I've been asked to advise on a company expansion for a software company.  They have a product that helps monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of large coding projects so that a big team of coders can be overseen.  In that way the people paying for the project know what they are getting, when deadlines will slip etc.  The idea is that the process become more objectively measured and less subjective based on what your developers are telling you.

They are looking for a couple of salespeople in the UK with the ability to generate new business deals and close them.  The project manager (a separate job) them handles most of the day to day stuff, but clearly, in order to sell something of this nature you have to be reasonably technical and familiar with project developments.  So, the ability (and willingness) to cold call and engage and sell to people is important but so is understanding how the development process works today and being able to talk the CIO's language and relate to their current bottlenecks and problems.

I would have thought that they will be looking in 2014 for a US based salesperson also.  Maybe, since they are a relatively small company, they would let you work from home.  That opportunity will not be immediate however, probably second half of 2014.

I have not discussed salary packages with them yet, but I would expect they would be in the order of a £50-60k ($100k) basic salary and double that when you include commission, which would probably be something like 10% of the revenue you bring in (that it just my educated guess).  You would have about 1 year to begin performing, I would think, and in year 2 (month 13-24) you would need to produce at least $800k worth of licence revenue to keep your job.  It's a small firm but backed by VC and with some clever people, so there is probably a 5-10% chance that their horse will come in and the product will catch fire.  If that happens then you could have a couple of bumper years before they are acquired.

PM me if interested with a basic resume of skills.  If you're qualified* I can almost certainly get you an interview since I am the big cheese being paid to advise and guide them.

Qualified here would either mean you have decent experience of major software projects and teams of coders or plenty of B2B sales skills including cold calling and seeking out your own new leads.  If you have both then you will be a shoe in.  If you have neither then the job ain't for you.

… If you're qualified I can almost certainly get you an interview. …

This is a site where we are reminded every day that talk is cheap, especially talk heavily larded with misinformation and sanctimony. Indeed, I frequently think that this place is to hot air what South Africa is to diamonds.

Then here you come, ggreg, bypassing all the usual self-congratulatory rubbish and simply putting the first four corporal works of mercy into practice—and not for the first time either. I am well aware that most of the site's self-appointed Deep Thinkers have solemnly instructed us to regard you as the spawn of Satan. Since I flunked out of Pharisee A&M decades ago, however, my spiritual formation has never been anything but pretty weak. As a result, I suppose I am completely taken in by your devious attempts to trick us into thinking that you are acting altruistically in seeming to offer practical assistance to people hereabouts, assistance that is unlikely to do you any discernible good but might enable someone with a head on his shoulders and without fear of a day's work to get ahead in an increasingly hostile world.

I'm ashamed to admit that were my age and qualifications congruent with what your client needs, I might just risk yielding to your temptation, no matter the consequences for my soul—let alone for my government welfare status or the support my hated parents, grandparents, and other sources of cash give me because they see that I'm sooooo much better and holier than they are!

Please accept this unenlightened and morally ill-formed commenter's thanks and lively admiration for your good deeds. After all, hardly anybody else is thanking you, and I am something of a contrarian!

God bless you and your family. A happy Christmas to you all.

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ggreg -- thanks for the news!  I hope you find your man!

If you have both then you will be a shoe in. If you have neither then the job ain't for you.

"...be a shoo-in."


Shoo-in

This expression purportedly comes from the practice of corrupt jockeys holding their horses back and shooing a preselected winner across the finish line to guarantee that it will win. A “shoo-in” is now an easy winner, with no connotation of dishonesty. “Shoe-in” is a common misspelling.


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