Break Into Tech Sales: Career Pivot Workshop

# Break Into Tech Sales: Career Pivot Workshop

Want to break into tech but don't have a technical background?
You don't need to know how to code to build a career in technology.
This hands-on training workshop is designed for people considering a career change who want to understand how tech sales actually works, how to land an entry-level sales role, how to succeed once you're hired, and how that first job can turn into a six-figure career path.

We'll walk through the entire tech sales career ladder—from Sales Development Representative (SDR) to Account Executive (AE) to Enterprise and Strategic Sales—as well as alternative career paths including Customer Success, Account Management, Partnerships, Sales Operations, Sales Engineering, and leadership.
You'll also learn the actual day-to-day skills companies expect from entry-level salespeople so that you can start developing experience before someone gives you your first traditional tech sales job.

## What Is Tech Sales?

Most technology companies—especially software and SaaS companies—need sales teams to find potential customers, understand their problems, demonstrate how the company's product can help, negotiate contracts, and ultimately generate revenue.

Unlike retail sales, many technology sales jobs are structured around a base salary + commission.
You'll often hear the term OTE, or On-Target Earnings. This represents approximately what you could earn if you hit 100% of your sales quota.
For example:
$70,000 base salary + $30,000 variable commission = $100,000 OTE.
High performers may earn more than OTE, while salespeople who miss quota may earn significantly less.

## The Tech Sales Career Path

### Sales Development Representative — SDR / BDR

For many people entering tech sales, this is where the journey begins.
A Sales Development Representative (SDR) or Business Development Representative (BDR) is responsible for finding potential customers and starting conversations with them.
You'll learn how SDRs:

• Research companies and decision-makers
• Identify potential customers
• Write cold emails
• Make cold calls
• Use LinkedIn for prospecting
• Personalize outreach
• Handle objections
• Qualify prospects
• Schedule meetings for Account Executives
• Work with tools like CRMs and sales-engagement platforms
• Manage activity and pipeline metrics
• Get measured against quotas

This is one of the best places to learn the fundamentals of professional B2B selling.
As of August 2026, RepVue reports a median Denver SDR base salary of about $60,000 with approximately $85,000 OTE. (RepVue)
For Denver, a reasonable general range to expect is approximately:
$50,000–$70,000 base
$70,000–$100,000+ OTE
Compensation varies dramatically by company, industry, quota, commission structure, and experience.

## Account Executive — Your First Closing Role

The next major step is typically becoming an Account Executive (AE).
Instead of primarily generating meetings, Account Executives are responsible for turning opportunities into paying customers.
You'll learn how AEs:

• Run discovery calls
• Identify business problems
• Ask effective sales questions
• Deliver product demonstrations
• Build business cases
• Navigate multiple stakeholders
• Handle objections
• Negotiate pricing
• Manage procurement
• Work through security and legal reviews
• Forecast deals
• Manage a sales pipeline
• Close contracts

Account Executive roles are generally divided based on the size and complexity of the customers they sell to.

### SMB Account Executive

SMB stands for Small and Medium-Sized Business.
SMB AEs usually sell smaller contracts with shorter sales cycles. You may close multiple deals every month and speak directly with business owners, managers, or department leaders.
This can be a great first closing position because you're given lots of opportunities to practice the complete sales process.
Typical Denver tech-sales compensation may fall around:
$60,000–$85,000 base
$100,000–$150,000 OTE

### Mid-Market Account Executive

Mid-Market AEs sell to larger organizations.
Deals usually involve more people, larger contracts, longer sales cycles, more sophisticated discovery, and greater competition.
You'll begin learning skills like:

• Multi-threading accounts
• Building champions
• Navigating buying committees
• Developing account strategies
• Building ROI cases
• Negotiating larger contracts

A reasonable Denver range is approximately:
$80,000–$120,000 base
$140,000–$220,000 OTE
Recent Denver compensation data shows just how broad the market can be. Glassdoor reported a typical total-pay range of roughly $113,000–$181,000 for Mid-Market Account Executives, while current Denver job postings vary substantially by company. (Glassdoor)

### Enterprise Account Executive

Enterprise AEs sell to large organizations, often with hundreds or thousands of employees.
Deals may take six months, twelve months, or even longer to close.
An Enterprise AE may coordinate conversations with:

• Executives
• Finance
• Procurement
• Legal
• IT
• Security
• Operations
• End users
• Department leaders

Enterprise sellers often manage fewer opportunities but much larger contracts.
Typical compensation can fall around:
$120,000–$170,000+ base
$220,000–$350,000+ OTE
For context, RepVue's broader current Enterprise AE data reports compensation around $140,000 base / $280,000 OTE, although individual Denver employers can vary substantially. (RepVue)

### Strategic Account Executive

Strategic Account Executives generally work with a company's largest, most important, or most complex customers.
Instead of managing dozens or hundreds of prospects, you may focus on a relatively small group of major accounts.
These positions require advanced skills in:

• Executive-level communication
• Account planning
• Complex negotiations
• Multi-year contracts
• Enterprise procurement
• Consensus building
• Organizational politics
• Partner relationships
• Expansion strategy
• Executive sponsorship
• Complex deal strategy

Strategic sales compensation varies enormously, but experienced sellers may see packages around:
$140,000–$200,000+ base
$280,000–$400,000+ OTE
Exceptional performers at some companies can earn considerably more—but those earnings should never be treated as guaranteed income.
Across Denver AE roles generally, RepVue currently reports a median base salary of approximately $90,000 and median OTE of $160,000. (RepVue)

## Your Career Doesn't Have to Stay in Sales

One of the biggest advantages of getting into technology sales is that the skills you develop can open doors throughout a technology company.
You might eventually move into:
Customer Success
Help existing customers successfully adopt the product, achieve their goals, renew their contracts, and sometimes expand their accounts.
Account Management
Manage and grow relationships with existing customers.
Partnerships / Business Development
Build strategic relationships between companies.
Sales Engineering / Solutions Consulting
Become the technical or product expert supporting sales conversations.
Sales Operations / Revenue Operations
Build the systems, data, processes, and technology that sales organizations use.
Sales Enablement
Train and develop sales teams.
Sales Management
Manage SDR or Account Executive teams.
Director / VP of Sales
Lead larger sales organizations and revenue strategies.
Entrepreneurship
Sales skills are particularly valuable if you eventually want to start your own company.
Your first SDR job does not have to determine what you do for the rest of your career.

## What You'll Learn in This Workshop

We'll break down the practical skills someone needs to begin working in tech sales, including:

• How SaaS and technology companies make money
• Understanding SDR, BDR, AE, Customer Success, and related roles
• Prospecting and account research
• Identifying ideal customers
• Finding decision-makers
• Cold emailing
• Cold calling
• LinkedIn outreach
• Writing compelling messaging
• Handling rejection
• Asking discovery questions
• Understanding business problems
• Qualifying opportunities
• CRM basics
• Pipeline management
• Sales metrics and quotas
• Understanding commission plans
• Interviewing for sales jobs
• Demonstrating sales ability without previous tech experience
• Building your first sales résumé
• Getting promoted from SDR to AE
• Navigating the SMB → Mid-Market → Enterprise → Strategic career path
• Identifying alternative career paths within technology

Most importantly, we'll talk about what actually makes someone successful in the job after they get hired—not simply how to interview well enough to get hired.

## Need Experience? You'll Have an Opportunity to Start Building It.

One of the hardest parts of changing careers is the classic problem:
You need experience to get the job, but you need the job to get experience.
Participants who are interested will receive access to commission-only sales opportunities they can potentially begin pursuing immediately.
These opportunities can give you a chance to practice skills such as:

• Prospecting
• Cold outreach
• Lead generation
• Discovery
• Objection handling
• Pipeline building
• Selling

Participation is completely optional.
Commission-only work means there is no guaranteed salary or guaranteed income—you are paid based on the applicable compensation structure and results.
For someone starting from zero, however, it can provide an opportunity to begin building real-world experience and a track record to discuss in future interviews.

## ⚠️ Important: This Is Training, Not a Job Guarantee

Purchasing a ticket or completing this workshop does NOT guarantee employment, a salaried position, interviews, commissions, promotions, or any particular level of income.
Tech sales can be competitive.
Companies make their own hiring decisions, and factors including the economy, job market, experience, interview performance, location, individual performance, and company hiring requirements can affect your ability to secure a role.
Salary ranges discussed during the workshop are examples and market estimates—not promises of compensation.
The goal of this program is to give you:
Knowledge. Skills. Practice. Resources. A roadmap. And a way to begin building experience.
What you do with those tools is ultimately up to you.

## Who Should Attend?

This workshop is designed for people who are:

• Considering a career change
• Interested in technology but don't know how to code
• Coming from hospitality, retail, education, customer service, recruiting, healthcare, nonprofit work, entrepreneurship, or another industry
• Recent college graduates
• Returning to the workforce
• Interested in increasing their earning potential
• Curious about SaaS careers
• Already in sales but trying to move into technology
• Interested in Customer Success or other customer-facing tech careers
• Willing to learn, practice, hear “no,” and keep improving

You don't need a computer science degree.
You don't need to know how to code.
And you don't necessarily need previous technology experience.
You do need to be willing to communicate, learn, practice, accept feedback, and put in the work.
If you've been looking at tech salaries from the outside wondering “How do people actually get into these jobs?”—this workshop is designed to show you the path.

The Denver salary figures above are current market estimates as of August 2026 and can vary significantly by employer and compensation plan. Current sources place Denver SDR median compensation around $60K base/$85K OTE and Denver AEs overall around $90K base/$160K OTE. (RepVue)

Your host brings 15 years of technology sales experience with 20M closed and over 5M earned.