Your first remote sales job: how to choose one worth having

This guide is for juniors: 0-2 years in sales, or in an SDR, BDR, opening, discovery-only or appointment-setting role. The years are only a guide: if you're good, you can move up much faster. For why remote is worth it and where to find the jobs, start with how to get a remote sales job.

Don't filter when you apply

First, don't waste time being picky at the application stage. The job market is saturated. AI screens the applications. Plenty of companies don't pay LinkedIn for their job posts, so they only see some of the people who apply. And then there's the laziness of HR staff, and their idiocy when reviewing applicants. Filtering is a waste of your time.

Apply for anything and everything that looks all right. Filter by Easy Apply only (at this level, you shouldn't be filling in massive forms on other sites) and click away. Cast a wide net. Like prospecting, it's a numbers game.

Take every interview, even for jobs you don't want

When the interviews start coming in, still don't filter. Take every interview you can get, even for jobs you know you don't want.

Why? Practice. In a sales interview you have to sell yourself, and if you can't sell yourself, you're not going to sell whatever the job is. Obviously. So use every interview to practise and sharpen your pitch, and watch how people react when you play up different parts of your background.

For a remote job, the interview is on video, and so is the job: you'll be selling on camera every day. So the call itself is part of your pitch. Sort out your camera, lighting and sound, look into the lens rather than at their face, and watch how you come across. They'll judge you exactly the way your prospects will.

Should you take a commission-only sales job?

Then the offers start coming in, and this is where you filter.

First: commission only, or basic plus commission? At this level you're unlikely to be closing, and even if you are, you don't have the experience to back yourself on commission only. Avoid any role that doesn't pay a basic that at least covers your monthly bills. Even if you live at home with no costs, think twice before going commission only too early.

Commission only puts most of the risk on you, and it takes away the company's reason to train and develop you. A lot of companies churn and burn salespeople: they hire ten, pretty much at random, and expect eight to fail and two to make it. That's a waste of your time, and you'll get very little out of it.

I didn't go commission only until I'd been promoted to closer, and even then it was probably too early. That story is in part 3.

Who will train you?

Next, look at who you'll be working with, and how much reason they have to train and develop you. At this stage of your career, experience is the most important thing you can get. It matters more than the size of the basic.

Ask about the training and development, which closers you'll work with and what figures they're doing. Interview the sales manager a little about their background, and do your own research on them too. Make sure you'll learn something.

If you're remote, this matters even more, because you won't learn by overhearing the closers on the sales floor. Ask how they train people remotely. Can you listen to recordings of the top closers' calls? Can you sit in on live calls? Is there a daily team call? If the answer is "we send you the script and you crack on", you'll be learning on your own.

Will they actually pay you?

Then make sure the company is trustworthy and will actually pay you. There are plenty of bad actors out there who'll pay you late, or not at all. Check their reviews on Trustpilot and Glassdoor. No reviews doesn't mean don't take the job, but go in with your eyes wide open.

What else to check before you take a remote sales job

• Employee or contractor? A lot of remote sales jobs, especially with companies abroad, are contractor roles. That means no sick pay or holiday pay, and you sort out your own tax: more of the risk lands on you.
• Whose hours? Selling to the US from Europe means working evenings. Find out what hours you'll actually be on the phones.
• Who works there? Look the company up on LinkedIn. Does it have real salespeople, and how long do they stay?
• How will you be paid? In what currency, by what method, and how long after a deal closes does your commission land?
• Never pay to start a job. If they ask you to pay for training, a starter kit or leads, walk away.

The bottom line

Take the job if:

• you'll get a basic that covers your bills
• you think you'll learn something
• you're pretty sure you'll actually get paid
• it's broadly the area you want to work in: SaaS, finance, crypto, marketing, whatever it is.

Then go for it.

Read next, part 2: Your first remote sales job: go in with your eyes open, and know when to walk away