Deep Dive: How Elevate Gives Members the Tools to Build a Tech Sales Career

If you’re reading this, perhaps the job you have right now barely covers the bills or leaves you unfulfilled. Maybe you don’t have a job at the moment. Whatever your situation in life, you feel like there’s more out there for you. You don’t know the next step to get there, or what “there” even looks like, but you know that you have something more to offer.

It can be hard to decide your next move in a situation where you feel stuck. But one often overlooked option is consistently growing right in front of you. The majority of the top 100 companies by value, 30.9 percent, are tech companies. These companies are collectively worth $10.5 trillion, and many of them reached this valuation thanks to great salespeople.

Elevate is democratizing access to tech and tech sales for candidates that are often denied entry. If you’ve been told you lack experience or don’t have the background to get in or the connection to make a referral, Elevate might be the program for you. 

What Is Elevate?

Elevate is a tech sales community that trains its members to enter the field as elite candidates. Elevate gives members an accelerated path to success across their entire careers, from a sales development representative (SDR) to an account executive (AE) and beyond. This program is working to diversify the tech industry from all standpoints: racially, economically, geographically, and more.

Its remote sales SDR bootcamp trains members to earn an entry-level position at both well-known and startup tech companies like Outreach.io and Mozart Data. You’ll study the sales cycle from end to end and learn how to step into a sales role without doubting your skills.

The Elevate SDR Bootcamp Story: How It Began

Elevate was founded by Norman Rodriguez, a second-generation Puerto Rican and Ex-Googler who knows what it’s like to enter the industry without a roadmap or any connections. Norman dropped out of community college before moving to San Francisco for a relationship. After the relationship fell apart, Norman was left in the city with the second-highest cost of living in the country without a job or a plan for his future.

Norman took on a natural role as a waiter while working double-time to make rent. He didn’t know how to escape his situation and didn’t even know how to build a resume, but he knew that working as a waiter wasn’t the final stop in his career.

One day, a staffer at San Francisco’s city hall decided to take a chance on Norman by giving him an internship during the 2016 city elections. He worked tirelessly to prove he belonged in the room, and the staffer noticed his efforts. This was the beginning of Norman’s new network, as the staffer started bringing him to functions around the city to start a new career.

At one of these functions, Norman was referred to meet Emeka Nwadibia, Head of Sales Development for the West Coast at Google. Norman bought a suit, researched everything he could about the company, and persuaded Emeka to take a chance on him as a sales development representative (SDR).

As other new hires with better connections worked from a comfortable position, Norman put his all into the role. He worked long hours while discovering his passion, eventually becoming one of the best SDRs in his division. Emeka, who gave Norman the chance to find his calling, now serves as an advisor at Elevate. 

Norman went from someone who knew they could succeed if they just had the chance to someone who is fulfilling his potential. He understands what it’s like to enter a room and knowing that you have one shot at unlocking the next step of your life. And though he had to find his path on his own, he wanted to create room on the trail for others just like him to follow. 

This is Elevate’s mission. The community works to open doors for people who want to reach the summit with its unique structure.

What Makes Elevate Unique? 

Elevate Members are trained by expert instructors who tailor the curriculum to their needs while showing industry-leading results. This program doesn’t teach you how to become a pushy used-car salesman, a common trope in the sales field. Instead, you’ll be learning how to build relationships that make both sides of a sales agreement feel like they’re winning. 

Expert Instruction

Elevate only brings in current sales leaders to instruct its students. These are instructors who are actively leading teams and employing the strategies that you’ll study during your time in the 10-week course. Beyond the instructors, you’ll also work with a mentor who’s an AE or higher, many of whom are on the leadership or management level of enterprise-level sales. 

Tailored to Your Needs

The program keeps its curriculum up to date with revisions after every bootcamp. These can be small or large revisions, but they’re based on what the Elevate team sees in the industry, and what it’s hearing from instructors and mentors. When you’re in the program, you’ll learn the modern curriculum in a way that fits your pace, as the small class size allows each instructor to tailor the program to every cohort.

Industry-Leading Results

The program’s outcomes are a point of pride for the bootcamp’s leadership, and they are amongst the top of the industry. Of the members that stick with the program throughout its entirety, 80 percent of them find industry roles within five to six weeks. 

And even if it takes longer, you’re still covered. If you don’t have a role making at least $60,000 within a year of finishing the first tier of the program, you’re released from your income share agreement (ISA).

So, how can you learn to build relationships throughout the Elevate course?

Elevate Curriculum: An Overview

The Elevate course is designed to last for 10 weeks. Most Elevate members land a role earning $60,000 or more before the program ends, but they still enjoy the program’s extended benefits. 

The curriculum is entirely focused on equipping you with the tools and sales intelligence to perform at an expert level. You won’t be paying a one-time fee to receive a magical one-size-fits-all phone script or email template. You’ll study the tech stack, prospecting, and outreach skills that high-performing sales teams use every day to book meetings and close sales.

In the first three weeks of the program, you’ll be building perspective and developing strategies you’ll use in your SDR role to build relationships with buyers. By Week 3, you’ll be making cold calls, and you’re allowed to accept interviews in case a company wants to hire you out of the program. According to Elevate, by the third week, most members already have recruiters reaching out to them.

In Week 4, you’ll progress to techniques to qualify buyers, follow up, and make discovery calls that lead to results. By the end of the program, you’ll be trained to the level of an enterprise SDR, capable of utilizing company financial documents to build relationships and land meetings. 

After you’ve finished your first summit in the SDR program, you’ll graduate into your second summit, the AE program, which teaches you how to ask for a promotion, and the extra knowledge you need to close deals and negotiate effectively as an Account Executive. 

Once you’ve got a few years of AE experience, you’re ready for the final summit: SDR management. This program works to help you transition your sales skills into leadership skills. Elevate believes that this program teaches you how to set a vision for your team and become an inspiring presence that turbocharges any sales department.

Elevate Format

You can take every step up the Elevate summit from the comfort of your own home as well. This online program brings expert salespeople to you, allowing you to advance your career opportunities without relocating. 

Elevate Cost

To make the course as accessible for as many people as possible, Elevate partners with industry-leading companies to offer an Income Share Agreement (ISA). Under this financing structure, you pay no money upfront as you work your way through the course. Once you land an SDR role making more than $3,333 per month before taxes, you pay 10 percent of your income until you satisfy the agreement.

The agreement can be satisfied in a few different ways. You can make monthly payments. You can hit the $25,000 payment cap by earning a higher income or paying more than the minimum each time. And after five years, even if you haven’t completely satisfied the ISA by other means, the payment window closes and the agreement is complete. 

You’ll gain lifetime access to the program and won’t ever have to worry about losing this access as long as you stay in touch with the program and remain in good standing. 

The same goes for the ISA. As long as you’re paying into the agreement, you still have access to the program as you move through your career. This arrangement helps Elevate fulfill its promise to its members. They want to put you in the right place at the right time, to help you shake the right hands to bring your potential to life. 

Elevate Career Services

Elevate’s career services team provides three key forms of support. Students gain access to a vast network of hiring partners, onboarding support, and executive mentorship. 

Elevate’s well-vetted company partners view diversity as integral to their company culture. These are companies that keep an eye out for SDRs with untapped potential, who will give you the chance to prove that you belong in the industry. 

After you’ve earned your new role, you’ll have 30 days of onboarding support in your new role from experienced sales leadership. The program pairs placed alumni with an Alumni Success Representative who holds three calls with them every week to support them on their sales technique in real-time.

Along with these three weekly calls, you’ll also have biweekly calls to review your ramp plan and the general challenges you’re facing in your new role. These challenges often include overcoming imposter syndrome that plagues underrepresented sales leaders or developing professional acumen and etiquette in a remote atmosphere.

You’ll also have biweekly mentorship from executive sales leaders who are dedicated to helping you level up your craft while giving you the chance to earn a role in their extended networks. By hearing from some of the best salespeople in the field, you’ll have a head start on many other new SDRs that don’t have the connections that Elevate provides.

Tech Sales Job Outlook

At the beginning of their careers, Elevate’s SDR members see a base pay starting between $50,000 to $60,000 with On-Target Earnings (OTE) of around $75,000 to $80,000. As you progress to an AE role, you’ll increase your earning potential. 

The median OTE for AEs in tech sales is now around $158,000 with a base pay of around $79,000, according to a survey from The Bridge Group. According to its research, AEs with less than two years of experience most often end up working at smaller companies with lower average contract value (ACV), but as you gain more experience, you’ll get more chances to take bigger jobs.

As 46 percent of companies with an ACV below $5,000 still employ SDRs, there’s a career path where you can enter the field with a smaller business and then move up to an AE position after a few years. 

When you’re ready to request a promotion or if you want to strengthen your skills before you’re already moved up, it’d be the perfect time to enter Elevate’s second summit. The final summit comes a few years later.

Once you’ve earned a few years of experience as an AE, it’s time to move up to an SDR management role. The median compensation for managers is around $156,000, according to The Bridge Group’s data. This isn’t so much a lateral move in the field as a path into the leadership ranks, as you’ll get a hand in bringing up the next generation behind you. 

The promotional path at Elevate gives its members more than just the beginning to a career. It gives them every step they need to reach the top of their field with sound advice and evidence-based instruction that produces results. 

But because a quality beginning is important to any journey, Elevate also gives its members a boost into the field with strong career services. 

Step into Tech Sales Today

If you feel like you can’t find the next step in your career, or you just don’t know where to begin looking, Elevate provides a clear path to leadership in a growing field. The tech sales industry offers an attractive way to boost your standing and earning potential, without the hassle or cost of trying to go back to school.

Elevate’s SDR bootcamp currently has a five-star rating on Career Karma. And people aren’t shy about explaining how their experience at the bootcamp helped them find purpose and direction in their careers. 

If you want to see what it can do for you, apply to the Elevate SDR Bootcamp today.