A Comprehensive Guide to Sales Positions in the Tech Industry
The Complexity of Technology Sales
Tech, IT, and SaaS sales can seem complex. There are different sales cycles, monetization structures, and stages in the funnel. Don’t worry, we are here to help.
In this guide, we will:
break down the 5 main stages of a tech sales funnel
go over the different monetization structures of IT companies and SaaS platforms
give you a detailed summary of each sales function within a tech sales funnel
outline specific differences for Japan
provide a glossary of terms related to sales positions in tech
After reading this, you can be confident when applying to any sales position in the tech industry.
We are writing this from Japan, but Japan adopted many terms from Silicon Valley. These will be the same globally.
Disclaimer:
These functions are what we found to be accurate in working with our clients in Japan and APAC, but these can vary from company to company and from market to market.
Salary ranges will be displayed in Japanese Yen. These are salary ranges that we have found to be the most accurate through working with our clients in the tech industry in Japan and APAC, but these can vary from company to company and market to market.
Contents
Defining Sales in the Tech and IT Industry
When you are working in a sales function in the tech and IT industry, you will:
introduce a service or product to potential customers
have close interactions with a prospect, a lead, and existing clients
keep in contact with your customers to make sure they are successfully using the product or service
As sales, you are the first point of contact and the face of your company to your clients.
You will have the closest relationship with the customer.
Different Tech Monetization Structures
2 Main Sales Categories
First it is helpful to define the 2 main categories of tech and IT sales:
Service Sales
Business Consultants or Financial Consultants:
Consultative Sales
Infrastructure Sales
System Integrators (SI-ers)
Solution Sales
Product Sales
Hardware
Servers
Computers
Storage
Software
SaaS - Software as a Service
Adobe Creative Cloud
Attuned
Single License Tools or Programs
Microsoft Office
Ableton Live
Monetization Structures
From there we can define the monetization structures used for tech and IT sales:
License Sales
One time sale of a product version that can be used for any amount of time.
Additional support, services, tools or upgrades and updates can be sold after the initial deal is closed.
Microsoft Office
Final Cut Pro
Recurring Revenue or Renewal Revenue or Renewal Sales
ARR - Annual Recurring Revenue, this can be paid in a one time payment, installments, or grouped installments.
Slidebean
Attuned
MRR - Monthly Recurring Revenue, this is paid monthly and generally can be cancelled anytime.
Netflix
Zoom
License types for Software
Each of these can be sold:
Per User
A login/password is given to each individual using the product.
GSuite
Netflix
Zoom
Per Unit
The software will be installed on the individual computer or server.
Cloud Management Software
Alternative Sales Models:
Thus far we have been focusing on direct sales, here are alternative models of sales:
Partner Sales
A technology company that is selling a complimentary piece of software will act as a reseller and sell your product as well.
Wholesaler
A software license will be sold at the lowest possible price to a wholesaler that will then sell the software to its customers.
The decrease in revenue will be compensated for through the sheer volume of sales.
The Tech Sales Funnel - Infographic
5 Stage Tech and SaaS Sales Funnel with descriptions and icons for each stage.
The 5 Stages in the Tech/SaaS Sales Funnel
Stage 1 - Lead Generation
Generating new leads and engaging potential leads
Marketing generates inbound leads or marketing qualified leads (MQLs)
Business development functions reach out to new clients to find and develop leads
Sales managers reach out to new clients to find and develop leads
Account executives (AE) reach out to new clients to find and develop leads
Stage 2 - Lead Qualification
Initial sales engagements and converting MQLs to SQLs
Sales development representatives (SDR) engage and qualify MQLs to convert to sales qualified leads (SQLs)
Inside sales representatives (ISR) engages and qualifies MQLs to convert to SQLs
To “qualify a lead” means researching the person or business that expressed interest in your product to find out if they are “hot” or “cold”.
Hot Leads
Potential prospect or buyers
Cold Leads
Have no immediate need or intention to buy, but are only gathering information
Stage 3 - Lead Conversion
Converting leads to customers
Account executives present to the client
Business development presents to the client
Sales managers present to the client
Pre-sales joins to show technical integration specifics
Stage 4 - Customer Success
Creating vendor lock in with post-sales
Account manager (AM) will nurture the account to ensure they use the product or service effectively
Customer success manager (CSM) will nurture the account to ensure they use the product or service effectively
Stage 5 - Renewal Sales
Re-engagement and renewal
Renewal sales engage a current customer before their license expires to make sure they decide to renew
This can also be part of the AM or CSM responsibilities
Cycles back to Stage 4 - customer success, to keep customers engaged and actively using the product or service
Sales Functions in a Tech Company
Direct Sales
What is a Sales Development Representative? (SDR)
SDR means sales development representative.
As a SDR, you qualify inbound leads that are generated through marketing (MQLs) and convert them from hot leads or cold leads to sales qualified leads (SQLs).
First you need to assess whether the prospect is a hot lead or a cold lead.
Hot Lead
A lead with a high likelihood to convert to a customer.
Cold Lead
A person or business that is only gathering information and has no intent to buy.
You will do this through outreach to the person or business that has expressed interest in your product or service to understand their needs and if your product or service will suit those needs. You will need to find out the size, structure, buyer, budget, and timeline of the leads.
You will not be responsible for closing deals, your focus will be on moving the inbound leads and potential buyers to the next stage of the sales funnel.
This can also be called inside sales representative (ISR) depending on the company.
What are SDR Responsibilities?
Convert MQLs to SQLs
Outreach to MQLs
Meet with and research marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to assess budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT)
Budget
The amount of money that your prospect has allotted for a particular solution.
Authority
You need to identify the person that has the decision making power in the prospect. This person can be called a kingpin or buyer.
Which business unit are you targeting with your solution? This will depend on the type of product your company is selling, but it can include:
IT
CXO
Marketing
Sales
Need
You will work to determine the real issues driving your client’s need for the product or service you are selling. What will happen if they do not solve this issue? How will it impact their business?
Timeline
What is your client’s realistic timeline for purchase? How urgent are the issues they are facing? Once qualified, you will pass the leads to an account executive (AE) or an inside sales representative (ISR)
Maintain a strong working relationship with outside and channel sales representatives
Pass qualified leads to an account executive (AE) or an inside sales representative (ISR)
Generally, you will not be meeting clients face-to-face
What are SDR Targets and KPIs?
Number of demos scheduled with AE or sales qualified appointments (SQAs)
Number of sales qualified leads (SQLs)
Outbound activity
Emails sent
Client meetings
Phone time
Number of calls made
Assisted revenue
What is the Salary for SDRs?
There are different salary split options for SDRs:
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for SDRs?
Base
￥4.5m - ￥6m
Bonus and incentives
￥1m - ￥4m
Sales Development Representative (SDR) FAQ
What is the difference between SDR and ISR?
The main difference between a sales development representative and an inside sales representative is the focus on closing deals. As an SDR, you will always hand off leads to the account executive whereas, as an ISR you will potentially close the deal yourself.
If you are interested in working as an SDR in a tech or SaaS company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
What is a Business Development Representative (BDR)?
As a BDR or business development representative, you will handle the initial contact with a potential client through outbound prospecting. This will involve cold communications such as cold calls, cold emails, networking, and social selling.
Once you have generated interest in your product or service you will meet and assess the budget, need, and timeline as well as who has the power to make the purchase decision. From there, you will schedule a demo with an account executive (AE) and pass the lead to them.
Generally, as a BDR you will be engaging with mid to large enterprises.
As a BDR you will not be responsible for closing deals, rather your focus will be on outbound prospecting and then moving the qualified leads to the next stage of the sales funnel.
What are BDR Responsibilities?
Research to find potential buyers
Outbound prospecting
Cold communications
Cold calling
Cold emailing
Cold messaging
Networking
Attending industry events and trade shows
Social selling
Qualify prospects to convert to SQLs
Meet with and research marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to assess budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT)
Budget
The amount of money that your prospect has allotted for a particular solution.
Authority
You need to identify the person that has the decision making power in the prospect. This person can be called a kingpin or buyer.
Which business unit are you targeting with your solution? This will depend on the type of product your company is selling, but can include:
IT
CXO
Marketing
Sales
Need
You will work to determine the real issues driving your client’s need for the product or service you are selling. What will happen if they do not solve this issue? How will it impact their business?
Timeline
What is your client’s realistic timeline for purchase? How urgent are the issues they are facing?
Pass qualified leads to an account executive (AE) or an inside sales representative (ISR)
You will need to maintain a strong working relationship with outside and channel sales representatives
What are BDR Targets and KPIs?
Number of demos scheduled with AE or sales qualified appointments (SQAs)
Number of sales qualified leads (SQLs)
Outbound activity
Emails sent
Client meetings
Phone time
Number of calls made
Assisted revenue
What is the Salary for a BDR?
What are the salary split options for BDR?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for BDR?
Base
¥4.5m - ¥6.5m
Bonus and incentives
¥1m - Uncapped incentives (based on individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Business Development Representative (BDR) FAQ
What is the difference between a BDR and SDR?
As a BDR, you focus on outbound prospecting and qualify the leads you are generating through your cold communications (emails, phone calls, networking). As an SDR you will be more focused on qualifying inbound leads that are coming from marketing. Generally as a BDR, you will be engaging with larger potential customers, whereas a SDR will be handing small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
If you are interested in working as a BDR in a tech or SaaS company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
What is an Inside Sales Representative? (ISR)
Inside sales representatives or ISR is named for the fact that you will not meet with clients face-to-face and instead you will communicate with customers via telephone or online. This is to maximize the amount of potential buyers you can meet.
As an ISR, your main function is to engage with leads generated by marketing and convert them to customers. The main clients you will engage with as an ISR are small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Your role is similar to a sales development representative (SDR), but with an additional focus on closing deals.
What are an ISR’s Responsibilities?
Engaging clients that are small - mid size enterprises
Outreach to potential clients via
Cold communication
Cold Calling
Cold Emailing
Cold Messaging
Social Selling
Meet with and research marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to assess budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT)
Budget
The amount of money that your prospect has allotted for a particular solution.
Authority
You need to identify the person that has the decision making power in the prospect. This person can be called a kingpin or buyer.
Which business unit are you targeting with your solution? This will depend on the type of product your company is selling, but can include:
IT
CXO
Marketing
Sales
Need
You will work to determine the real issues driving your client’s need for the product or service you are selling.
What will happen if they do not solve this issue?
How will it impact their business?
Timeline
What is your client’s realistic timeline for purchase?
How urgent are the issues they are facing?
Sales demonstrations using video services like Zoom, Webex, Skype, Meet, etc.
Closing clients using phone, email, and online video services.
You will not be meeting clients face to face.
You will need to maintain a strong working relationship with outside and channel sales representatives.
What are an ISR’s Targets and KPIs?
Number of:
Demos scheduled or sales qualified appointments (SQAs)
Client interactions
Proposals sent
Deals closed
Revenue targets
What is an ISR’s Salary?
What are the salary split options for an ISR?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for an ISR?
Base
¥5m - ¥12m
Bonus and Incentives
¥2m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Inside Sales Representative (ISR) FAQ
What is the difference between ISR and SDR?
The main difference between a sales development representative and an inside sales rep is the focus on closing deals. As an SDR, you will always hand off leads to the account executive whereas, as an ISR you will potentially close deals yourself.
What is the difference between inside sales and outside sales?
As an inside sales representative, you will prospect, assess, and close leads using remote communications instead of in person meetings. “Outside Sales” encompasses various sales positions (BDR, AE, Sales Manager, etc.) that use face-to-face meetings and interactions to prospect leads, assess leads, and close deals. However, the gap is closing. More and more Outside Sales has incorporated online tools to sell.
If you are interested in working as an ISR in a tech or SaaS company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
What is an Account Executive in Tech and SaaS? (AE)
As an account executive or AE in tech and SaaS companies your main goal is to move sales qualified leads (SQLs) to full fledged customers.
When working as an AE in tech you will meet with clients to demo the product or service, give presentations on the benefits of the product or service, build strong relationships with your clients and close deals.
In Japan, this can be done through high touch sales, or meeting with the clients regularly to assess needs, budget, who the buyer is within the prospect and sales cycle timeline.
AEs are generally focused on more high profile customers like large enterprises.
This can also be called business development, outside sales, or sales manager depending on the company.
What are an Account Executive’s Responsibilities?
Hunter Sales
This could mean handling the full sales cycle from scouting prospects to closing deals to post sales account management.
In some companies, as an AE you will handle outreach to potential clients via:
Cold communications
Cold Calling
Cold Emailing
Cold Messaging
Networking
Social Selling
Face-to-face meetings with clients
Usually engaging large enterprises of 500+ people companies
Engage with clients to understand their budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT)
Budget
The amount of money that your prospect has allotted for a particular solution.
Authority
You need to identify the person that has the decision making power in the prospect. This person can be called a kingpin or buyer.
Which business unit are you targeting with your solution? This will depend on the type of product your company is selling, but can include:
IT
CXO
Marketing
Sales
Need
You will work to determine the real issues driving your client’s need for the product or service you are selling.
What will happen if they do not solve this issue?
How will it impact their business?
Timeline
What is your client’s realistic timeline for purchase?
How urgent are the issues they are facing?
Preparing and delivering sales documents and presentations to potential clients
Closing deals to create new customers
Negotiating contracts and commercial terms
What are an Account Executive’s Targets and KPIs?
Deals closed
Revenue targets
Number of outbound communications
Phone calls
Phone time
Emails
Client meetings
What is an Account Executive’s Salary?
What are the salary split options for an account executive?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets
70/30 = 70% Base / 30%
60/40 = 60% Base / 40%
50/50 = 50% Base / 50%
What is the Salary Range for an Account Executive?
Base
¥6m - ¥10m
Bonus
¥4m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Account Executive (AE) FAQ
What is the difference between an account executive and an account manager?
An account executive will be engaging with leads that have not yet converted to customers and closing those leads to convert them to customers. An Account Manager will be engaging with customers after the deal has closed, their focus is on nurturing the relationship with the customer by ensuring that all needs and expectations are managed.
If you are interested in working as an AE in a tech or SaaS company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
What is an Account Manager? (AM)
As an account manager or AM, you will engage with the client after the deal has been closed (post sale) to ensure that the needs and expectations of the client are being met. This will mean that you are engaging with your clients on a daily basis and following up on any issues they are having, offering solutions to problems the client may encounter in the future, and reporting results from previous usage of your product or service.
In essence, you are the face of your company to your client and will be engaging with them the most out of all of your sales counterparts, in person and online.
In the account manager role, you will need to be more nurturing and your targets will be tied to the revenue generated from the account post sale.
Your targets could include upselling or cross selling and renewal sales.
Generally in this role, you will be managing several accounts at the same time, these can range from SMBs to large enterprises depending on the product or service you provide. You will need to manage your time appropriately for the size of each account, maintaining focus on key accounts. This can also mean that you may only have a few accounts if you are only working with large enterprises.
Your title will also change depending on the accounts you are handling such as Enterprise Account Manager, if you are working with enterprise clients or Key Account Manager, if you are working with accounts that are crucial to your business.
What are the Responsibilities of an Account Manager (AM)?
Nurture accounts that have already closed
Meet regularly with clients in person or online to ensure that needs and expectations are being met
Handle any issues the client is having with the product or service
Escalate any issue to the appropriate person on your team if you are unable to resolve the issue that your client is facing
Assess the usage of the product or service and make recommendations for further tools that would lead to greater benefits for the client
Report results of previous usage of your service or product via data analytics and visualization
Define a budget with your client
Keep track of any changes to the client’s budget that may affect your revenue generated from the account
Upsell or cross sell products and services by identifying sales opportunities within an existing account
Ensure a renewal when the account’s renew date is approaching
What are the Targets and KPIs of an Account Manager?
Upsell or cross sell targets
Renewals
Customer satisfaction
Sales targets
Targets can also be tied to account based revenue
Keeping a low churn rate
What is an Account Manager’s Salary?
What are the salary split options for an account manager?
100% Base Salary, bonus and incentives will only be tied to company performance or individual performance, no commission.
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
What is the salary range for an account manager?
Base
¥5m - ¥11m
Bonus and incentives
¥.5m - Uncapped incentives (based on sales, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Account Manager (AM) FAQ
What is the difference between an account executive and an account manager?
An account executive will be engaging with leads that have not yet converted to customers and closing leads. An account manager will be engaging with customers after the deal has closed, their focus is on nurturing the relationship with the customer by ensuring that all needs and expectations are managed.
What is the difference between an account manager and a customer success manager?
Generally, as a customer success manager (CSM) you will handle more technical issues including implementation and data analytics. In addition an account manager is closer to a sales position with bonuses, incentives, and sales target. Whereas if you are a CSM, your salary will be primarily a base salary with no commission or sales targets. Customer success managers are usually more senior than account managers. Both are post sales roles.
If you are interested in working as an AM in a tech or SaaS company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
What is a Customer Success Manager? (CSM)
It's all in the title, delivering success to your customers!
As a customer success manager you are responsible for ensuring that the customer is experiencing the full benefits of the product or service post sale. This will mean making sure that your clients are taking full advantage of all the features of your product or service, handling implementation, taking care of issues that your customers are having, anticipating and preemptively resolving issues that your customer may encounter, and reporting on results from previous usage.
This can include cross selling and upselling new products or features that the customer would benefit from, coaching and training sessions for your customers, and even adapting the product to your customers needs (productizing customer needs).
Customer success managers or representatives generally will not have direct sales targets but may have upsell or cross selling bonuses.
This position may be titled technical account manager (TAM), client success manager, client solutions manager, or solutions consultant depending on the company.
What are a CSM’s Responsibilities?
Cultivating and maintaining a strong customer relationship post sale
Product integration
Solution implementation
Solving technical issues or escalating to the engineering team
Meet regularly with clients in person or online to ensure that needs and expectations are being met
Assess the usage of the product or service and make recommendations for further tools that would lead to greater benefits for the client
Report results of previous usage of your service or product via data analytics and visualization
Creating vendor lock-in
Keep track of any changes to the client’s budget that may affect your revenue generated from the account
Organize trainings with clients
Create training materials
Deliver training presentations
Coach clients on best practices and how to maximize benefits
Productizing customer needs with research and development (R&D) team
Upsell or cross sell in further products and services by identifying sales opportunities within an existing account
Ensure a renewal when the account’s renew date is approaching
What are a CSM’s Targets and KPIs?
Customer satisfaction
Keeping a high Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Maintaining low churn rates
Cross selling or upselling
Renewals
Targets can also be tied to customer revenue
What is the Salary of a Customer Success Manager?
What are the salary split options for customer success managers?
100% Base Salary, bonus and incentives will only be tied to company performance or individual performance, no commission.
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
What is the salary range for a Customer Success Manager?
The salary range is dependent on the full title
Customer Success Manager
Base
¥7m - ¥13m
Bonus and incentives
¥.5m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Customer Success Director
Base
¥13m - ¥20m
Bonus and incentives
¥.5m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Customer Success Manager (CSM) FAQ
What is the difference between customer success and customer service?
As a customer success manager, you will need to be actively involved in your client’s decision making process and usage of your product or service. In customer service, you will be more reactive to an issue that your customer is already facing. In addition, as a customer success manager, you are responsible for driving business results for your customers through the usage of the product or service, as well as teaching your customers the best uses for the tools that your company is offering, whereas customer service is not handling outreach to customers.
What is the difference between a customer success manager and an account manager?
Generally, as a customer success manager you will handle more technical issues including implementation and data analytics. In addition an account manager is closer to a sales position with bonuses, incentives, and sales target. Whereas if you are a CSM, your salary will be primarily a base salary with no commission or sales targets. Customer success managers are usually more senior than account managers.
If you are interested in working as a CSM in a tech or SaaS company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
What is a Renewal Specialist?
As a renewal specialist, you will engage with the customer a set period of time before their contract is set to renew to ensure that the renewal happens.
This requires you to work through any contract terms and pricing re-negotiations, keeping the customer at their current level of subscription, or enforcing a price increase for your product and service.
Other situations that you encounter will deal with the customer not paying the renewal fee but still using the service or product and changes with the point of contact (POC) on the customer side.
This may be delegated to customer success and account management, or handled by a renewal sales specialist.
This position may be titled Renewal Sales, Renewal Sales Representative, Renewals, Software Renewals, etc.
What are the Responsibilities for a Renewal Specialist?
Engaging with an existing customer face-to-face or online after the initial sale and before the renewal date
Managing issues around renewal
Product or service satisfaction
POC or evangelist change on the customer side
Terms and pricing re-negotiation
Maintaining or increasing subscription level
Enforcing increased pricing
Customers not paying for renewal but still using the service or product
Maintaining a minimal churn rate
Minimizing revenue erosion
Ensure a renewal when the account’s renew date is approaching
What are the Targets and KPI for a Renewal Specialist?
Maintaining low churn rate
Renewal targets
Client meetings
What is the Salary for a Renewal Specialist?
What are the split options for a renewal specialist?
100% Base Salary, bonus and incentives will only be tied to company performance or individual performance, no commission.
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of renewal targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
What is the salary range for a renewal specialist?
Base
¥4.5m - ¥12m
Bonus and Incentives
¥1m - ¥6m
If you are interested in working as a renewal specialist in a tech company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
WHAT IS A BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER? (BDM)
Business development can have two different meanings depending on the company and revenue model.
The first definition (Type 1) is developing an existing business line through engaging new clients, prospects, and leads.
The second definition (Type 2) is developing new business lines and revenue streams through partnerships or other means.
Both will have titles that can range from Business Development Manager to Business Development Director and various other titles.
Generally both types of BD managers are individual contributors.
Type 1 - Developing an existing business
As a business development manager in tech, you will be responsible for developing an existing business by handling the full sales cycle from prospecting and cold outreach to closing deals and occasionally meeting with customers post sale to maintain relationships.
What are Business Development Responsibilities? (Type 1)
Cultivate new client relationships
Research to find potential buyers
Outbound prospecting
Cold outreach to potential clients
Cold calling
Cold emailing
Cold messaging
Networking
Attending industry events and trade shows
Social selling
Qualify prospects to convert to customers
Meet with prospects to assess budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT)
Budget
The amount of money that your prospect has allotted for a particular solution.
Authority
You need to identify the person that has the decision making power in the prospect. This person can be called a kingpin or buyer.
Which business unit are you targeting with your solution? This will depend on the type of product your company is selling, but can include:
IT
CXO
Marketing
Sales
Need
You will work to determine the real issues driving your client’s need for the product or service you are selling.
What will happen if they do not solve this issue?
How will it impact their business?
Timeline
What is your client’s realistic timeline for purchase?
How urgent are the issues they are facing?
Face to face meeting and entertainment of potential clients and existing customers
Product or service presentations and demonstrations
Closing deals to convert leads to customers
What are Business Development Managers Targets and KPI? (Type 1)
Revenue targets
Deals closed
Number of client meetings
Number of outbound communications
Amount of proposals
What is a Business Development Manager’s Salary? (Type 1)
What are the salary split options for Business Development?
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for Business Development?
The salary range is dependent on the full title
Business Development Manager
Base
¥10m - ¥14m base
Bonus and incentives
¥2m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Business Development Director
Base
¥12m - ¥25m
Bonus and incentives
¥6m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Type 2 - Developing New Business Lines
As a Business Development Manager that is focused on developing new business lines, you will be in charge of outreach to synergistic partners across any industry. This will require you to think outside of the box to build mutually beneficial alliances with organizations that may seem unrelated at first glance.
You may also need to seek out new opportunities for acquisitions of businesses in industries that you feel would be a benefit to your company. This means that you will need to keep your finger on the pulse of upcoming trends, topics and technologies, across all industries.
What are a Business Development Manager’s Responsibilities? (Type 2)
Research new and growing technologies, topics, and trends
Identify the best point of contact (POC) within the organization you are interested in partnering with or acquiring
Create and deliver presentations and demonstrations to potential partners and acquisitions
Meet face-to-face with potential partners or acquisitions
Forge partnerships with unique external partners to create new business opportunities
Engage with high level executives at all partner companies and prospects
Create new business opportunities and ideas from upcoming trends
Scout fast growing investment opportunities or opportunities to acquire new businesses
Handle negotiations with internal and external stakeholders to get deals closed
Draw up or amend contracts
Handle high level negotiations
Keep in close touch with all stakeholders to develop future opportunities
Continue learning about all upcoming trends, topics, and technologies to find each new opportunity
What are a Business Development Manager’s Targets and KPI? (Type 2)
New business lines created
Partnerships created
Deals closed
Number of outbound communications
Amount of proposals
What is a Business Development Manager’s Salary? (Type 2)
What are the salary split options for Business Development?
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for Business Development?
The salary range is dependent on the full title
Business Development Manager
Base
¥8m - ¥14m
Bonus and incentives
¥3m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Business Development Director
Base
¥12m - ¥25m
Bonus and incentives
¥6m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
If you are interested in working as a business development manager in a tech or SaaS company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
What is a Sales Manager? (SM)
The term sales manager can refer to two different types of positions.
Type 1 is an individual contributor or playing sales manager (Type 1: Playing Sales Manager), you will be responsible for managing the full sales cycle or “360 selling”.
The second type of sales manager is a sales team manager (Type 2: Leading a Team), in this role you will manage a sales team and act as a leader or mentor to ensure that your sales team is performing up to the targets set by the organization.
Type 1: Individual Contributor (IC) or Playing Sales Manager
You will cover outreach to prospects and potential leads, engaging those leads, and closing deals thus converting leads into customers.
These types of sales managers are also referred to as hunter sales or outside sales.
What are the Responsibilities of a Sales Manager? (Type 1)
Engage leads throughout the full sales cycle
Cultivate new client relationships
Research to find potential buyers
Outbound prospecting
Cold outreach to potential clients
Cold calling
Cold emailing
Cold messaging
Networking
Attending industry events and trade shows
Social selling
Qualify prospects to convert to Customers
Meet with prospects to assess budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT)
Budget
The amount of money that your prospect has allotted for a particular solution.
Authority
You need to identify the person that has the decision making power in the prospect. This person can be called a kingpin or buyer.
Which business unit are you targeting with your solution? This will depend on the type of product your company is selling, but can include:
IT
CXO
Marketing
Sales
Need
You will work to determine the real issues driving your client’s need for the product or service you are selling.
What will happen if they do not solve this issue?
How will it impact their business?
Timeline
What is your client’s realistic timeline for purchase?
How urgent are the issues they are facing?
Product or service presentations and demonstrations
Closing deals to convert leads into customers
What are the Targets and KPIs of a Sales Manager? (Type 1)
Deals closed
New client acquisition
Revenue targets
Number of outbound communications
What is the Salary of a Sales Manager? (Type 1)
What are the salary split options for a sales manager?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is a sales manager's salary range?
Base
¥6m - ¥12m
Bonus and Incentives
¥2m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Type 2: Leading a Team
The second type of sales manager is a sales team leader, which means that you will be guiding your team to perform their best by setting sales targets, managing KPI, and motivating your team.
What are a Sales Manager’s Responsibilities? (Type 2)
Hiring successful sales team members
Managing your team
Weekly 1 on 1s to review performance and challenges
Monitoring KPIs on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis
Motivating your team to perform their best
Coaching and training team members on best sales practices for your product or service
Managing your time between your teams targets and your own sales targets and KPIs
Reporting performance to upper management
Analyzing sales performance data and statistics to determine performance
Set and achieve sales budget for your team
What are a Sales Manager’s Targets and KPI? (Type 2)
Team performance
Team revenue
Team KPIs
Direct revenue
What is a Sales Manager’s Salary? (Type 2)
What are the salary split options for a sales manager? (Type 2)
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance, achievement of sales targets, and achievement of team’s sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for a sales manager? (Type 2)
Base
¥7m - ¥13m
Bonus and Incentives
¥2m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
If you are interested in working as a sales manager in a tech or SaaS company in Japan, get in touch with us now.
What is a Sales Director? (SD)
As a sales director or director of sales, you will be in a leadership position within a sales organization. You will be in charge of setting targets, budgets, KPIs, and motivating your team members to ensure that the team is performing up to expectations. A sales director will report to the Country Manager, CRO, or Head of Sales in HQ. Your primary objective will be to achieve your businesses revenue targets consistently.
A sales director can be the first hire in a market.
This position can also be titled Business Development Manager, VP of Sales, or Head of Sales.
What are a Sales Director’s Responsibilities?
Hiring successful sales team members
Managing your sales organization
Weekly 1 on 1s to review performance and challenges
Monitoring KPIs on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis
Motivating your sales organization to perform their best
Coaching and training team members on best sales practices for your product or service
Reporting sales performance and achievement of budget to C-Level or executive level
Analyzing sales performance data and statistics to determine performance and areas that improvement is needed
Set and achieve sales budget for your organization
Create the overall product sales strategy for your market
Course correct in timely manner when the plan needs to be adjusted
Building and maintaining client relationships with both new and existing customers
Handling high level negotiations with executive and C-Level counterparts internally and externally
Continuously learning and assessing the competitive landscape in your industry
Representing your business and brand (at events, trade shows, interviews, etc.)
What are a Sales Director’s Targets and KPI?
Company performance
Sales revenue
Sales KPIs
What is a Sales Director’s Salary?
What are the salary split options for a sales director?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance, achievement of sales targets, and achievement of team’s sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for a sales director?
Base
¥15m - ¥25m
Bonus and Incentives
¥3m - Uncapped incentives (tied to the company performance in your market)
Sales Director FAQ
What are the differences between a sales director and a sales manager?
The primary difference between a sales director and sale manager is your involvement in the strategic elements of the business. As a sales director you will manage the sales managers in the sales organization, which means you will be responsible for creating the strategy and the sales manager will be responsible for implementing the strategy.
If you are interested in a sales director position in Japan’s tech industry, get in touch with us now.
What is a VP of Sales?
Vice President of Sales can refer to two types of positions.
The first is an individual contributor (IC) role, in which this person would have their own sales targets and will be engaging with their own set of clients. Usually this position is given to a person that has demonstrated success in sales activities, but does not want to manage a team.
The second type of VP of Sales is a leadership position, where the person will be leading a sales team, managing their targets, and making high level decisions for their budgets, KPIs, etc.
Type 1 - Individual Contributor
What are the Responsibilities of an Individual Contributor VP or Sales? (Type 1)
Hit or exceed sales targets
Forge and maintain strong relationships with clients
Drive growth through closing new deals
Engage leads through out the full sales cycle
Cultivate new client relationships
Research to find potential buyers
Outbound prospecting
Cold outreach to potential clients
Cold calling
Cold emailing
Cold messaging
Networking
Attending industry events and trade shows
Social selling
Qualify prospects to convert to customers
Meet with prospects to assess budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT)
Budget
The amount of money that your prospect has allotted for a particular solution.
Authority
You need to identify the person that has the decision making power in the prospect. This person can be called a kingpin or buyer.
Which business unit are you targeting with your solution? This will depend on the type of product your company is selling, but can include:
IT
CXO
Marketing
Sales
Need
You will work to determine the real issues driving your client’s need for the product or service you are selling.
What will happen if they do not solve this issue?
How will it impact their business?
Timeline
What is your client’s realistic timeline for purchase?
How urgent are the issues they are facing?
Representing your business and brand (at events, trade shows, interviews, etc.)
Product or service presentations and demonstrations
Closing deals to convert leads to customers
What are the Targets and KPIs of an Individual Contributor VP of Sales? (Type 1)
Deals closed
New client acquisition
Revenue targets
Number of outbound communications
What is the Salary of an Individual Contributor VP of Sales? (Type 1)
What are the salary split options for a VP of Sales?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for a VP of Sales?
Base
¥10m - ¥25m
Bonus and Incentives
¥3m - Uncapped incentives (tied to the company performance in your market)
Type 2 - Leading a Sales Team
What are the Responsibilities of a VP of Sales that is leading a team? (Type 2)
Hiring successful sales team members
Managing your sales organization
Weekly 1 on 1s to review performance and challenges
Monitoring KPIs on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis
Motivating your sales organization to perform their best
Coaching and training team members on best sales practices for your product or service
Reporting sales performance and achievement of budget to C-Level or executive level
Analyzing performance data and statistics to determine performance and areas that improvement is needed
Set and achieve sales budget for your organization
Create the overall sales strategy for your market
Course correct in timely manner when the plan needs to be adjusted
Building and maintaining client relationships with both new and existing customers
Handling high level negotiations with executive and C-Level counterparts internally and externally
Continuously learn and assess the competitive landscape in your industry
Representing your business and brand (at events, trade shows, interviews, etc.)
What are the Targets and KPIs of a VP of Sales that is leading a Team? (Type 2)
Company performance
Sales revenue
Sales KPIs
What is the Salary of a Team Leader VP of Sales? (Type 2)
What are the salary split options for a VP of Sales?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance, achievement of sales targets, and achievement of team’s sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is the salary range for a VP of Sales?
Base
¥15m - ¥25m
Bonus and Incentives
¥3m - Uncapped incentives (tied to the company performance in your market)
If you are interested in a VP of Sales position in Japan’s tech industry, get in touch with us now.
What is a Country Manager? (CM)
A country manager is a leadership position in a market that is not the company’s original geographical market. You lead all of the day to day activities of the organization within the given market. In Japan, because this is such a relationship driven market, you will potentially need to sell to priority customers and maintain close relationships with partners and other executives.
You will report directly to HQ and the C-Suite.
You will be hiring, training and managing a team of high performing sales functions and post sales functions at first, followed by technical support positions, and marketing once the revenue for the business unit has been established.
A country manager will usually be the first hire in a new market.
This can also be titled as Managing Director, Sales Director, Business Development Director.
What are the Country Manager’s responsibilities?
Guiding all sales activities
Devising the strategy for market entry
Maintaining relationships with high level executives and customers
Managing day to day tasks for all team members
Business development in a new market
Setting up an office in a new market
Building and maintaining the company culture in a new market
Hiring, training, managing and motivating a high performing team
Representing your business and brand (at events, trade shows, interviews, etc.)
What are the Targets for a Country Manager?
Revenue
Market development targets
Office established
Team hired
Legal entity established
New client acquisition
What is a Country Manager’s Salary?
What are the salary Split Options for a Country Manager?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance, achievement of sales targets, and achievement of team’s sales targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is a Country Manager's Salary Range?
Base
¥18m - ¥25m
Bonus and Incentives
¥8m - Uncapped incentives (based on company or business unit performance)
If you are interested in a country manager position in Japan’s tech industry, get in touch with us now.
Partner Sales:
What is Partner Sales? (Alliance Sales)
Partner sales or alliance sales refers to a sales model that will involve one company selling another company's product or service along with their own.
This can be in a bundle or as individual products.
These licenses will generally be sold to the reseller at a discounted price, but this can be made up for in the amount of sales generated through the partner sellers.
What is a Strategic Partnerships Manager?
As a strategic partnership manager, your role is to forge relationships with synergistic companies or resellers. This means creating mutually beneficial opportunities with partner companies with complimentary technologies by engaging with the leadership of the target partner organizations and working with your own internal stakeholders to develop programs and incentives that help both companies grow their respective businesses.
This can also include managing the resellers and partner sales relationships after the initial contracts have been signed to make sure that all parties involved are satisfied with the results of the partnership.
It will also be your responsibility to grow the relationship by consistently finding new opportunities to enhance the partnership.
Because your role will involve resellers, part of your tasks will be to train the reselling team on the specifics and benefits of your product or service.
This can be titled Strategic Partnerships, Product Partnerships Manager, Partnership, Partner Sales, Strategic Alliance Manager, or Alliance Sales.
What are a Strategic Partnerships Manager’s Responsibilities?
Market research to maintain a high degree of knowledge about your industry
Finding and engaging potential partners
Meeting and building relationships with partners
Devising the sales and pricing models
Devising effective incentives for partners and resellers
Coordinate and execute joint marketing opportunities and activations with partners and alliances
Develop business plans that are mutually beneficial opportunities for expansion of respective partner businesses
Managing resellers and partnerships through ups and downs/seasonality
What are a Strategic Partnerships Manager’s Targets?
Resales revenue
Outbound communications
Partnership and resale deals closed
What is the Salary of a Strategic Partnerships Manager?
What are the salary split options for a partnerships manager?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of reseller targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is a partnership manager's salary range?
Base
¥10m - ¥24m
Bonus and Incentives
¥4m - Uncapped incentives (based on reseller commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
If you are interested in a partnerships manager position in Japan’s tech industry, get in touch with us now.
What is a Strategic Alliance Manager?
As a strategic alliance manager, your role is to forge relationships with synergistic companies or resellers. You will be creating mutually beneficial opportunities with partner companies with complimentary technologies by engaging with the leadership of the target partner organizations and working with your own internal stakeholders to develop programs and incentives that help both companies grow their respective businesses.
This can also include managing the resellers and partner sales relationships after the initial contracts have been signed to make sure that all parties involved are satisfied with the results of the partnership. It will also be your responsibility to grow the relationship by consistently finding new opportunities to enhance the partnership.
Your role will involve resellers, so part of your job will be to train the reselling team on the specifics and benefits of your product or service.
These can be called Strategic Partnerships, Product Partnerships Manager, Partnership, Partner Sales, Strategic Alliance Manager, or Alliance Sales.
What are Strategic Alliance Manager’s Responsibilities?
Market research to maintain a high degree of knowledge about your industry
Finding and engaging potential partners
Meeting and building relationships with allies
Devising the sales and pricing models
Devising effective incentives for allies and resellers
Coordinate and execute joint marketing opportunities and activations with partners and alliances
Develop business plans that are mutually beneficial opportunities for expansion of respective alliance businesses
Managing resellers and alliances through ups and downs/seasonality
What are a Strategic Alliance Manager’s Targets?
Resales revenue
Outbound communications
Alliance and resale deals closed
What is the Salary of a Strategic Alliance Manager?
What are the salary split options for a strategic alliance manager?
80/20 = 80% Base / 20% Incentives (bonus based on performance and achievement of reseller targets)
70/30 = 70% Base / 30% Incentives
60/40 = 60% Base / 40% Incentives
50/50 = 50% Base / 50% Incentives
What is a strategic alliance manager's salary range?
Base
¥10m - ¥24m
Bonus and Incentives
¥4m - Uncapped incentives (based on commission, individual performance, market performance, company performance, etc.)
Alliance Manager FAQ
What is the difference between a strategic alliance manager and a strategic partnerships manager?
These titles are interchangeable and will be determined by the product or service your company provides as well as the target alliances or partners. As an alliance manager, you will be acting as a high level customer success manager, involved in training and creating leadership programs for your alliance partners. In both roles you will be educating your partners and resellers on the best uses and benefits of your product or service.
If you are interested in a alliance manager position in Japan’s tech industry, get in touch with us now.
Understanding the Importance of Average Deal Size and the Length of a Sales Cycle
Average Deal Size
Average deal size is the average amount of revenue that is received for each deal that is closed.
Average deal size will vary depending on your customer focus (SMBs, Enterprise, etc.) as well as the product or service you are selling.
In sales it is important to understand the average deal size because it allows you to accurately estimate the amount of revenue you will be able to bring in and how many deals you will need to close in any given length of time in order to maintain or exceed your performance targets.
As an example, If your sales target is $1m annually and the average deal size is $100k, you know that you need to close 10 deals per year or 2.5 deals per quarter on average. This will give you the insights needed to prioritize the deals you can close and allot your time accordingly.
Average Sales Cycle Length
A sales cycle is the rough length of time that each deal takes to close.
The average length of a sales cycle will vary depending on the size of customer you are targeting and the type of product or service you are selling.
The length of a sales cycle is important to keep in mind when you are planning out your sales funnel, your fiscal year, and each individual quarter.
Going back to our previous example, if your target is 2.5 deals per quarter, then you know that you will need to plan to focus on customers with a sales cycle of around a month in order to achieve your annual sales target of 10 deals closed per year.
Specifics in Japan
High Touch Sales
In Japan, all sales are relationship based, because of this, we have adopted a high touch sales model, which means that the salesperson will be constantly engaging with the client. This could mean drinks, dinners, karaoke, entertainment, consulting, etc. at any hour of the day or night.
The purpose of this sales model is to build the trust and relationship with the client to the point that the sales person becomes part of their circle of friends or a trusted advisor.
This high touch sales method can be used by account executives, account managers, business development, partner sales and almost all outside or hunter sales functions within a tech company that is engaging with enterprise level clients and customers.
Generally, this will not be used by sales development representatives (SDR) or inside sales representatives (ISR), or any sales functions that are engaging with SMBs or any client below enterprise level.
This term originated in Japan however, it is applicable across all markets internationally.
Leadership Positions in Japan for foreign companies
The first hire in Japan for any international business will always be a sales role.
We have seen a few variations on these leadership roles when an international organization enters the Japanese market, but in order to establish a strong demand and customer base, the first hire will always be a sales position.
In fact, the first few hires will likely be sales positions.
The reason for this is that most international companies have their technical teams, R&D, and technical support in their home market, and need to establish the viability of the market before fully investing in it.
The most common first hire is a sales director or business development manager/director to set up an office and generate the first customers.
From there, the next hire will be an account manager or customer success manager to handle the day to day interactions with the developing customer base.
As things progress, the sales team will grow to 4-10 people and at that point a technical support role would be needed to handle the more involved issues the customers are facing when using the product or service.
A marketing hire would be the next step to generate more leads and so the growth would continue.
Once the market has a steady demand and an established plan the current sales leadership role will shift to a country manager position to oversee day to day tasks more effectively.
3 Tips to Help You Excel at Sales
We have all seen the stereotype of the aggressive or slimy salesperson that will do anything to close a deal, but in reality we have become sensitive to that type of aggressive salesperson.
It is because of this that we have a few recommendations to help you sell more effectively.
The 3 E’s of Effective Selling
Be Earnest
As cliche as it sounds, honesty is the best policy when it comes to sales.
How do you overcome the stereotype of the aggressive salesperson?
The answer is to be as transparent as possible with your clients. This could mean telling them that you know your product or service is not going to solve their problem right now and recommending an alternative solution that you are familiar with. It could also mean breaking down exactly where each cost is coming from and why those are necessary components of your product or service, or which components are not important at this time for this customer.
Be an Empathetic Problem Solver
Sales is really problem solving.
That is how you want to be seen by your customers, solving the issue that they are already having, are anticipating to have, or will be having even if they do not know it yet.
In any way, it is important to be empathetic, really listen to and truly understand the business of your clients and how you and your company can help.
Being a problem solver also means showing them that even if they haven’t anticipated the issues that your product or service solves, they may encounter them soon and you should be the one they call because of your deep knowledge of their situation and the industry they are working in.
Being empathetic and understanding your customers at the deepest level is one of the best ways to earn trust and in the long term excel in a sales role.
Be an Expert in your Market and Industry
As both of the first two tips have said, sales relies heavily on building a trusting relationship with your clients.
One of the best ways to accomplish this is to be an expert in your market and industry.
If you have established yourself as an industry expert, customers will feel comfortable to share their issues and struggles because they know that you will fully understand where they are coming from and have ideas about the best way to solve them.
Some ways we recommend to get educated on your market or industry:
Podcasts - there are podcasts on almost every topic now, it can take some time to find one that is informative and that you enjoy, but when you do, it will be easy to take in the information. I personally listen to podcasts from the CEOs of my clients on my way to client meetings so I can have a firm grasp on the vision of the company before our conversations.
Audiobooks - we are all busy and audio books, like podcasts, are easy to consume on the go and a great resource for learning about an industry or market.
Clubhouse - right now countless industry experts are opening up their clubs for people to gain insights into their vision of the industry. As a bonus, it is easy to connect and ask questions directly to thought leaders
YouTube - I always joke that Youtube is the only tool I would need to master any skill. With 500 hours of video uploaded to Youtube every minute, you can definitely learn about the industry you are targeting. In addition, most companies have a Youtube channel where they host videos to show what their business offers and to showcase how they are effective. It is a great place to see the face of the customers you are targeting.
Conclusion
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this guide, we hope you found it useful and feel that you have gained an understanding of the sales functions in the Tech/IT/SaaS industry.
Please get in touch if you are in Japan and interested in any of the positions described here. We are always welcoming feedback, so please let us know if you feel that we missed something important that you would like to know more about!
Here is the full infographic again with each position, please save it for a quick reference on the sales functions and where they fit into the sales funnel.
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Glossary of Terms related to Technology Sales Positions
360 Degree sales - Encompassing the full sales cycle from research and prospecting to cold outreach and engaging leads to closing deals
Account - Person or organization that is a customer of your product or service
AE - Account Executive
AM - Account Manager
ARR - Annual Recurring Revenue, this is the revenue that is paid to you service or product on an annual basis. This can be billed at one time or installments or grouped
Assisted Revenue - revenue that is driven by non-direct sales functions like Marketing, Sales Support, SDR, or ISR. Although the direct revenue is coming from the sales functions, they are assisted by non sales functions, that is why it is called assisted revenue
Average Deal Size - The average amount of revenue that is received for the closing of a deal. Average deal size will vary depending on the size of your customer and the type of product or service you are selling
BANT - Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline. These are the key factors that Sales Reps need to assess in order to convert MQLs into SQLs
BDM - Business Development Manager
BDR - Business Development Representative
C-Suite - Chief officer level employees of an organization
Cold Lead - A person or business that is not actively engaged in the buying process
CSM - Customer Success Manager, Client Solutions Manager, Customer Solutions Manager, Client Success Manager, etc.
CRO - Chief Revenue Officer
Cross Selling - selling related products or services that the customer would benefit from
CXO - This can refer to either the Chief Experience office or any member of the C-Suite
ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning. Examples: SAP and Oracle
Farmer Sales - Cultivating and maintaining a strong customer relationship post sale to reap new sales opportunities from existing accounts after the initial deal is closed
Hot Lead - A lead with a high likelihood of converting to a customer
HQ - HeadQuarters, the main office or location of a company
Hunter Sales - Sales team members that are going to search and find, bring on new clients, and close them
IC - Individual Contributor
Inside Sales - Sales representatives that are mainly interfacing with clients over the phone or online via email or other video conferencing tools
ISR - Inside Sales Representative
KPI - Key Performance Indicator, these are markers of performance for a sales team. This can range from deals closed to client meetings and are used to access the performance of a sales organization
Lead - A lead is a person or business that has the potential to become a client in the future
Outside Sales - Sales representatives who are meeting face to face with clients
MRR - Monthly Recurring Revenue, this is the revenue that is paid to you service or product on a monthly basis. This can be billed monthly and generally can be cancelled at any time
MQL - Marketing Qualified Leads, leads that have been gathered through marketing efforts
POC - Proof of Concept, Pre-Sales will give a demo to show this
POC - Point of contact, the person you will be coordinating with in the organization you are targeting
Productizing - Adapting a current product or creating a new product to suit the needs of your customers
SAL - Sales Accepted Lead this Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) has been researched and approved from marketing to submit to the sales team for approval to become a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
Sales Cycle - The length of time that a deal will take to close or to receive the paid invoice
SDR - Sales Development Representative
SI - System Integrator
SM - Sales Manager
SMBs - Small Medium Business, this can refer to any business that has less than 200 hundred employees or brings in less than $1b annually
Split - the ratio of base salary to incentives that are paid out on the hitting of sales targets
Social Selling - using social media platforms like facebook, Linkedin, Clubhouse or Twitter to reach prospective customers
SQAs- Sales Qualified Appointments, appointments accepted by the outside sales team
SQL - Sales Qualified Leads leads that have been assessed and deemed to be worth the time investment to pursue
TAM - Technical Account Manager
Uncapped Bonus - a bonus that has no limit and will be based on the revenue generated through the accounts that you are engaged with
Uncapped Incentives - a bonus that has no limit and will be based on the revenue generated through the accounts that you are engaged with
Upselling - selling additional products, services, or upgrades that customer would benefit from
Vendor Lock In - when you become overly dependent on a single vendor and are “locked in” to their services
VP - Vice President
Milos Cavic
Manager, Enterprise Tech + Fintech
Bryan Rios
Marketing Specialist