The Influence of Sales Recruiters

Salary negotiation is one of the most important steps of the interview process for both the interviewer and the hiring company. Yet the process of negotiating a salary can be intimidating for talent and hiring managers alike. Both need to be aware of industry trends and salary ranges to know what effective talent is worth. In addition, talent needs to be able to advocate for themselves when asking for an increased salary, which can be difficult.

Working with a sales recruiter can help. Recruiters are well-versed in industry trends and salary ranges and know what is necessary to match candidates with employers to fulfill sales roles. Here is a closer look at how sales recruiters help with the salary negotiation process.

The Role of the Recruiter in Salary Negotiations

When you enter into salary negotiations with a recruiter at your side, you gain insider information about salary expectations and benefits packages. You also have someone who can help you highlight the skills and benefits you bring as a candidate so you present yourself well in the negotiation process.

A recruiter represents both the talent and the employer. Their goal is two-fold: they want the candidate to be happy in their new role so they do the job well, and they want the employer satisfied with the hire so they continue their professional relationship. Thus, they will be skilled at bringing the two parties to a mutually beneficial agreement during negotiation.

What specific benefits can you expect when working with a sales recruiter to negotiate your salary? Here are some of the significant ways a recruiter can assist:

1. Expert knowledge about salaries: Sales recruiters can help both parties know whether a salary offer is fair and competitive. Their insider knowledge can help both parties have realistic expectations for the negotiations.
2. Help selling talent to the employer: Sales recruiters know what top talent looks like. So if you are a talent looking for a job and an employer match, they can sell your qualifications to your potential employer.
3. Experience with negotiation: Finally, recruiters already have experience in negotiations. That experience helps everyone get the best possible outcome from the negotiation process.

The negotiation process is filled with nuances. For example, not only do you have to negotiate the pay, but you also have to negotiate benefits and perks, which can be hard to quantify. Your recruiter will help you understand these factors and their potential value so that you can make an informed choice about your employment contract.

Understanding the Benefits of Salary Negotiation

There are several reasons why it makes sense to negotiate your salary. First, negotiation is often where those perks and benefits come into play. You may find it worthwhile to take a slightly lower salary package when you realize that you have flexible work options and a generous medical plan.

Second, the offer presented at the start of the process is rarely the best offer available. Only through negotiation can talent get paid what they’re worth.

Finally, you can start your employment on good terms with your new employer through negotiation. The two of you will get the opportunity to see how each operates. Since the sales process often involves some measure of negotiation, this is an invaluable part of becoming a sales professional.

How to Choose the Right Recruiter

Choosing the right recruiter is a vital step in a positive negotiation experience. Here are some tips to help you find one.

1. Choose a Sales Recruiter

When negotiating for a sales position, you need a recruiter who specializes in sales recruiting. The unique demands of a sales career require a recruiter with industry knowledge.

2. Look for Experience

Next, look for a recruiter or recruiting firm with experience, not just knowledge, in sales recruiting. For example, have they previously worked for major companies or sales firms? Can they back their stated experience with success figures?

Rainmakers has successfully matched tech sales talent with some of the top names in the industry. Our recruiting team can assist you in finding the right position and negotiating a fair, competitive salary with excellent benefits. We have been in the industry since 2016 and are ready to put that experience to work for you.

3. Ask for References

Finally, ask your sales recruiter for references. Check those references, especially if they were talent that found a position through the recruiter, and see how the negotiation process was handled. This information will tell you much about the support level you’ll likely get from that recruiter.

Common Salary Negotiation Mistakes

As you enter the negotiation process, make sure you avoid some common negotiation mistakes. Remember, negotiating a salary is a challenging dance, and you need to understand that dance to succeed. Here are the mistakes that are common but avoidable:

• Not doing research into the market and your potential role
• Not asking about the employer’s budget, which can guide your request for salary
• Opening the discussions with your salary range
• Not considering benefits beyond the salary amount
• Being too quick to say “yes.”
• Turning negotiations into a power play
• Negotiating too much and frustrating the employer

Working with a recruiter will help you avoid some of these mistakes.

Negotiating Non-Monetary Benefits

As you enter negotiations, remember it’s not just about the salary. The non-monetary benefits are quite important as well. Remember to consider these in your negotiations. Some common benefits include:

• Paid vacation time
• Phone or tech allowance
• Transportation
• Continuing education or professional development
• Flexibility to work from home
• Healthcare
• Childcare reimbursement
• Company Equity

With so many potential benefits, it would be easy to overlook one. That’s where a sales recruiter can help, ensuring you know all of your possible options and are getting a compensation package that’s fair and equitable.

Start Your New Career with Help from Rainmakers

Getting hired doesn’t stop with the interview. You must prepare for the negotiation process once you get past the interview. Rainmakers will support you every step of the way. Start the process by joining our talent pool today, and let us match you with employers who need your skills.

How Much Do AE’s Make?

Acquiring the most successful SaaS sales talent is becoming increasingly competitive. As a result, in-house and external recruiters scan LinkedIn and other sites and reach out to qualified Account Executives (AEs) to find top sellers.

In recent years, many salespeople have turned to look for remote job opportunities that offer flexibility and less time commuting. This is the case all across the country, and it’s raising challenges regarding locating suitable candidates and what to offer in terms of base pay and OTE.

As market leaders in hiring tech salespeople, Rainmakers provides a transparent, data-driven platform to efficiently match top salespeople with the most enticing and forward-thinking tech organizations. The best AEs are consequently paired with the most suitable opportunities that meet their requirements.

Duties Of an Account Executive

An account executive typically works in sales, selling goods and services to corporations and/or consumers. For example, they often deal in SaaS products and hardware in the tech field. To succeed in this role, the executive’s employer commonly sets sales quotas, and the rep’s compensation combines base pay and commission.

The AE might receive clients or work on prospecting potential clients and engaging in cold calls. They identify new customers, learn about their pain points and wants in a solution, and then make specific pitches for services and goods that will satisfy those needs before closing the sale.

But the AE’s duties don’t end there. They will also follow up with customer service teams or talk directly with clients to ascertain whether the products are satisfactory after the sales transaction has been completed. Should issues arise, the AE might help find solutions. In addition, because repeat business is among their goals, the account executive is expected to develop positive relationships with the clients.

Account Executive Compensation

As mentioned, pay is usually a combination of base pay and commission. Levels will depend on experience, geography, quotas, deal sizes, and success rate.

Averaged nationally, base pay will broadly range between $60,000 and $150,000. Most Account Executives are on a fifty-fifty split, meaning commissions can range from approximately $60,000 to $150,000.

A talented and experienced AE stands to earn a fair amount. The above information doesn’t include other benefits such as bonuses, equity, or profit sharing. For more salary information, review this helpful guide.

The Role of Quotas

If you’re looking for a new AE to close a specific dollar amount within a year, you may wonder how that would affect compensation.

Although it changes a lot by company, a good starting point is to assume an AE will earn a ten percent commission on the revenue they bring in. An AE with a quota of $750,000 could see additional compensation of approximately $75,000. A $1M quota could see a $100,000 commission, and a $2M quota could see commissions exceeding $200,000.

The Role of Geography

Economic conditions vary across the United States. Where a business or account is located and its customers can also affect AE compensation.

For an AE with 6-7 years of experience, top markets such as San Francisco and New York will see base pays of approximately $91,000 and OTE of $187,000, while Atlanta may see the average base pay drop to $79,000 and OTE to $172,000 for a rep with the same experience.

In the middle would be a city like Chicago, with an average AE base pay of $87,000 and an OTE of around $179,000.

Overall, national data points to a SaaS account executive’s total earnings averaging approximately $167,000 if they have 6-7 years of experience.

The Role of the Buyer

Does account executive compensation vary by the buyer they are selling into?

The impact of the product on the sales cycle will play a role in this. For instance, a software scheduling tool can be ready to use in minutes. On the other hand, a new digital operations platform (DOP) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system needs time to integrate with any current customer tools.

Some sales contracts will take longer to close, which may affect the overall number of accounts able to close within a year and, thus, the total commissions earned. These longer sales cycles generally command larger deal sizes, larger quotas, and, therefore, larger commissions.

In addition to timing, the department of the buyer has an impact on potential earnings. Therefore, AEs who target specific high-earning departments stand to earn more.

For instance, a relatively new AE who closes with a procurements department stands to earn $135,000 in OTE. Closing sales with an IT department could deliver up to $138,000 in OTE. By contrast, closing with small businesses presents the AE with a potential $100,000 in OTE.

What is Annual Contract Value (ACV)?

Annual Contract Value (ACV) is a crucial statistic that assists in evaluating the effectiveness of your sales teams. A client’s annual revenue to your business is determined by its ACV. It’s the typical yearly revenue per client contract. The ACV is an essential SaaS measure used to market products with annual or yearly subscription plans.

AEs can review their annual customer revenue with ACV and determine which customers to focus on using customer success tactics. Then, once high-value contracts expire, they can use sales analytics and work closely with their Account Management or Customer Success team to keep their top-earning clients.

Consider a scenario where a business examines its sales dashboard and discovers that Client A has an ACV of $50,000 while Client B’s ACV is only $10,000. Client A is bringing in more revenue than Client B, so it makes sense for the business to give Client A a higher priority in time and resources.

But this isn’t a call to ignore Client B.

Instead, an effective business should increase ACVs across the board. This means looking at ways to increase revenue from Client B (and C, D, and so on). This can be accomplished by raising quotas and meeting those goals through upselling and cross-selling strategies and looking if some prices and rates could be increased. This, in turn, leads to higher earnings for both the business and the AE.

What Cities Are the Best For Account Executive Jobs?

Most people think of the West Coast when it comes to top American cities for technology. However, Northern California’s Silicon Valley is well-regarded as the cradle of the modern technology sector, with San Francisco as one of the top cities profiting from both proximity to the tech sector and the skill pool.

In large part, thanks to technology, other cities around the country are also becoming hubs for IT innovation. New York City leads the pack on the East Coast and rivals San Francisco in potential earrings for SaaS sales representatives. Other cities with top SaaS sales markets include Austin, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Raleigh, and Atlanta.

AE Recruitment Solutions At Rainmakers

Rainmakers accepts only top applicants, so you can confidently interview the most high-quality sales talent. In addition, when we look at potential candidates, you can see all their sales stats, such as performance, what they’ve sold and who they’ve sold to. This allows you to save valuable time by quickly identifying candidates with the skills, experience, and fit you’re looking for.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help fill your tech sales needs. Sign-up now!

The resume is continually evolving and what seemed standard and beneficial just a few years ago can become a disadvantage in the current recruiting environment. With employers receiving an average of 50 to 75 resumes per role they post, making your resume stand out can sometimes seem like a moonshot. Making matters worse, your resume generally has less than 10 seconds to make a positive impression and avoid being flushed down the drain.

While a LinkedIn profile is very important, resumes still matter, and some organizations (especially enterprise companies) will want to see a resume in order for you to apply. In this guide, we’ll provide 25 actionable sales resume tips so you can land the sales job you’ve always dreamed about.

Under these dismal conditions, what should a smart sales professional on the lookout for a dream job do?

First, don’t panic. If there’s a science to selling, there’s an art to writing resumes. All you have to do is learn it. Fortunately, career sites, professional coaches, and hiring managers have been sharing their insight on how best to make your resume shine.

Here are 25 sales resume hacks that will compel recruiters to take your application to next level.

1) Go for high impact.

Ideally, resumes should pack a punch. But that is hardly the case in real life. In fact, recruiting managers regularly receive hundreds of generic resumes that look and sound similar, echoing the same cliches, and even sharing the same grammatical errors. Not surprisingly, weak resumes just become fodder for the recycling bin at the end of every recruiting period.

Remember: The three goals of sending a resume are…

1) to signal an Intention.

2) to convey Information.

3) to make an Impact.

So create one that is unique, memorable, personalized for each employer, and clear about the value and benefits you offer. You can’t sell yourself by being generic or timid.

2) Leave a strongly positive impression.

Making an impact is good, but standing out for the wrong reasons is definitely bad. A resume that seeks to differentiate itself through artificial methods (i.e., larger/smaller paper size, loud colors, too much images, arrogant/disrespectful language, radically different content formats, etc.) will likely get the resume owner into a blacklist.

Do this instead: you can still be creative and impactful while adopting best practices, maintaining high standards, and conforming to effective formats. There are many ways to leave a positive impression: crisp language, elegant and readable formatting, relevant but rare sales skills, remarkable sales accomplishments, highly sought after certifications, awards and accolades.

 3) Customize your message for every employer.

Your resume may be about you but it is also very much about the recruiter. Avoid sending a one-size-fits-all resume, especially to employers you really admire and want very much to join.

As a rule of thumb, always think about the specific recruiter or employer you are aiming for when authoring or structuring your resume. Consider one or more of the following —

1. Mention the specific employer in the Current Career Objective section (if you intend to have one.)
2. Respond directly to the employer’s job post or ad by highlighting your skills, certifications, training, or qualifications using the style, ordering, or language used by the recruiter.
3. Research about the services and products of the employer and make the case for how you can sell such offerings.
4. Showcase the value and benefits the employer gets if they were to hire you.

4) Make it sweet and short.

Your resume is the elevator pitch you use in the job market. Go ahead: Be impactful and make an impression but do both as fast as you can. Go for a single-page resume whenever possible and avoid exceeding two pages. Unless specifically requested by the recruiter, never send multi-page resumes.

5) Always have a summary section.

Provide a quick way for the recruiter to assess your credentials and potential value using a summary section near the beginning of your resume. If you are not using an Objective section, then positioning your career or profile summary just after your Contact Information section is best.

In the summary, showcase unique experiences and accomplishments. Mention the demonstrable benefits the employer can expect to get when they hire you. The summary section should be articulated using elegant and crisp language and should clearly articulate your value proposition.

6) Watch your language.

Avoid trite, formal, legalistic, or jargon-ridden text. Think about recruiters forced to skim through dozens of resumes that sound like a lease agreement or a private policy statement every single day.

Instead, go for a smart and casual business tone using crisp and simple but elegant language. Use power words (contextual terms that resonate with specific types of employers) but refrain from cliches and stale expressions.

Oh, and if you happen to get that interview, watch your body language too!

7) Be readable.

Every aspect of your resume — formatting, sectioning, print quality, fonts, language, etc. — should be optimized for readability. Think of your resume as an app or a website and recruiters as users. User experience (UX) must be optimal for recruiters to even consider reading key sections of your resume. If your resume is haphazardly formatted or uses confusing language, recruiters will be more irritated than impressed.

8) Think strategically.

Depending on your situation, you can use a historical, functional, hybrid, or other types of resumes. For example, consider complementing a standard curriculum vitae with a video resume if you are trying to land a job with a media or advertising company. Use a functional resume if you are entering the workplace fresh from college and you have very little employment history to speak of. Always adopt what is best for your particular situation.

9) Answer common questions recruiter/employer

Anticipate the questions employers ask when looking for top talent. Using your resume, provide quick answers to the most pressing questions they might ask. Here are some you should consider:

1. What are your most important achievements when it comes to sales?
2. Have you won any award or accolade?
3. How did your previous employers benefit from your performance?
4. What is your average win rate for all the employers and products you worked with (Do not answer if your performance is less than sterling.)
5. What’s the estimated value in real dollars of the deals you have successfully closed for each employer?
6. Which sales skills or techniques have you mastered? Show proof.
7. How do you handle challenging leads or situations.

10) Formatting matters.

Adopt a stylish format but don’t get too creative that recruiters begin to focus more on visuals and optics instead of your core message. Consider the aesthetics of your resume but not to the point that you de-prioritize brevity, readability, or conciseness. Use prominent section headings to help recruiters easily find what they are looking for. Deploy bullet points instead of long paragraphs whenever applicable.

11) Organize your profile into clearly defined sections.

The main sections of a standard resume are —

1. Contact Information
2. Profile Summary
3. Relevant Certifications, Licenses, or Awards
4. Work Experience (typically arranged in reverse chronological order)
5. Education

Depending on the situation, your strategy, or the availability of information or support, you can include one or more of the following optional elements:

1. Personal Brand Tagline (this can be a personal quote or a catchy description that highlights your credentials, favorite technique, or mantra/philosophy as a professional)
2. Current Career Objective
3. Achievements (Bulleted items. Use if f there are too many to include in the short summary)
4. Personal Info (Use only if somewhat relevant to the role or company you are focusing on. If so, you can mention volunteer work, hobbies you are passionate about, or non-work related achievements that enhance your character. Avoid mentioning sensitive issues such as politics and religion).
5. Character References

12) Provide complete and clean contact information.

Make it easy and convenient for recruiters or employers to get back to you when they need clarifications or when they want to go ahead with a job interview. Give clear, complete, and correct email addresses, phone numbers, and home address. Provide the links to your LinkedIn profile, portfolio site, blog, or other personal/professional websites.

However, do not use or mention email addresses, blogs, or other identifiers that do not help your personal brand. Email addresses such as loverboy1299@gmail.com or blog sites such as Bad Girl’s Revenge hardly exude competence or professionalism.

13) Achievements vs. Responsibilities

Always favor accomplishment over responsibility. Describing your skills, tasks, and functions is ok, but telling a story about how you use those skills or performed those tasks to achieve organizational goals is a lot better. So instead of merely saying that you performed sales ops functions as an analyst, you can say that you created a data-driven strategy that helped sellers improve their win rate by 10%.

14) Don’t include the Stone Age in your Work Experience section.

If you have been in the job market for awhile and have worked for quite a number of employers, focus on your career milestones in the last ten years or so. Recruiters are more interested in your current and more recent employment history than they are about your stint as a part-time librarian when you were in high school. For the same reason, arrange your employment history in reverse chronological order. Use brief descriptions and cite noteworthy achievements whenever applicable.

15) Even an A+ won’t compensate for poor sales metrics.

Highlight your academic achievements if you are new to the workplace. Mention relevant papers or projects you’ve made, as well as honors you have earned as a student. If you’ve been around though, prioritize work experience and accomplishments over education. That means positioning employment history above education in your resume.

16) Certified, trained, and ready to roll.

Recruiters seek candidates who have undergone verifiable training programs or have earned relevant field certifications. Position the Training and Certification section if the role you are applying for strongly requires such qualifications. Some of the most coveted certifications in sales include the Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP), Certified Sales Executive (CSE), and Cornell University’s Executive Leadership Certification.

17) Get personal if it helps your brand.

You can opt to add a Personal Information section in your resume if space permits and if mentioning something beyond your sales career enhances your professional brand. For example, volunteer work for a worthy (non-divisive) cause certainly helps create a picture of social responsibility and commitment to a community. A hobby such as scale modeling may explain how you have developed discipline and a keen attention to detail. On the other hand, your sports life may explain your highly competitive nature.

18) Sales is a numbers game.

Quotas, win rates, and revenue are all expressed as numbers. Your sales performance is measured in metrics. That is why a salesperson’s resume without the right numbers will never make the cut. Whenever possible, quantify your achievements to help recruiters assess your potential.

19) Get visual.

If you can fit them in your resume, visual aids such as graphs and charts can add style and clarity to your message. Some resumes look exactly like infographics. However, you should only add visuals if it matches your message and is relevant to the particular employer you are currently engaging.

20) Inaccuracy will destroy you.

The work history, achievements, figures, dates, and other information in your resume should always be accurate. At worst, inadvertent errors will erode your chances of getting selected, specially if you have comparable rivals for the position who have submitted error-free resumes. On the other hand, intentional inaccuracies (i.e., lies) — when caught — can send your name into a database of blacklisted jobseekers. More importantly, you wouldn’t want to be branded as “dishonest” in an industry that already attracts its hefty share of suspicion.

21) ABC means “always be consistent.”

Structurally and content-wise, your resume should demonstrate a high degree of consistency. That means section headings and line spacings should be rendered the same way throughout the document and that entire resume conforms to a recognizable and visually appealing format.

Content-wise, the resume should have a uniform tone and language when articulating your value proposition or when describing your achievements. Furthermore, all information you include in the resume must agree with all the information about you that can be accessed publicly (such as your profile on LinkedIn and other social media sites). Most profile inconsistencies are likely to be minor but a few might erode your authenticity as a sales professional.

22) Review, update, and polish.

Unless you’re close to retiring, resumes are always works in progress that require constant review, updating, and polishing.

Proofread your resume for structural, grammatical, or factual errors. Allow your friends or a professional editor to help you polish your resume. Remember, incorrect grammar and spelling impacts how recruiters view your professionalism, discipline, and attention to detail. Use relevant, crisp, and smart language to show the depth of your understanding and demonstrate your potential as a sales leader.

23) Look at other resume examples

Try to find other resume examples that are relevant to your industry and experience. This can help you zero in on which key words and KPI’s you should include in your own.

24) Go beyond a resume or a LinkedIn profile.

Resumes have traditionally been the primary ticket for navigating the job market. You send a resume to signal that you’re interested in and applying for a job at a particular employer.

There are now many other channels for reaching businesses looking for talent. These include LinkedIn, online portfolio sites, and referral systems. There are even tools that allow you to create infographic and video resumes. These forms are becoming more popular. Lastly, don’t overlook specialist services that provide profile pages for field/sector-specific professionals. Salespeople for example, can create compelling online profiles on Rainmakers.

25) Make your brand worth selling.

You are a brand as much as a seller. If you can sell esoteric products and services few people care about, then you should be able to sell yourself.

As an integral element of your personal sales and marketing kit, your resume plays a crucial role in getting you through the screening door and into the position you are aiming for.

You’re good at selling so practice what you do best: research like crazy about the customer (employer), customize your pitch to establish a strong connection, articulate your value proposition (the benefits the employer gets by hiring you), and clinch the deal.