you may consider completing some useful online courses or participating in training sessions. You may even consider a mentorship programme where a more experienced professional could share their expert knowledge with you. As a result, you may learn more about the profession, and the other person gets a chance to improve their leadership skills.

4. Build relationships

Pursuing and maintaining relationships is one of the most important elements of working in sales. Building successful long-term relationships with clients and building trust can be a great way to increase your salary because they may be more likely to buy from you if they need new tech solutions. It's also important that you take care of your professional relationships with other salespeople, colleagues and supervisors. Be sure to speak kindly of them because you never know what opportunity they may have for you in the future.

Salary figures reflect data listed on Indeed Salaries at the time of writing. Salaries may vary depending on the hiring organisation and a candidate's experience, academic background and location. Please note that none of the companies mentioned in this article are affiliated with Indeed.

What Is Technology Sales? (With Duties, Salary and Skills)