Breaking Into Sales

Land your first SDR/AE role: resume, interviews, mock calls, 30-60-90.

Getting your first SDR job with no experience

The good news: SDR is one of the most accessible six-figure-track careers in tech. Companies hire for coachability, work ethic, and grit far more than prior experience. The bad news: every laid-off tech worker knows this, so the top of the funnel is crowded. You win by being 10× more prepared than the average applicant.

Choosing the right first company

Optimize aggressively for these five things, in this order:

1. Growth — 30%+ YoY. A rising company promotes fast.
2. Training — formal SDR onboarding, dedicated enablement.
3. Manager quality — ask candidates in your Glassdoor DMs "would you work for them again?"
4. Segment fit — mid-market is the sweet spot for learning.
5. Comp — matters, but distant fifth as a first job.

Resume tips

• One page. Always one page. Cut anything older than 5 years.
• Lead every bullet with a verb and a number: "Grew campus club membership from 40 to 220 in one semester."
• Highlight any goal-driven role: retail with sales targets, restaurant tips, fundraising, athletics, campus recruiting.
• Include a "Sales prep" section listing books read, podcasts followed, and free courses completed. Signals hunger.
• Skip the objective statement. Waste of prime real estate.

Interview prep

SDR interviews usually run: recruiter screen → hiring manager → mock cold call → panel/culture → offer. AE interviews add a mock discovery call and sometimes a written business case.

Common SDR interview questions (with strong answers)

1. "Why sales?"
   Don't say "I like talking to people." Say: "I want a career where my results are measurable, coaching is constant, and my earnings scale with the value I create. Sales is one of the few functions where all three are true from day one."
2. "Why our company?"
   Reference their product, a recent hire, a customer quote, and a specific strategic bet. If you can name their top competitor and why they win, you're in the top 5% of applicants.
3. "Tell me about a time you failed."
   Pick a real failure. Describe it in one sentence, spend most of the time on what you changed as a result. Interviewers care about the pattern of learning.
4. "Sell me this pen."
   Don't pitch. Discover. "Before I do — how often do you take notes? Do you prefer pen or laptop? What's frustrating about the pens you use today?" Then pitch based on their answer.
5. "How do you handle rejection?"
   Frame it as a math problem: "In my last role I hit ~120 no's for every yes. The no's stopped feeling personal once I learned they were the price of the yes."

Common AE interview questions

1. "Walk me through a deal you closed — and one you lost." Focus on process, not luck.
2. "How would you build a territory plan for [product, segment]?" Show account tiering + pipeline math.
3. "How do you qualify?" — Have a MEDDIC answer ready.
4. "What would you do in your first 30/60/90 days?" — Use the template below.

Mock cold call prep

Almost every SDR interview includes a live mock cold call. Practice the structure until it's muscle memory:

1. Confident opener + permission-based intro.
2. Sharp 1-line reason grounded in their world.
3. One qualifying question.
4. Ask for the meeting with a specific time.
5. Handle at least two objections calmly.

Do 10 mock calls before your interview — with a friend, an ex-SDR, or an AI practice tool. Record and listen back.

30-60-90 day plan template

Bring this printed to your final interview. It signals you've thought about the job as an operator, not a candidate.

Days 1–30: Learn

• Shadow 5 AEs and 5 SDRs on live calls.
• Complete product certification and pitch back to a manager.
• Interview 3 recent customers to understand real pain and language.
• Study the top 20 objections and rehearse responses daily.
• Build a personal territory map: top 100 accounts, tiered.

Days 31–60: Do

• Hit 100% of activity KPIs (dials, emails, LinkedIn touches).
• Book first 5 meetings; attend all of them alongside the AE.
• Send 5 tailored outbound sequences and iterate based on reply data.
• Weekly 1:1 feedback loop with manager on 1 recorded call.

Days 61–90: Perform

• Hit or exceed meeting quota.
• Contribute 1 new sequence or messaging idea to the team.
• Have a documented promotion plan discussion with your manager.

How to keep learning

• Read: Never Split the Difference, The Challenger Sale, Gap Selling, SPIN Selling.
• Listen: 30 Minutes to President's Club, Sales Logic, The Advanced Selling Podcast.
• Follow on LinkedIn: Nick Cegelski, Armand Farrokh, Kevin "KD" Dorsey, Sarah Brazier, Kyle Coleman.
• Practice: record every call, review one per week with a peer.

Sales rewards the compounding of small habits. Two years of deliberate reps will put you in the top decile of your cohort — and put six figures in reach.