No doubt if you are considering a role in sales or are navigating your way through your sales career, you’re already aware of the general reasons why a job in sales is beneficial.
Most business success relies on healthy sales figures and therefore a sales team that is fully engaged and performing well is in an organisation’s best interests. Sales professionals should expect to be supported and valued by their employers, and will enjoy a progressive career path, healthy incentive packages, and the ability to transfer their skills across different sectors if required.
Sales roles accounted for 27% of Graduate roles in leading companies in 2015, so clearly a commercial career path is a sound consideration.
Sales career in the growth area of technology
According to research carried out by Aaron Wallis, 32% of sales roles are to be found in the B2B Services sector; the largest proportion of the broad spread.
A Tech City survey in 2016 found that technology as a sector is outstripping UK growth by 32%; with the digital tech industries creating employment opportunities and accounting for 1.56m jobs across the UK.
So the technology sector is fast growing, a leading proponent of the digital age; and with this growth comes commercial opportunity.
An overview of a sales role in Microsoft Dynamics partner eco-system
Whilst there are sales opportunities working directly within Microsoft, there are career opportunities that lie within the wider Microsoft partner eco-system. We have written a series of blogs focussing on the benefits of working within the Dynamics partner channel; where we profile different roles that touch the journey of a Microsoft Dynamics customer. In terms of a sales role in Microsoft Dynamics, professionals are exposed to both internal and field sales opportunities, work alongside Presales colleagues in the discovery phase with the prospect, and hand over the customer project to the Dynamics Consultant and Project Manager once the implementation starts.
Therefore communication to both internal and external stakeholders is a key attribute, as is flexibility and the ability to strategically match a prospect’s current business challenges with your Dynamics ERP or CRM solution. With this variety comes the requirement to manage various prospects and customers who are at different stages of their buying journey, have good time management and planning skills and be able to adapt your style from day to day.
Mark Breeden, ESA Sales Director at Prodware UK, explains his career path; “My experience within the technology sector has spanned both implementation and sales and I made the transition from an operational role within the automotive sector. I chose to focus on the commercial aspect of ERP and CRM technology provision as my skills in advising and strategically developing business processes are more relevant in this role.”
We asked his colleague Justin Herbert, who focusses on SMB sector as Commercial Manager about how he might summarise a sales role in Microsoft Dynamics community; “I was an end user of an ERP solution and was part of a project specification and implementation from a customer point of view. I understood what I was looking for in a technology partner and the sales person is the first point of reference through the sales cycle. Once I came over to become a technology provider myself, I remember the importance of being a good listener, personalising your approach and keeping up to date with the latest technologies so that I act as much like a trusted advisor as possible.”
If you would like to understand more about working within the Microsoft Dynamics partner community within a commercial capacity, please visit the Prodware careers page.
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