Should you switch from marketing to B2B sales? How to decide before you move?

Switch to B2B sales if you’re curious about how other companies work, can handle rejection, and want your pay tied to the revenue you bring in. Don’t switch only because a sales role advertises 15 to 20 LPA.

Suvikas Bhandari has spent 25 years in startups, moving from product to marketing to enterprise sales. His view on the money question is direct: “If it’s just money, I’m not sure I’ll advise you either way.”

Below is what B2B sales work actually looks like, why it pays well, the traits it needs, and how to decide whether to switch or stay in marketing.

What does B2B sales work actually look like?

B2B sales means selling to companies, and it is a long, structured process. Take HR tech software worth ₹2 crore. Several people inside the buying company each need a different answer:

• The CFO wants to know why it costs that much.
• The IT and InfoSec teams ask about data security and whether it works with their ERP.
• The HR team that will use it wants to know it won’t add to their daily work.

Miss one of these people and the deal stalls.

Deals take time too. Suvikas says you usually aim to close in 3 to 8 months, sometimes in weeks, and contracts can be worth crores. You also don’t work on one deal at a time. You could be talking to 20 companies at once, and you’re considered good if you close 1 in 5 of them after detailed discussions.

Rejection comes with the job. In Suvikas’s words, cold calls and rejections are “the most integral part of your life in B2B.”

For a marketer, the biggest change is how your work is judged. In sales, it comes down to one number: the revenue you bring in.

Why do marketers and consultants look at sales for higher pay?

Every company’s revenue comes from selling something, so the people who bring it in get paid for it. Suvikas explains that a startup that sees you generating ₹1 crore in revenue treats your salary as an investment and lets your income grow with that revenue.

Sales roles also tend to be safer. Revenue generators are usually the last people touched in layoffs, because layoffs are about cutting costs, and cutting the people who bring in money works against that.

How fast does the pay grow?

The growth path is real but not instant. Most people start as an SDR (sales development representative) or BDR (business development representative) and spend the first 2 to 3 years learning how to approach and qualify buyers.

Suvikas has a good example from his own career. When he left his last enterprise sales job, his replacement was an SDR who had beaten his quota for two years straight. That person now manages a team of enterprise sellers and hires people at ₹15 to 20 lakh salaries.

B2B or FMCG sales?

FMCG is mostly marketing-driven and rewards brand-building skills. B2B lets you ramp up your income faster. Suvikas also points out that in B2B, a large share of CEOs come from sales, while in FMCG more come from the brand side. (For more on how the two compare as careers, see is sales a good career in India.)

Is money a good enough reason to switch?

Not on its own. Picture a marketer three years into an agency job who is drawn to sales because of a 15 to 20 LPA headline. The question Suvikas would ask is harder than “can you get the job?” It’s this: what if you get placed in sales and decide three years later that it isn’t interesting?

To answer it, he suggests a simple tool. Draw three circles:

1. What you are good at.
2. What you want to do.
3. What pays.

Your switch should sit where all three overlap. Suvikas makes the point with a joke about himself: he is good at watching TV and would happily do it every day, but nobody pays him for it.

This helps people leaving analytical roles too. Someone who left a consulting or analytics job because they didn’t enjoy desk-bound data work should know that sales still involves data. The difference is that the job centres on understanding people.

What traits does B2B sales need, and can an introvert do it?

Suvikas lists four traits, with discipline as the base under the other three:

• Discipline, to keep following up across 20 open deals.
• Curiosity about how the buyer’s company works, because you can’t find their problems without it.
• Empathy for the people you sell to.
• Honesty.

He describes himself as “not a high IQ guy” but says he has plenty of all four. His point on curiosity is the one most new sellers miss: if you try to sell, you won’t sell. If you try to help people, the sale follows.

Can introverts succeed in sales?

Yes. Many introverts assume they’re ruled out because they think a lot before they talk. Suvikas doesn’t see that as a blocker. He calls B2B sales a scientific process with frameworks and methods, closer to maths than to a gift for talking. You learn who to sell to and, just as importantly, who not to sell to. Thinking before you speak often helps with that.

How should you make the switch from your current job?

Route 1: Start inside your own company

Raise it with your manager first. Suvikas moved from product to marketing to sales by pointing out gaps he saw and offering to fix them, and he says startups usually allow this kind of move. Ask for a role one rung closer to the customer, for example from marketing into a pre-sales or SDR role.

Route 2: Learn enterprise selling and practise it

Most of the theory of enterprise selling is available online and through AI. The gap is practice. Suvikas compares it to a chemistry practical: you need somewhere to build a pitch, choose who to pitch to and get feedback on how it went.

Hiring managers want to see experience. Whichever route you pick, you need proof that you have sold something. It also helps to prepare for the questions you’ll face, such as these B2B sales interview questions.

Want structured sales practice before you switch? Kraftshala’s PGP in AI-Led Sales, Marketing and Business is a 9-month, full-time program, online or at the Gurugram campus, where you build pitches, run sales projects with real companies and get feedback from industry leaders before you’re placed in a revenue role.

It’s never too late

Suvikas himself moved into sales at 45, with a BA in Economics, 40% marks and no engineering degree. As an individual contributor, he brought in enough revenue that neither he nor his company wanted him to move into managing a team.

When should you stay in marketing instead?

If you like marketing and simply want a raise, a sales switch may be the wrong fix.

Take a content and social media marketer who enjoys the work but feels their pay has stalled. The better move is often to stay in marketing and build the analytical side, such as performance marketing. Companies increasingly hire full-stack marketers who can handle several channels, rather than single-channel specialists, and that range tends to show up in salary. (Here are the highest-paying digital marketing jobs if you’re weighing which skills to add.)

Wrapping up

B2B sales suits people who are curious about other businesses, can handle rejection and want pay tied to revenue. The growth is real, from SDR roles to teams of enterprise sellers, but it starts with two or three years of learning to approach buyers. If money is your only reason, use the three-circle test before you switch. If you enjoy marketing, building full-stack skills may get you the raise without changing careers.

If you’ve decided on sales, Kraftshala’s PGP in AI-Led Sales, Marketing and Business prepares you for revenue roles over 9 months, online or on campus. If you’d rather grow within marketing, Kraftshala’s Marketing Launchpad is a digital marketing course with placement that builds full-stack skills across performance marketing, SEO, content and e-commerce. Both publish batch-wise placement reports, so you can check outcomes before you apply.