About SANS
SANS Institute (SANS) launched in 1989 as a cooperative for information security thought leadership, it is SANS’ ongoing mission to empower cyber security professionals with the practical skills and knowledge they need to make our world a safer place. We fuel this effort with high quality training, certifications, scholarship academies, degree programs, cyber ranges, and resources to meet the needs of every cyber professional. Our data, research, and the top minds in cybersecurity collectively ensure that individuals and organizations have the actionable education and support they need.
Join the SANS Team
At SANS, our culture is defined by Mission, Brand, People. Our goal is to hire people who understand the importance of continuing to fight against the cyber security threats (Mission) while delivering the highest quality training (Brand) to our students. We want employees whose personal values align well with our culture of fairness, honesty, customer focus, and pragmatic approach (People).
Summary of Position
The Business Development Executives work focuses on SANS’ outbound sales strategy. You must be highly organized. Lead generation is your main responsibility, moving leads through our marketing and sales pipeline ensuring your Sales colleagues get fed actionable and well qualified marketing qualified leads. You should be able to confidently share product or service information with prospects. A sales development executive identifies challenges and provides practical solutions to prospects. Your main function is to be a driven problem solver, identifying potential clients. Building relationships with prospects will be the central part of your job. You must have impeccable communication skills, as well as being focused on lead generation and strategic outreach.
Key Responsibilities
- Generate leads (through qualifying inbound marketing leads or outbound sales prospecting) and build relationships by nurturing warm prospects and finding new potential sales outlets.
- Manage and maintain a pipeline of interested prospects and engage Enterprise sales executives for next steps.
- Identify best practices to refine SANS Institute’s lead generation playbook.
- Follow-up on inbound marketing leads and identify qualified opportunities providing appropriate levels of information at the right time for interested prospects.
- Be responsible for educating and developing prospects leading to hand-off to Enterprise sales teams.
- Participate in consultative customer sales calls to identify customers’ needs and initiatives to recommend specific SANS Courses and certifications.
- Profile Enterprise accounts identifying key individuals together with Senior Sales team, researching and obtaining business requirements and presenting solutions to start the sales cycle.
- Set appointments for Regional Sales team when a lead reaches a qualified stage.
- Nurture new marketing leads by educating and developing prospects until they are ready to speak with a field sales representative.
- Drive attendance for webinars and live seminars, set meetings for trade events.
- Collaborate with Regional Sales and Marketing team members on strategic sales approach.
- Ensure successful follow through of sales cycle by maintaining accurate activity and lead qualification information in Salesforce CRM.
- Must be proactive in identifying and cultivating new business opportunities to drive company growth.
- Contact customers and prospects, working in conjunction with the marketing & sales teams on specific campaigns.
- Regularly conduct calls with customers upon their completion of training, with a view to generating new leads and identifying upselling opportunities in conjunction with the Sales teams.
- Record and log all customer communication, pipeline, tasks, leads and opportunities & forecasts as required into Salesforce CRM.
- Utilize various sales tools for identification and refining of target prospects.
- Report to Senior Manager about BDE leads on weekly basis.
- Other responsibilities as assigned.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree & 3+ year of successful experience in Telemarketing or Sales, preferably in IT or cybersecurity
- Exceptional communication skills, both oral and written, coupled with excellent listening skills and a positive and energetic phone presence.
- Extremely self-motivated with a diligent work ethic
- High level of integrity and strong commitment to building a successful company
- Ability to work independently as well as part of a team in a fast-paced environment.
- Adept computer skills including proficiency with Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, PPT & CRM
- Experience with Salesforce preferred.
Reporting Relationships
This position will report to the Senior Manager for Business Development and Renewals and has no direct reports.
Work Environment
Hybrid and virtual office; Denver CO – In person
Equal Opportunity Employer
SANS is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or to perform the essential functions of a position, please contact SANS Human Resources.
In addition, all qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment.
California residents click here for SANS privacy notice for California job applicants
The base salary range for this position is between $65,000 and $75,000. Base salary ranges may vary by geographic location and relevant experience, education, certifications, and years of experience. There is no guarantee an offer will be at the top of the posted range based on the salary analysis.
In addition, SANS provides the following benefits:
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Short-Term Disability
- 401(k) with company match
- Employee Assistance Program
- Supplemental Life Insurance and AD&D
- Paid Time Off
- Company Paid Holidays
- Volunteer Paid Time Off