Chances are that if you’re reading this then you are somewhere between mildly and wildly interested in transitioning into a career in technology sales. For me, it was the combination of magic and money that attracted me to high tech sales. Allow me to clarify. I wanted to be on the cutting edge of technology and work somewhere cool and young. And I also wanted to make decent money; and by decent, I mean a lot.

If you aren’t convinced, here’s a quick story that may help you see it differently. You may have heard of The Internet of Things (IoT); a buzzword that simply describes a recent trend of connecting everyday objects to the Web such as watches, thermostats and even eye wear (see Google Glass). General Electric recently opened a new software division to get ahead of this digital and information renaissance and to centralize the technical programs for all 126 of its products, such as wind turbines. GE calls it the Industrial Internet; Cisco calls it the Internet of Everything; while other stalwarts simply refer to it as digital transformation. Regardless, more and more companies have begun to shift away from upselling more wind turbines and toward upselling web enabled sensors and data-driven cost savings. GE retrained its entire sales force to focus on long-term contracts and pay-for-performance based on IoT technology. And it feels like this is just the beginning.

But many veterans with exemplary service records and loads of leadership experience get turned away for lack of experience – despite having the total respect and empathy of the very hiring managers turning them away. They say, “we just can’t take a risk on someone who hasn’t carried a quota before,” or “we would have to train her and that takes too much time and money.” All totally legit excuses.

So what do you do if you are a transitioning veteran trying to break into tech sales? Here are a few tips from my personal experience:

Go Big

Sometimes being a little fish in a big pond is the best way to acquire the skills you’ll need in sales. Industry leaders have the infrastructure and resources to put all of their new hires through world-class sales training. Well, some programs are better than others, but the one I went through was amazing. We went through an intense 12-week training curriculum that covered white boarding techniques, software demonstrations and objection handling. We even had some fun with an improv troupe to teach us how to think on our feet. It certainly helped me become a better sales professional, but it cost my company a lot of money. This is a cost that most start-ups and smaller companies cannot afford. So you may find that going to one of the big dogs is your best (and only) option.

Get Smart

Training can sometimes mitigate that gaping lack of experience on your resume. If you aren’t comfortable preaching the value of automation management or fog computing (that’s right, I said fog, not cloud), don’t be alarmed. There are plenty of resources out there to get some basic training – for free. The online learning platform, edX, allows any student anywhere to take online courses from 74 of the best colleges in the world.

For example, Professor Phil Laplante from Penn State University teaches Introduction to Cloud Computing that covers the basic concepts of one of the hottest and rapidly growing technologies. This would be the first class I’d take if I had to do it all over again. For more information on this edX course, visit http://bit.ly/1CxVVtD.

Network

Networking is a big part of breaking into a new role or industry. Here are a few resources for meeting like-minded professionals:

1. Cisco Networking Academy (http://bit.ly/1ShjAzW)
2. Google Veteran Resources (http://bit.ly/1TutBwn)
3. Technology Sales Professionals LinkedIn Group: (http://linkd.in/1HoUkoK)

If you are a veteran who has overcome the stigma that a career in sales is cheap, dirty and beneath you, then please skip to the next paragraph. If you still have doubts, listen up. Your life probably looks a lot different than it did when you raised your right hand many years ago. The world looks different, too, thanks to you and others like you. But now you are looking for a change. Maybe you’ve decided that you want greater schedule control or a role that puts you in daily contact with business and government leaders that are transforming the world. Maybe it’s salary related, or maybe you just want a new challenge. Your reasons are your own. Working in fast growing industries, such as cloud technology or biotech, can be exciting and taking a role in sales gives you a platform to deliver real solutions and help companies grow. Certain industries continue to be white hot and offer highly lucrative and merit-based compensation to successful sales people (just a fancy way of saying you can make a lot of dough if you’re good). Furthermore, as a sales leader you are the quarterback. You coordinate multimillion dollar deals, lead strategy sessions with executives and have a seat at the table where decisions are made. For those that seek a challenge, read on.

If you are interested in entering the field of B2B sales or are looking to improve your skills, this article outlines some key insights from the Challenger Selling Model and how a new era of sales strategy may be on the horizon. Moreover, you can be confident that your time in the military has been a perfect primer to acquire key skills and experiences to complement the Challenger Selling Model.

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “It’s all about how you sell, not what you sell.” The Challenger Selling Model parallels a trend that sees sales reps moving away from selling products and toward selling solutions. Rather than reacting to purchase orders, they take up positions as trusted advisers. Rather than having strong product knowledge, they work hard to assert themselves as high-level strategic visionaries. The best sales reps are the ones that will not rest until the customer is satisfied – until they have it all.

“You don’t want most of it, you want all of it. And I won’t stop until you get all of it”.

-Don Draper on Business

But what makes them the best? Traditionally, self-selected sales professionals have above average interpersonal skills and are efficient at building relationships with clients. They have a strong work ethic and are reactive to the needs and problems of their customers. But what separates top performers from the average performers? The research upon which the Challenger Selling Model (from the Corporate Executive Board) is founded finds that a very specific bundle of traits are responsible for a massive performance gap in sales organizations. This grouping of traits is dominant in the star performers called Challengers.

A Challenger can very simply be defined as a sales leader that can teach, tailor and take control while maintaining a healthy level of constructive tension. Surprised? So were top sales executives when they analyzed the research. This radical departure from how sales executives have traditionally approached driving sales is creating a disruptive innovation, and an opportunity for transitioning veterans, in the field of sales. I’ll spend the remainder of the article diving deeper into a few of these traits and how military veterans fall naturally into them.

Teach

Challengers bring with them unique perspectives on a customer’s business. They have the confidence and forehandedness to engage customers in pursuit of the best way forward. They serve as advisers and have the ability to teach for differentiation throughout the sales process. Often, the greatest problem a customer has is not knowing what their problem is, which is why so much time is spent doing discovery work. Challengers acknowledge this and take a different approach by teaching customers what they are doing wrong and how they can fix it. Conversely, military veterans, enlisted and officers alike, are great team players who thrive (and survive) based on their ability to communicate quickly and efficiently. Constant debriefing and prebriefing sessions give veterans valuable collaboration and communication skills that translate to Corporate America well. Every servicemember is taught to be both a teacher and a student. Additionally, many veterans come off of active duty with experience leading students or recruits as instructors.

Take Control

Challengers are superior at beating a winning battle rhythm into sales cycles by focusing on what’s ahead. They are confident in the value they are delivering and are not afraid to talk openly about pricing. Challengers are also experts at creating momentum and avoiding the dreaded “no-decision”. You may be surprised to hear that many customers simply don’t know how to buy and what they really need is some good old-fashioned leadership. This is where veterans can really shine. They have led and been led under circumstances the average non-veteran cannot imagine. They’ve experienced good and bad leaders and took mental notes of what was effective and what wasn’t. In the process, they’ve developed a leadership profile. All veterans bring some level of tried-and-true leadership to the table. Furthermore, transitioning veterans know that this will be their primary strength and will therefore be more likely to flex it.

For sales organizations, if you aren’t hiring Challenger reps, chances are you will be scratching your head over why you keep coming up short as the complexity of your deals increases. Moreover, if you have found that Challengers fit nicely into your organization, you may want to look to the veteran community for your next star sales performer.

More information on the Challenger Sales Model can be found by visiting www.executiveboard.com.

Looking for meaningful jobs? I decided to write this article to illuminate some alarming employment trends among transitioning veterans:  while an incredible amount of resources are dedicated to helping veterans transition to Corporate America after they serve, most of it is wasted on inefficient and misguided activities.

Much of the gloomy commentary regarding the status of veterans is inaccurate. Veterans boast lower poverty and suicide rates, higher on average earning potential and better overall physical health than their non-veteran counterparts. In short, they are well positioned to succeed. And then there are those who suffer permanent wounds of war, both visible and invisible, that are certainly deserving of help. But for those veterans who are able and ready for the next chapter, taking is not in their DNA. They need to contribute; to use their hands and minds; to have purpose.

But what is the best way of doing this? How do we help veterans make the switch? Thomas Meyer, a leader at the Philanthropy Roundtable, describes how some organizations are providing overly generous and misguided support which is resulting in further disabling of veterans; a distinction he calls deconstructive versus constructive aid. Rather, enabling veterans to pursue rewarding and enriching careers mimics the adage “to teach a man to fish.” This is a step toward self-sufficiency, and this is where we must focus.

Leaving the military can leave a massive void in the life of a veteran; no more advancement tests, career pipelines or community managers telling you what to do and where to go. You have skills (more than you think) but don’t know how they translate. And with no limitations, decision paralysis sets in with what to do with your life.

Successful veteran placement organizations are focused on supporting veterans in the following core areas:

Training Veterans

For many veterans, the time and money to complete required training can often slow the transition process. Again, we all know that veterans leave the military with great experience but are not confident in how it translates. Taking a certification course or going back to college can often mitigate the lack of civilian experience. Cisco’s IT Training and Certification Program has helped nearly 400 veterans match their military experience and intended civilian function with a legitimate certification such as the Certified Network Associate (CNA) and Project Management Professional (PMP). Nearly 60% stated that their new certification status helped them land their first job out of the military.

Source: www.csr.cisco.com

Job Placement

A number of placement firms and organizations are leading incredible efforts to get veterans in front of and hired by employers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative is responsible for more than 27,000 jobs obtained by veterans and their spouses at their career fairs around the country. Additionally, their commitment to promoting and securing corporate partnerships has resulted in 707,000 committed jobs by over 2,000 employers. Of those, 500,000 have been filled to date. It is hard to argue against their strategic vision of grassroots engagement and public-private partnerships.

Source:

Mentoring for Success

Organizations such as American Corporate Partners are leading the charge to provide innovative mentoring methods to help veterans successfully transition. They focus on long-term professional development through one-on-one mentoring, career counseling and networking. They have even gone as far as to build out a professional networking tool called ACP AdvisorNet (think LinkedIn for veterans) that connects recently transitioned veterans with established professionals that want to give back.

Source: www.acp-usa.org