How to move from Developer to Sales and Business Development

[Anil Malhotra]

I have 4 yrs of exp. in develpment ,want to move in to sales and business develpment ..how can i achieve that..?

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

For sales, look for a company that looks for technical sales reps. That way you use your technical knowledge while gaining sales experience. Some of the big services companies like IBM and VMWare have such positions.

What is business development?

[Henry Wong]

SumeetKumar kumar wrote:I have 4 yrs of exp. in develpment ,want to move in to sales and business develpment ..how can i achieve that..?

IMO, the best route (using your technical experience) is probably to become a sales engineer. Technically, the SE is not an account rep, but you get to work with reps (and hence, can learn from them). From this position, getting more experience, networking with sales reps, it should be easy to get a shot at any sales reps positions when they open up.

The most direct route (if you want to enter sales immediately), is to apply for a position in "inside sales" -- these are the cold callers, who track the initial leads for the account reps. They actually do a lot more than that -- but you get the picture. This route will get you into sales right away, and you get to do all the grunt work -- and it is probably the quickest way to figure out whether you want to be in sales or not....

Henry

[Henry Wong]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:
What is business development?

Business development is a role that is a mix of sales and marketing. What it is actually will vary from company to company, and it also includes many types of tasks -- that generates leads, contacts, collateral, etc., to help the sales team.

Henry