For those of you who have successfully landed a sales job with no prior experience, what was it that got you the job? Was there anything specific you put on your resume that grabbed their attention? Use of cover letter?

I’m looking to start a sales career in HVAC and I’ve applied to a few places to no avail. Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you in advance for taking the time to participate in this conversation.

EDIT: For more context, the only experience I have in sales and customer relations is that I’ve worked as a delivery driver for a furniture company and I have 3 years of being in a MLM with a group of 3/18. I recently walked into a HVAC shop and asked to speak with the sales manager. Told him my experience and he said the MLM I was apart of was a scam. He still asked me for my name and number and said they’ll be hiring for the comfort advisor position in 2 weeks. Should I even be bringing up my experience with my old MLM?

I have done a variety of courses from Coursera, including Tech related courses, Sales related courses, and project management. i have completed some courses from Salesforce as well.

I have some transferable skills such as hosting/serving at the busiest Red Lobster in North America, working with Amazon as an Order specialist, and experience working as a substitute teacher as well as a supervisor.

Is there anything else I can do to stand out despite having no formal education?

EDIT: im blown away from all the advice; you guys are awesome!

What are some good entry level sales jobs? I have no experience and I’m not hearing back from any employer that I’m applying to. I’m looking to make at least 60k. What industry/jobs will actually hire me and have enough commission where I can pull in 60k?

Hi guys I’m new here so I want to get into tech sales but I have no sales experience whatsoever so what are the small step to get into tech sales and also I got a stutter will that effect my chances to get into tech sales industry

Thank kind regards

I have 9 years of sales experience, 3 in B2B software sales. What are some entry level jobs that I'd be a fit for? Just got fired and I'm a little anxious about going without any income.

I sold my two year sales experience prior in a different field and I figured Id ask here to hear from yall. Good , bad, words of wisdom, words of discouragement, doesn't matter -- can't wait to hear responses. thanks for such a supportive community

I say almost no experience because I was a BDM many moons ago, but have playing poker for a living for almost two decades. I do very well in sales interviews (sales comes naturally to me), but they can't see that on my resume. I don't know how to stand out. Poker for a living doesn't scream "take this guy" to recruiters. I need to start somewhere. Where do you recommend? Thanks!

Back in 2013 I left my second sales job out of college at LivingSocial - like Groupon. They didn’t pay my 170% to quotation cause I was just closing deals left and right.

The day the manager told me they couldn’t pay me I called my mom and bought a 1 way flight to NYC (where I was originally from) and stayed with my uncle for a month and a half looking for a new job.

I spent 30 days submitting resumes. I found this headhunter on LinkedIn for a pharma company. I watched that movie where the pharma reps were killing it but I didn’t have experience.

She told me no way they would hire me. I begged her give me the hardest assignment and put me in front of the hiring manager. I’ll get the job. I begged her. For like a week.

She caved in and got me in front of the managers at a hotel in NJ.

I was so nervous I spent a month there just doing bull shit interviews. Nothing like pharma sales.

I was last a there were 11 candidates in front of me all my parents age - seasoned sales people.

I got in the little room and they were drilling me with the situational interview questions. I remember one of them threw me off - “if you were a plant what would it be? And why?”

I said a “weeping willow” my dad had one and as a kid we had to move it away from the house cause the roots could crack the foundation looking for water.

I made up some story like I’m a weeping willow because I dig deep to find information and soak it all up like the roots and grow so large because I love to learn.

It was what I came up with on the spot.

I was nervous I wanted the job I was there for a month and this was my chance.

The regional director was in the room and we only went through a few questions at this point and I knew just as much as they knew I was the last guy with the least amount of experience - and the head hunter just did me a favor cause I begged her.

He stepped in casually and said “look we like your resume and there’s a lot of great qualified candidates here - why would we choose you with no medical experience over the others?”

I paused.

I was sweating.

I was nervous.

And I said “can I think about this for 30 seconds and gather my thoughts?”

He said yes take your time I can get you some water.

I was young - I was 23 years old and I knew I was going for a sales job so I needed to just be myself and close em.

I took a sip of water and said…

“The reason why is because the rest of the candidates view this as just another job. I bought a one way ticket from Kentucky to be here. The only reason I’m here is because that lady outside this door saw something in me. Everyone else has a plan B.

I know you guys are hiring and making a decision today by 5pm and I’m the only one here that doesn’t have a plan B and I expect a phone call no later than 5:30pm with an offer letter so I can go back to Kentucky to pack my stuff and start next week.

I appreciate both of your time today and I look forward to hearing from you at 5:30 this afternoon.”

I stood up extended my hand and shook both of their hands and ended the interview myself.

I walked outside and blacked out while the lady asked me how everything went. I told her I screwed up I didn’t know what to say and I sat on the couch to collect my thoughts.

I went home feeling miserable and playing it over and over again in my head feeling like I blew it.

I got a call at 6pm and Bryce (my new manager) told me that was exactly what they were looking for. They needed a salesman who was not afraid to close the deal.

I got the job and entered the medical field as a sales rep!

I’m writing this because I see a lot of people asking questions about entering sales and claiming they don’t t have experience etc. own that shit and be yourself and take a chance!

I hope this motivates at least a few people to go achieve and get what you want with confidence and close your next sale!

I’d love to hear your stories too! I’ll respond to everyone!

I want to know what you guys would do. They say they want 3yr experience. It's for solar.

My plan, write something fancy in the personal letter where I focus on selling the recruiter instead of telling her too much about myself. Say something about how "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't show up". And how a nice resume doesn't mean they're as dedicated or motivated. I would ofc display strong good characteristics also. Being coachable etc.

Then after that I planned on A either recording a video for the sales manager to send on Linkedin or B cold call him even though I have 0 experience just say something short and try to book a meeting or another phone call. Problem is I don't have any structure for my coldcall so it's very high risk. And the LinkedIn video, my LinkedIn profile is very bad. Because of lack of experience. I was thinking about doing both though, calling him after he's seen the video. Is it a good plan? let me know what you think.

PS, if you have advice for structure or script for any of the specific things I said please share.

Edit: should I call someone else than the sales manager? Maybe call someone very high up to get attention "he coldcalled the boss"

I’ve heard SaaS is tough to get into.

I was recently let go of my director level application support role. I have a tech background, but can also talk to strangers like a normal person and give presentations.

I like the idea of commission and I’m looking into sales roles. I realize I’ll have to pretty much start at the bottom, but are there any roles that could get to 100k or more?

Something where you have a regular job, regular pay, and you can get a commission on top if you are good at the selling part. No crazy unattainable every rising quotas.

Can anyone provide any insight or help me with getting a sales job in tech?

I know next to nothing about sales. I feel like I’m gonna bomb this interview today any advice you guys could give me?

After two months of hard work, I finally secured my first sales role! I was able to secure a fully remote BDR role at a large SaaS company. I did it with no prior sales experience. Just sharing to hopefully encourage others to keep going with the job search. I know landing the role is only the first step, but definitely feeling ecstatic knowing the hours I put in paid off.

In total I sent in dozens of applications—along with targeted outreach to BDRs, Sales Managers, and AE’s, to really understand what people were looking for on their teams, and also how to best set myself up for success. While waiting to do interviews I completed free sales trainings on LinkedIn Learning (through my library card) and a free tech sales boot camp to improve my resume/linkedin and grasp the fundamentals of the sales process.

Also did a lot of interview prep beforehand to show I was prepared coming into each interaction. One of the biggest game changers I came across was to close every interview.

After 3 rounds of interviewing with this company, I was finally offered the position! If nothing else, I hope this encourages someone who is still looking for their first role that it’s still possible even without experience!

Happy to answer any questions about my process.

I feel like almost every in Tampa bay is in sales making 200k+ income, and similiarly are influencer. It makes me wonder why anyone would consider any job other than sales if sales jobs are so high paying.

Every sales job no matter what industry wants direct experience now, gone are the days where transferrable skills and attitude was enough to get you a sales role you had no prior experience in. I’m not just talking about tech or saas sales I’m talking about literally any industry, are more people trying to get into sales now?