How I Went Through The Peculiar Transition From Aerospace Engineering to SaaS Sales
Sales is one of the most ubiquitous yet widely misunderstood professions around. You have to be a real glutton for punishment, bordering on the insane. We send email cadences, make cold calls and run demos, only to hear “Thanks, but no thanks” from our prospects time and time again.
Do you have what it takes to push through the succession of “No” answers to get to a “Yes”?
It takes all kinds of people from varying backgrounds to build a successful sales team. For instance, we have a quota-crushing former high school teacher who now hunts down big whale deals. We also have a team member that had never done sales a day in their life, who just hit Distinguished Honors Club (our version of Presidents Club for New Business Representatives).
This is a story of how a young lad from the Land Down Under ended up with a career in sales from the seemingly unconnected world of Aerospace Engineering.
A bit of backstory
With a proficiency in math and science, engineering was a no-brainer. And if I’m honest, a large part of the decision to specialize in aerospace was because being a “Rocket Scientist” sounded cool. But upon graduation I realized that I was lacking passion, to the point of being restless. I needed to seek out new challenges in order to live up to my potential. That eventually led to me pick up my entire life and start anew in the heart of the Motor City.
The luster of writing your own story is indescribable. At the same time it’s a humbling experience to move outside of your comfort zone to learn a new culture, but one that had me well-equipped for what was coming in sales, where daily challenges are the norm.
Opportunity awaits…
One of the biggest upsides I’ve found in my 6+ years in the U.S. is that career opportunities are abundant if you’re willing to chase them. But the engineering roles I was working in — which involved sitting behind a tube for 8 hours a day running computer simulations for vehicle crash tests — failed to pique my interest. I wasn’t being tested, and the work wasn’t fulfilling. When your work lacks meaning and lacks a real end goal, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. You punch in and punch out, which is a recipe for mediocrity. It’s a slippery slope that can often feel difficult to course-correct.
Enter Ambassador.
As if by fate, I was approached by a recruiter on LinkedIn that would forever change my career trajectory. The company was Ambassador, and I was about to learn of the startup world. Admittedly I struggled to accurately convey to my family, friends and colleagues what the company even did. But my eyes lit up when I told them it’s like the Silicon Valley industry darlings Google or Facebook in the heart of Metro Detroit. At the same time it was different, much more blue collar, like I was used to growing up in a small country town in Australia. It suited me.
Get used to rejection
The “do more with less” attitude was infectious, I had to be a part of it. But I was about to get taught a very valuable lesson and be knocked on my ass before it ever began. As part of our interview process, prospective reps go through a 5-minute sales challenge to pitch our VP of Sales, Zach Taylor, who plays the role of a highly qualified prospect. I’d never really failed at much before, and I was supremely confident in my natural ability to sell.
How wrong I was.
In the cauldron of a live pitch to land the job, I shit the bed and was given a C- grade for my efforts. The criticism stung, but it was constructive, and that level of radical candor lit a fire underneath me. In that moment, I had discovered what was lacking all these years. Spurred by the passion of a new challenge, it was the opportunity for meaningful learning that I had been seeking. It was like a thirst that could only be quenched by guzzling the Kool Aid. Being told I might not be good enough gave me a chip on my shoulder to prove him wrong.
So what’s the secret sauce?
Well for starters, it takes adaptability. We look for well-rounded individuals that have shown a penchant for learning and diversity in their careers. The type that are willing to roll their sleeves up and check their egos at the door.
Being “bought-in” to the company mission and culture is big too.
It also takes grit, an unwavering dedication to the process, the hunger to succeed and the level-headedness to cope with the inevitable ups and downs of sales. Even though word-of-mouth has been around since the dawn of time, selling to marketers that are only just discovering these word-of-mouth marketing tools — and aren’t necessarily setting aside budget to invest in the initiative — presents a whole host of objections.
Sales is a grind, day in and day out, and it’s not for the faint of heart. If it were easy, everyone could do it. And ours is a particularly consultative sales cycle; you must be dynamic and craft solutions on the fly to address the prospect’s pain points. It takes a special kind of person to subject themselves to constant rejection in search of approval. But that’s why we love it: the thrill of the chase, seeing our team overcome adversity to “ring the gong”, and celebrate wins with the knowledge that each deal brings the company credibility and sustainability.
And what’s in it for me?
Being a part of a company that is leading the space in forging a new market category is absolutely priceless. It’s the kind of experience that doesn’t come knocking often. Whatever value I’ve been able to provide to the company has paled in comparison to what it’s given me in return.
Ambassador is a melting pot of super intelligent, driven individuals who OUTCARE and are committed to continual improvement in building a legacy. For me, accelerated learning has led to a promotion and greater responsibility inside of a year, and the opportunity to play a part in the economic renaissance of Detroit.
Some of the best advice I’ve ever received:
“One’s success in life is directly proportional to their willingness to have the difficult conversations”
It’s stuck with me and I think it rings true in all relationships. What I’ve discovered about myself is that I find comfort in the uncomfortable because that’s where the magic (learning) happens. It just took the right keys to unlock it.
To me, a former rocket scientist, that’s sales in a nutshell.
P.S. Think you have the chops to make it in sales? We’re hiring!
