How To Pass Springboard’s Tech Sales Technical Skills Survey

Tech sales is an exciting career path for those seeking a job in a booming field with virtually unlimited earning potential. According to Glassdoor, the average tech sales starting salary for those with less than one year of experience is $65,264, excluding commissions. 

Tech sales professionals typically work in the B2B SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) industry. SaaS products are custom software solutions that come with implementation assistance, ongoing technical support, after-sales care, and regular software updates. Tech salespeople guide clients—typically other businesses—through a consultative process to understand their business problems and deliver a tailor-made solution to help them improve efficiency, cut costs, and gain more insights into their data. The sales rep’s job is to identify and reach out to potential customers, educate them about the product, nurture leads, and close deals.

For further reading, learn more about tech sales here.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably considering signing up for Springboard’s Tech Sales Career Track. While there are no prerequisites for this course, the technical skills survey is a baseline evaluation of your soft skills. To pass, you’ll need to have strong communication and problem-solving skills, and enjoy building relationships. 

To land a job as tech sales professional, you’ll be required to demonstrate these soft skills and show familiarity with the SaaS sales process.

Related Read: Technical Sales Representative Job Description

Here’s what to expect in the TSS. 

Why Do We Require Students To Take the TSS?

Before you embark on this journey, we want to make sure you’re a good fit for this course and career path. As an intensely customer-facing role, sales isn’t for everyone. The TSS helps you determine if you would enjoy and thrive in a career in sales. 

We want to see evidence of ambition, entrepreneurial spirit, ability to learn new things, and a commitment to the process. 

Success in the course requires the following background and skills:

• Strong proficiency in the English language
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Work ethic, drive, and motivation
• Resilience, a positive attitude, and a proactive mindset
• Coachability
• Ability to research and learn about a topic, company, or product
• Ability to build relationships and relate to other people 

What To Expect in the TSS

The assessment is divided into two parts and should take 30-45 minutes to complete. 

Part 1

Answer two questions with free-from responses (150-200 words minimum). We are looking for cohesive responses that address all aspects of the question, are clear and well-organized, and have proper punctuation, grammar and sentence structure. 

Part 2

In the next part of the assessment, you’ll answer eight multiple-choice questions that help us understand how you would respond in a specific scenario—for example, situations involving conflict, teamwork, or time management. For each question, you may agree with more than one answer. 

Note: Each question has more than one right answer, so select the one that best represents you.

Sample Questions

Here are the kinds of questions you’ll encounter in the TSS:

• What would you do if you were struggling with a difficult task at work?
• Give an example of a time when you had to deal with an unexpected situation at work. 
• What is your approach to researching a topic that you know very little about?

How To Prepare for the TSS

While no studying is required to pass the TSS, we understand that some students may wish to do extra prep work, or may have concerns about speaking English as a second language. In that case, we recommend the following resources:

Writing and verbal communication

• Free Coursera Course: Effective Communication: Writing, Design and Presentation
• EDUCBA: How to Improve Written Communication Skills

Soft skills needed to succeed in sales 

• Hubspot: 11 Skills Every Sales Development Rep Needs to Master in 2021
• Linkedin: Grit: The Secret to Sales Success

Since you’re here…
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