What I’ve learned after 15 years in Enterprise Software sales

The past 15 years for me have been an incredible journey in the world of Enterprise Software sales.

In that time I went from a limited understanding how “all this tech stuff” works to selling high-end and complex software to people in some of the biggest companies around the world.

Recently I thought to myself, what would I say if I were speaking on a college campus to an audience just about to start out in Enterprise Software sales that might help them make sense of what they see on the horizon, so I put together this article to provide some thoughts on the matter.

By the time you finish reading this article ideally you will have a clearer picture of how some of the software in the world generally ties together, and you will have 15 years worth of know-how distilled into a few minutes.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

Preface

First a little background to set the scene.

My Enterprise Software sales journey is a one-thing-leads-to-another story that actually started in the world of Manufacturing.

In the 90’s I worked for a number of years in sales for the world-renowned coffee brand illy and I remember walking through the coffee roasting factory in Trieste, Italy…