🚀 Breaking Into Tech Sales in 2025

You don’t need to look very far on LinkedIn to see that people have lots of opinions about hiring.

Job seekers complaining about getting ZERO attention even though they’ve been consistently sending out cover letters and resumes…

Recruiters talking about how the hiring system is broken…

People talking about how unreasonable, unclear, and stupid job descriptions are (must have 6+ years of experience, a PhD, and the salary is $40,000 OTE)…

Job searching can be tedious, stressful, and annoying!

Thankfully, there are some best practices you can adopt right away to help you connect with the hiring manager.

In fact, I used the strategies below to land an interview with a software company.

Whether you’re looking for a job in tech sales or some other field, I’m 100% certain that the tactics laid out in this email will, at the very least, get attention of hiring managers.

Let’s get into it! 🚀

📤 Send an email to the hiring manager

Here is the EXACT email I sent to a hiring manager:

In an ideal world, you might have some quota-carrying experience that you can reference, but if you don’t, find some work accomplishment that relates to tech sales and put it in your email.

The goal of sending an email to a hiring manager is to get a response, but if they don’t reply, that’s okay… at least they’ve seen your name in their inbox.

By the way, for the subject line, I used “Re: Your BDR search.”

This subject line makes it look like I’m replying to a message and could possibly pique the interest of a hiring manager to see what’s inside.

☎️ Give a call directly to the hiring manager

Lately, I’ve noticed that some hiring managers actually post their phone numbers on LinkedIn.

If you see that a hiring manager has done this, there are two things you can be certain of.

First of all, they are serious about hiring. They want prospective employees to give them a call and have a conversation to see if the vibe is right.

Second, you have a golden opportunity to make a great first impression.

If a hiring manager has NOT posted their phone number on LinkedIn, that’s okay.

You can always use Apollo or Wiza to search for it.

If you’re not familiar with either of these tools, they’re amazing… and if you’re not yet using them to get hiring managers’ contact info, you’re missing out!

The company I interviewed with? Yeah… the hiring manager didn’t post her number on LinkedIn, but I was able to find it on Apollo.

I left her a voicemail, and sure enough, she appreciated my persistence and follow-through!

Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and dial — after all, you’re going to be doing tons of that as an SDR.

🎥 Send a short video to the hiring manager

Hiring managers LOVE getting videos from applicants…

And not many people actually send videos to hiring managers!

Video cuts through the noise.

In fact, the company I interviewed at… they used a platform called allUP which gave me the opportunity to answer several pre-interview questions on video.

Video allows you to give the viewer the FULL experience of what it might be like to work with you on a daily basis.

Even if the company isn’t using a video screening platform like allUP for their hiring, you can still record something on your phone (30 seconds or less) and send it to the manager via InMail.

Pro tip: On LinkedIn, message attachments cannot exceed 20 MB. You’ll probably need compress your video down to 480p so you can actually attach it. The quality might be a bit shabby, but at least you get your message across.

💬 Interact with their posts on LinkedIn

Name recognition goes a long way in hiring.

If you’re calling, emailing, sending videos, AND replying to a hiring manager’s posts on LinkedIn, that’s a guaranteed way to get your name in front of the hiring manager.

When you interact with posts on LinkedIn, don’t just say something brief like “Thanks Robert” or “Great share.”

Instead, write something more valuable.

Give your opinion on the topic they posted about, and spend a couple minutes replying to some of the other people who replied to the original post.

You never know what kinds of doors networking could open up.

✅ Keep track of your job outreaches

The reality is, your job search could take many, many months…

Even if you do everything right.

One of the wisest things you can do is set up a simple spreadsheet so you can keep track of things like:

• Name of the company

• Hiring manager’s name & contact info

• Dates of your outreaches

• Dates of calls, interviews, etc.

• Miscellaneous notes

When you keep track of your actions, you’ll be able to improve your strategy and approach.

👨🏽‍💻 It’s okay to get in on the ground floor

Unless you have experience in SaaS sales, chances are, you’ll need to start off as an SDR, not an AE.

If you think you can convince a hiring manager that you are prepared to be an AE, have at it.

Aiming high isn’t a crime.

For an SDR, most companies require 0 to 6 months experience in sales, but for an AE, most companies require about 2 to 3 years of experience in tech sales.

SDR is a ground-floor role. If you get in on the ground floor, that’ll give you a chance to sharpen your prospecting, client research, and cold calling skills.

Once you prove that, you may be able to create an advancement opportunity for yourself.

❌ Don’t focus too much on your cover letter and resume

Tailoring your cover letter and resume to a specific job takes too much time (even with AI).

Direct outreach has more impact.

If all you’re doing is tweaking cover letters and resumes to fit the job description and submitting them through Greenhouse or Ashby, you’re in for some disappointment.

For the role I interviewed at last week, I didn’t even submit a resume.

Companies that are at the cutting edge of hiring don’t give a damn about resumes any more.

For sales roles, companies are looking for candidates who can sell themselves.

That company I mentioned at the beginning of this email? Well, they decided to move forward with other candidates.

And that’s okay.

I’ve got a framework that I know works, and that’s what matters.

Is there something you’d add to my list above? If so, send me an email… I’d love to see what you’re doing to grab the attention of hiring managers!

Thanks for reading!

—Neil