Storage sales staff 'like Premiership footballers'

Start-up VAR Epaton says ambitious storage sales experts have small window to earn the big bucks as it launches recruitment push

Storage sales professionals are like Premier League footballers in that they have only a small window of time to make big money.

That's the message of start-up storage reseller Epaton, which claims sales staff who join its ranks can rack up monster salaries for a limited time by pushing new flash-based storage technologies.

Epaton was set up in August by Jonathan Lassman and Phil Dick after they sold their previous venture, security reseller NTS, to Capita for an undisclosed sum.

It already has 15 staff but Lassman said "more bodies" are urgently needed to fulfil the demand it is generating.

Lassman attacked some storage sales professionals he had encountered during his recruitment push for what he perceived as a lack of ambition.

"We pay people 20 per cent gross profits, and up to 30 per cent," he said. "That's more than most in the storage industry. I see sales guys earning seven to 10 per cent and I don't understand why they are staying put – we can't prise them away.

"Storage sales guys are like Premiership footballers: they have a small amount of time to earn as much money as possible. People talk about there being a work-life balance, but we all do the same job – why not get out there and earn as much money as possible?"

Epaton's raison d'être is to displace traditional disk and tape storage with newer flash technologies from the likes of Pure Storage and Violin.

"The market is at a tipping point," said Lassman.

"If we'd set up this company three years ago, it wouldn't have been the right time. Flash hasn't taken off before because of the price but now it's almost the same price as disk, it's a no-brainer. We are in the right place at the right time and are recruiting like it's going out of fashion."