B2C to B2B SaaS Sales: How Sidharth Cracked 6 Offers With Up to a 127% Salary Hike

Most people in B2C sales assume that landing even one B2B SaaS offer is a long shot. Sidharth approached eight companies after completing the HireForSkillz program. Six responded, and he converted all six into offers. The smallest hike was 50%. The largest was 127%. He accepted a role paying over 30 LPA, before turning 30.

In this conversation with Aravindhaa, co-founder of HireForSkillz, he explains how he did it and why he'd tell anyone in B2C sales to make the move.

From Engineer to Customer Success to Sales

Like many people in Indian sales, Sidharth started as an engineer. His first job was in customer success, a post-sales role. Watching talks and podcasts about sales convinced him it was one of the most powerful roles in any company.

"It was the only role actually getting the company money rather than making the company spend money," he says.

By the time he joined HireForSkillz, he had five to six years of experience across customer success and sales, mostly in the education sector.

Why He Left B2C for B2B SaaS

Having seen both sides, Sidharth felt B2C sales had become repetitive: dialling a hundred numbers a day, saying the same thing on every call. B2B offered something different.

"Any job that has a creative angle to it, I don't think AI will ever take over," he explains. "If you just have to make random calls and say the same thing again, AI can do it instead of me."

He wanted a stable process with room for creativity and a personal touch. B2B SaaS offered both.

Why He Chose a Program Instead of Applying Directly

At first, Sidharth tried switching jobs directly. That's when he realised that spending years in one industry had cut him off from the tools and trends the rest of the market was using. He needed to retrain.

He compared programs, and HireForSkillz stood out for two reasons. Every class was live, with nothing pre-recorded. And the program was clear about how training and placement would work, something he says other providers couldn't give him confidence in.

B2C vs B2B Sales: The Real Difference in Work Culture

Sidharth has worked in both, and he doesn't sugarcoat it.

B2C sales runs on daily targets. You work an inbound lead list, dial 100 to 200 numbers across an eight-hour shift, and try to close within about three days. It's aggressive, and at some companies it has crossed into toxic.

B2B SaaS sales splits the work across a team: an SDR generates the pipeline, an account executive closes, and the product team supports the deal. Sales cycles are longer, and the relationship with the customer continues long after the sale.

The culture is also more collaborative. "Many people coming from B2C have a myth that people in sales don't help each other," he says. "Here, people want to push each other's boundaries higher."

The biggest difference he noticed was the network. In B2B you speak to CTOs and CFOs, research different companies and industries, and in his words, effectively become a market researcher. That knowledge stays with you even if you later want to move into a particular industry.

What the B2B SaaS Interviews Actually Looked Like

Asked which interview question was the hardest, Sidharth says none of it felt difficult, because he'd already practised all of it during the program.

Across the companies, the process usually ran three to four rounds:

1. Background round: your past experience and what you've achieved.
2. Assignment: typically writing a cold email, or presenting a deck if the role is account executive.
3. Assignment discussion: a round built around what you submitted.
4. Final round: with the head of the vertical, usually including a mock call.

"These are all the things we had been doing for those 45 days," he says.

Cold Emails: The Skill B2C Salespeople Fear Most

Most B2C salespeople are comfortable on the phone but have never written a cold email. Sidharth had the same worry at first, and ended up enjoying it the most.

His view is that a good email changes the call that follows. If a prospect replies with a time to connect, the call is no longer cold, because interest already exists. He learned how long a subject line should be, how to structure the intro and body, and how long the whole email should run. Because he already liked writing, emails became where he could be most creative.

LinkedIn Got Him Half His Offers

Of Sidharth's six offers, three came from companies that found him through his LinkedIn profile, without him reaching out at all.

Before the program, he barely used LinkedIn. Now he calls it essential rather than optional. "In B2C, the buyer looks at the product. In B2B, when you sell to an organisation, they look at the product and at you."

What Set Him Apart

Sidharth credits his results to effort more than talent. He submitted every assignment on time, gave the work his full attention, and tried to improve the processes he was taught rather than just follow them.

He also points to the support. "I think I annoyed you the most by calling at random times, late nights or early mornings," he tells Aravindhaa. "Even if the question was silly, you made sure you answered it."

His Advice for Anyone Still in B2C Sales

For salespeople thinking about quitting sales altogether because of B2C pressure, Sidharth's advice is to switch industries, not careers:

• Do your research. Look at how fast SaaS is growing in India and what the industry actually needs.
• Move to B2B SaaS for the culture. The aggressive targets and missing work-life balance you face in B2C largely go away.
• Don't underestimate the earning potential. B2B sales can match tech roles on pay, and you can lead a team earlier than in most other careers.

He adds that if you ever want to be an entrepreneur, selling is the first skill you'll need.

Watch the Full Conversation

The full interview covers more detail on the program, the tools he learned and his view of the B2B sales process. Watch it above.

Considering the switch from B2C to B2B SaaS sales? Take our free eligibility assessment to see if you're ready.