“Fail to plan and you plan to fail”
-Winston Churchill
Looking for a new sales role is like embarking on a journey. With any journey, it’s important to have a clear plan of where you’re going, and what you’re doing.Here are some things to think about and answer before you start your journey to find that new sales role. Thinking about and answering these questions could help your job search run smoother, and make sure you end up with a job you’re really going to enjoy
What do you want to be doing?
You might think this is a silly question. You currently work in a SaaS Sales role, so that’s what you want to be doing, right?. Go deeper than just selling a SaaS product. Do you want to be closing, finding new business, have the opportunity to lead a team, travel, cold calling, or something else? Start by listing all the things you do in your current role, and then highlight what you love, what you like, and what you hate.
What are your non-negotiables?
What are the things you don’t want to compromise on- is it salary, location, commute, job title, sector, company? By defining these things before you even start searching gives you a set of criteria to refine your search, meaning you can narrow down the field to the right types of roles even quicker.
Who do you want to work for?
Are there any companies that you’d just love to work for? Perhaps a sector you’d love to break into? Or even companies that have values you want to align yourself with. Two reasons to make a list of these: Firstly, you have a list of companies to get in touch with and see if they’re hiring. Secondly, if you decide to work with a sales recruitment company, this can help them- either they can reach out on your behalf, or it gives them a picture of the companies you want to work with and who they should target for you.
What are the things that are really important to you?
Feeling valued, using all your skills, working with fun people, having a good work culture, working for an ethical or environmentally responsible company, having a sense of purpose- are these things that are important to you? Could these be defined as values? Like above, it’s important to know what things are important to you, so you can make sure you find a company that is a good fit. Feeling disenfranchised at work is often a result of your values not being met. Make sure that doesn’t happen in your new role by make sure you know what your values.
How are you going to find the jobs?
Going to sign up to the job boards? Register with a sales recruitment company? Use LinkedIn? To guarantee success, it’s a good idea to do a multi-pronged attack and do all! Make sure you pick the right job boards that have the right type of jobs you’re looking for.
Make sure your LinkedIn page is helping not hindering your job search:
How are you going to manage things?
It may get to a point where you’ve applied for a dozen jobs and spoken with a dozen people and now you’re not sure who just phoned and what role it was that you even applied for. Keeping a spreadsheet of the roles you’ve applied for, the site you found the job, the logins for all the job boards, who the key contacts are, or who’ve you’ve spoken with is a great way to stay organised and on track. Bonus tip- keep a note of when you applied and when the job applications are closing- this way you know when to follow up etc. Be it through a spreadsheet, notebook or a million post-it notes, it is a good idea to keep track somehow!
Finding the right person to help
It’s important if you decide to work with a recruiter that you find the right one for you, and for the roles, you’re looking for. If you are looking for sales roles, it only makes sense to work with a sales recruitment company. They will already have the types of roles you’re looking for, have the connections to companies you might want to work for, and also better understand what a salesperson does.
Plan your CV or CV’s
If you’ve decided that you’d be happy with more than one type of role, it’s a good idea to draft two CV’s that compliment those roles and the different skill sets. You obviously have the skills for both role, but your CV might not sell that for one as well as the other.
So now you’ve set out a plan of what you want, how you’re going to get it, and how you’re going to keep track- you’re ready to get out there and start searching!
To help you further, here are some guides, put together by the Saleslogic team to help you with your planning, CV writing, applying and even landing the role!
Saleslogic is a leading sales recruitment agency in London. We specialise in digital sales jobs, SaaS sales jobs, software sales jobs and more. Click here to view sales jobs we are currently recruiting for.