A software sales representative has various responsibilities, including providing product information, demonstrating software, conducting market research, and managing sales teams. The tasks vary depending on the level of the representative, from direct sales to team management.
A software sales representative transfers the software goods his company produces into the hands of the consumer. This is a multifaceted task that may include providing product information, physically turning on software at the register or processing orders online, demonstrating software, or contacting stores to negotiate placement of the company’s software in the store’s inventory. He may also be responsible for tasks such as conducting market research to identify market trends that affect software sales, as well as completing cold marketing tactics. The exact responsibilities depend on the level the software sales representative is at in the company, with some representatives taking care of administrative tasks.
When a software sales rep is in an entry-level position, he or she typically focuses on direct sales. This means that he interacts with the customer individually. The two biggest tasks a representative has at this point are switching the product for payment to the consumer and offering basic advice on what software would be best for the buyer, given the buyer’s constraints or needs. When sales are slower, or if the rep isn’t going to work in a sales area, he pursues communications with consumers, such as cold calling or sending unsolicited emails aimed at generating interest in the software products.
Demonstrating software is a task that every software sales representative should be able to perform. A novice sales rep does this for individual customers, showing customers that the software can perform certain functions or what the interface looks like. Top-level software sales reps can demo vendors to show that the product fills a gap in current inventory. They can also conduct large-scale seminar-based demos to launch specific software applications, which is more critical as it has the greatest effect on the general reception of the software by the public.
Representatives with marketing research experience focus on collecting and analyzing software sales data. Internally, this means looking at the company’s budget, sales figures, and production processes with the goal of streamlining processes, increasing revenue, and making supply estimates. Externally, this means gaining insight into what competitors are doing with their products and how they stack up in terms of market share. The purpose of these representatives is to help market strategists develop sales plans for the software that will be effective given anticipated market trends.
With enough sales experience and knowledge, a software sales rep can become a sales team manager. At this level, the manager is responsible for overseeing inventory movement and tracking, scheduling lower-level sales representatives, generating and presenting sales reports, completing disciplinary actions, hiring and firing, and training. A software sales representative in this position guides his team towards the overall vision and mission of the software company, so it is important for him to be able to communicate what the company wants to do with the software and why, at any given time.
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