career change
How to Break Into Tech Sales as a Mom (No Degree, No Experience)
The good news, up front
If you're a mom thinking about tech sales: you're going to be good at this. Not in a girl-power-poster way — in a "your daily life has been training you for 80% of the job" way.
Here's the practical, unsexy version of how to actually do it.
Step 1: Understand what tech sales is (and isn't)
Tech sales = selling software (usually SaaS, "software as a service") to other businesses. There are five common roles:
- SDR / BDR — entry-level. Book qualified meetings for AEs. $60K–$95K OTE.
- AE (Account Executive) — runs sales calls and closes deals. $150K–$300K OTE.
- AM (Account Manager) — keeps existing customers happy and renews them.
- CSM (Customer Success Manager) — onboards customers, drives adoption, prevents churn.
- SE (Sales Engineer) — technical sidekick to the AE on big deals.
You're going to start as an SDR or BDR. That's the door.
Step 2: Audit the skills you already have
Sit down for 20 minutes and list every job, volunteer role, classroom, and family logistics scenario you've owned in the last 5 years. Now translate them:
| What you do | What hiring managers hear |
|---|---|
| Manage 30 kids' competing needs | "Skilled at managing competing priorities under tight deadlines." |
| Teach a lesson to varied learning levels | "Delivered engaging presentations to diverse audiences." |
| Defuse a tantrum in the grocery store | "Resolved high-emotion conflicts and produced positive outcomes." |
| Coordinate three school carpools | "Coordinated multi-stakeholder logistics with zero missed deadlines." |
| Run a small Etsy store | "Drove a full sales cycle from prospecting through close." |
This isn't fluff. Every résumé bullet I wrote when I left teaching used this exact translation pattern.
Step 3: Rewrite your LinkedIn
Hiring managers and recruiters search LinkedIn by keyword. If your headline says "Music Teacher | 5th Grade Choir," you're invisible.
Try this format instead:
Aspiring Tech Sales Professional | Transferable Skills in Communication & Leadership | Open to SDR Roles
That single line gets recruiter DMs. It signals: I'm pivoting on purpose and I want SaaS.
Step 4: Research 3 SaaS companies you'd love to work for
Pick 3. Read their About page. Read their job board. Follow 3 of their AEs and recruiters on LinkedIn. This is your week-one assignment.
Step 5: Apply with intention (not volume)
You don't need 200 applications. You need 20 well-aimed ones, each with a 2-bullet personalized note about why their company specifically, and a résumé in the language above.
Step 6: Practice the interview before you have one
Recruiters and SDR hiring managers are not looking for perfect sales technique. They're looking for:
- Can this person hear "no" 30 times a day and not break?
- Are they coachable? Will they take feedback?
- Do they have energy?
Practice 3 stories from your life that prove each of those. Record yourself answering on your phone. The first three takes will be terrible. By take ten you'll sound like a pro.
Step 7: Get the first offer, take it, and grow from there
Your first SDR offer probably won't be your dream job. Take it anyway. Learn the muscle. Get promoted to AE within 12–24 months. Then your trajectory is yours.
Mom-specific advice
- Calendar transparency. When you start, tell your manager: "I have to do school pickup at 3:15. Want me to take calls before or after?" Most managers are fine with it. The good ones genuinely don't care as long as the work gets done.
- The 8 PM hour. Tech sales rewards async hustle. Some of my best closes happened with emails I sent after the kids went to bed.
- Find one mom in tech who'll talk to you for 20 minutes. Reach out. We almost always say yes.
If you want a more structured roadmap, the free Sales Mom Blueprint lays out all of this with worksheet pages and a 7-day action plan.