Also what are the major traits needed for sales people in this industry?
what are the opportunities, breaks & cons in this job?
What helps in succeeding in top level in this job"
What do you define by recognition?
You could be recognized and rewarded by the board by selling a crappy product and you could have the company at your feet...but what about the client?
Everywhere I worked...the worse the product was the more recognition the sales guy got.
I also know a company who hired 24-29 years old good looking girls to accompany the client as a strategy to save a failing product...with success.
If you steal the fire from the gods the people will love you and the gods will hate you. If you leave it there the gods will love you and the people will hate you. You will be loved and hated...have to choose by whom. (Promehteus)
Those were some attempts to answer to the questions of pro and con of choosing sales over tech.
Unfortunately they are coupled and not a brilliant piece of software can be sold without being exposed. There is no such thing as self-selling software.
I hope you being involved in the tech part as well you will bring balance to the whole situation and will push back when you will have to having or not an MBA. Unfortunately nowadays is all about titles. Fortunately not everywhere...
To succeed...sell yourself first. Try now! No-one will quote your MBA and experience...but your skill. You got the job on merit! You can't learn how to do it...you have to watch others and steal what's good. The one thing you can learn is to read people and approach them accordingly.
What helps in succeeding in top level in this job"
What is you understand as "top level"?
I can say it's all about connections...the more you have the more you sell...I speak from experience here being involved in acquisitions worth hundreds of thousands of $s.
Remember that after all it's all business and be prepared for some really big shocks.