Software Sales & Marketing

[xcoolaryan]

Hi, I am posting this query regarding one of my friends..

He will complete his education in COMP ENGG this may...

He don't have much interest in development / testing / networking....

His core interest lies in Sales & Marketing ... Now he want to join major companies which are involved in Software / IT sale & marketing ...

How he should proceed, which companies provides such opportunity, which companies he should target, do major IT comapnies like TCS, INFOSYS or WIPRO have opening for such positions...

He plans to do his MBA in Marketing after 2-3 yrs of experience

[Jaguar]

a. why are you posting ...i'm sure your frnd. can create a login id, and ask the questions.

b. Regarding the question - i'm at Infosys, and have only come across marketing/sales folks who are
1. Moved on from programming(operations) into sales/ mkt. due to their deep understanding of the market and clients
2. Are MBA's from reputed institutes.

Software sales/marketing is all together a different thing from what you hear as 'normal' marketing.

In my opinion, as of now work as a software engineer in one of the IT companies, gain some knowledge, do the MBA and then get into a MBA profile.

This is my opinion based on what i've seen in Infosys, there may be exceptions in other smaller companies.

Ps. - If you think tht software is a worthless job, you havn't seen it yet.

[rmbt]

Originally Posted by xcoolaryan

Hi, I am posting this query regarding one of my friends..

He will complete his education in COMP ENGG this may...

He don't have much interest in development / testing / networking....

His core interest lies in Sales & Marketing ... Now he want to join major companies which are involved in Software / IT sale & marketing ...

How he should proceed, which companies provides such opportunity, which companies he should target, do major IT comapnies like TCS, INFOSYS or WIPRO have opening for such positions...

He plans to do his MBA in Marketing after 2-3 yrs of experience

I dont think that any IT company will straight away offer a BE fresher a marketing profile. He has to work there as an soft engg for sometime to know the company and its product and then try to get in touch with HR for a profile change.

[xcoolaryan]

Ps. - If you think tht software is a worthless job, you havn't seen it yet.

I never said that.....I am a Comp Engg so I would never say software is worthless....

I don't understand how you got that impression out of my post...

[route_to_perdition]

Originally Posted by xcoolaryan

His core interest lies in Sales & Marketing ... Now he want to join major companies which are involved in Software / IT sale & marketing ...

He plans to do his MBA in Marketing after 2-3 yrs of experience

A friend of mine with a Mech Engg background had a similar interest in marketing... He started off his career in a Business Development role in a company called Calsoft at Pune. The company specilizes in system software etc. While he was able to fit in, it would be easier for computer engineers to get through. The work involved prospecting for customers who could use the companys services.. He then moved on to Oracle Corp at bangalore in similar work profile, this time selling Oracle's ERP solutions. The flipside was that both jobs involved working shifts, as you are selling to tech people in US.

So, the bottomline is that you can still get into such a profile, although you would have to start with a company which does not insist on taking MBAs only, and the work you will get initially might not be glamorous. You do need to be excellent at communication to get through such job, and freshers really should be able to sound very convincing in the interviews.. Personally, I would not go for it, but it depends on your inclination toward going for IT sales/ marketing and disinclination toward a usual s/w job....

Good luck to your friend...