Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Technical Sales Representative

🎯 Role Definition

The Technical Sales Representative combines product and industry knowledge with consultative selling techniques to qualify leads, manage a targeted territory or vertical, deliver technical demos and proof-of-concepts, close deals against quota, and coordinate pre- and post-sales handoffs. This role requires proficiency with CRM and sales enablement tools, the ability to translate technical value into measurable ROI for customers, and strong cross-functional collaboration with product, engineering, marketing, and customer success teams.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Sales Development Representative (SDR) or Business Development Representative (BDR) transitioning to field or inside technical selling.
Technical Support Engineer or Application Support Analyst moving into a customer-facing revenue role.
Inside Sales Representative or Account Coordinator with exposure to technical products.

Advancement To:

Senior Technical Sales Representative / Senior Account Executive
Sales Engineer / Presales Manager (for technically focused tracks)
Regional Sales Manager or Enterprise Account Manager
Director of Sales / Head of Revenue

Lateral Moves:

Customer Success Manager / Customer Success Director
Product Manager (product-focused track)
Business Development Manager or Channel / Partner Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Prospect and qualify new B2B leads within a defined territory or vertical using multi-channel outreach (email, phone, LinkedIn, events), consistently converting cold inbound and targeted outbound opportunities into qualified pipeline and meeting monthly lead-to-opportunity conversion metrics.
Own and manage an active sales pipeline in the CRM (e.g., Salesforce), update opportunity stages and forecast with accuracy, and provide weekly sales forecasts to the sales manager to support quarterly quota planning.
Conduct consultative discovery calls to identify business drivers, technical requirements, decision-making criteria, timelines, and budget constraints, transforming customer needs into documented solution proposals.
Deliver engaging product demonstrations and tailored technical presentations (remote and on-site) that map product capabilities to specific customer use cases and demonstrate measurable ROI and time-to-value.
Design and manage proof-of-concept (PoC) or pilot programs in collaboration with engineering and product teams, define success criteria, monitor progress, and convert successful PoCs into closed revenue.
Respond to RFIs, RFPs, and detailed pricing inquiries, produce accurate commercial proposals and statements of work (SOWs), and coordinate legal/commercial review to accelerate contract execution.
Negotiate pricing, commercial terms, and renewal conditions with procurement and buying committees while protecting margin and aligning with company pricing policy and discount approval workflows.
Achieve or exceed individual quota and key sales KPIs (new revenue, ARR/MRR growth, deal velocity, win rate) by executing a repeatable sales process and optimizing conversion metrics.
Build and maintain strong relationships with technical stakeholders (CTO, IT managers, architects) and executive sponsors to secure sponsorship for solution adoption and long-term contracts.
Collaborate daily with Sales Engineers, Product Managers, and Customer Success to align product roadmaps with customer needs, escalate technical blockers, and ensure successful on-boarding and adoption.
Map and influence buying committees inside target accounts, identify champions and blockers, and support account planning to expand footprint through upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of competitive landscape, product positioning, and emerging industry trends; create and deliver competitive battlecards and objection-handling playbooks for the sales team.
Track deal activity and customer feedback in the CRM, contribute to monthly pipeline reviews, and implement targeted remediation plans for at-risk deals to recover pipeline health.
Execute territory and account plans that prioritize high-potential verticals and named accounts, including account segmentation, outreach cadences, and tailored value propositions to maximize revenue per account.
Leverage sales enablement materials (case studies, ROI calculators, technical white papers) to support discovery, build credibility, and shorten sales cycles.
Coordinate handoff to implementation and customer success teams post-contract, provide technical context and success criteria, and remain involved through early adoption to ensure smooth transitions and reduce churn.

Secondary Functions

Represent the company at industry conferences, trade shows, webinars, and user groups to generate inbound leads, present thought leadership, and strengthen brand awareness.
Support marketing campaigns by providing technical content input, participating in co-marketing webinars, and giving feedback on campaign messaging and landing pages informed by customer conversations.
Maintain CRM hygiene, accurate contact and account data, and detailed opportunity notes to support analytics, territory planning, and management reporting.
Conduct win/loss analysis with sales leadership to capture lessons learned, competitive insights, and improvements to sales collateral and pricing strategies.
Assist in developing and delivering onboarding materials and training for new hires and junior sellers on product features, objection handling, and technical discovery best practices.
Provide ad-hoc technical clarifications and scope adjustments during implementation planning, ensuring delivered solutions align with the contractual SOW and agreed success metrics.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Solution selling and consultative sales methodologies for technical B2B products (SaaS, cloud, enterprise software, hardware).
Proficiency with CRM platforms (Salesforce preferred), including opportunity management, forecasting, and reporting.
Ability to prepare and deliver high-impact technical product demos and proof-of-concept plans; experience with demo environments and sandbox provisioning.
Familiarity with cloud architectures (AWS, Azure, GCP), APIs, integrations, and common enterprise connectivity patterns.
Experience responding to RFIs/RFPs and drafting commercial proposals, customer statements of work (SOW), and pricing models.
Basic understanding of networking, security, identity management, or data integration concepts depending on product domain.
Competence with sales productivity tools: LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Outreach/Salesloft, Gong/Chorus (call recording & analytics), and Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets for pipeline modeling.
Ability to quantify business value with ROI/total cost of ownership (TCO) calculations and competitive differentiation matrices.
Experience coordinating technical PoCs and liaising with engineering teams to capture success criteria, metrics, and deliverables.
Familiarity with contract negotiation fundamentals, procurement cycles, and working with legal and finance stakeholders on contract execution.

Soft Skills

Strong consultative communication: able to translate technical details into clear business value for varied audiences (technical and executive).
Active listening and strategic questioning to uncover implicit customer needs and buying signals.
Resilience and persistence in outbound prospecting and long sales cycles; strong time and territory management.
Collaborative cross-functional mindset to work seamlessly with product, marketing, engineering, and customer success teams.
Problem solving and creativity to design tailored solutions and alternate approaches when constraints arise.
Excellent presentation and storytelling skills to craft compelling narratives around use cases and outcomes.
Negotiation and influence skills to align internal and external stakeholders around commercial outcomes.
High integrity and customer-centric orientation with an emphasis on long-term relationships and renewals.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience in technical sales.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration (MBA), or related technical discipline.
Sales or industry certifications (e.g., Salesforce Certified, solution-specific certifications, or presales certifications) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science or Software Engineering
Information Systems or IT Management
Business Administration, Marketing, or Sales
Electrical / Network Engineering (for hardware or infrastructure sales)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2–5 years of B2B sales experience with at least 1–2 years selling technical products or services; or 3+ years for enterprise-focused roles.

Preferred:

3–7+ years of quota-carrying technical sales experience, proven track record of meeting or exceeding quota, experience with enterprise procurement and complex deal cycles, and familiarity with industry verticals relevant to the employer (finance, healthcare, telecom, manufacturing, etc.).
Demonstrated success running PoCs, closing multi-stakeholder deals, and expanding accounts through upsell/cross-sell.
Prior experience with SaaS/Cloud sales, channel/partner engagement, or enterprise systems integrations is highly desirable.