Sales as a Career: 17 Important Facts You Should Consider
Many people stay away from salespersons. They don’t even have plans of becoming one. But sales as a career is a very profitable and rewarding career if you are the right person for the job.Many people have become heads of companies and even became extremely rich because of their career in sales.
If you think about it, everyone is involved in sales. From employees who sell their skill to their employers to heads of companies selling the products and/or services of their companies.
So, if you are interested in sales as a career, here are a few facts you should consider before becoming one:
Note: These information were derived from my experience in sales and marketing and from online sources devoted to marketing and sales careers.
17 facts to consider before having sales as a career:
1. People think salespeople are sleazy2. You’ll build your ability to handle rejections
3. You’ll learn the skills for success
4. You’ll get a definite sense of accomplishment
5. Low barrier to entry
6. Huge earning potential
7. You’ll determine how well you do
8. There’s a clear measurement of success
9. Job security
10. Work-Life balance
11. Career growth potential
12. Travel
13. Networking
14. You’ll become competitive
15. You’ll have a variety
16. How to become a successful salesperson
17. Signs that you are meant to be a salesperson
Final Words
The Details:
1. People think salespeople are sleazy
Unfortunately, a few rotten eggs in the basket ruins it for all the decent salespersons in the industry. Many television shows and movies have depicted salespersons as greedy and sleazy people who are out to con their customers.
But the reality is much further from the truth. Although there are rotten eggs in the industry of sales, an overwhelming majority of salespersons are ordinary decent people.
An astounding majority of salespersons sell products and/or services to their customers in an ethical and legal manner.
That is why, as a salesperson, you have to work much harder than normal people to gain the trust of your customers.
Back To Summary List
2. You’ll build your ability to handle rejections
Sales is a tough career. You would have to continually sell your company’s products and/or services to as many people as possible.
As you try to persuade your customers to buy from you, you’ll be rejected so many times that it could break your spirit.
If you are the type of person who is easily disappointed and can’t handle rejections, a career in sales won’t be ideal for you.
Real salespersons are tough and can take a lot of rejections, Some even laugh at rejections because they’re so used to it. Even the irate words of customers barely dampen the spirits of professional salespersons.
Sales is a numbers game. You’ll encounter a lot of “No’s” before you get a single “Yes” from your customers.
Back To Summary List
3. You’ll learn the skills for success
A company can survive without accountants, managers, employees, laborers and so on, but it cannot survive without a customer. And who finds customers? It’s the salespersons.
This is the reason why most heads of companies have selling skills. Also, salespersons develop soft skills by interacting with customers of all kinds: from the heads of companies, the technical staff, to the rank and file.
Also, salespersons develop persistence, resilience, self-discipline, confidence, organization and other soft skills. They are unlike other employees of the company who are only valued for their knowledge and/or hard work.
If you think about it, the soft skills learned by a salesperson sets them up for success in the different aspects of life namely: family, work and society.
This is the reason why salespersons are one of the most well-rounded people in society, because they know how to handle difficult people and situations.
Back To Summary List
4. You’ll get a definite sense of accomplishment
Many people are judged thru the money they own or earn. This is unfortunate in life, but is the reality.
This is the reason why many people look up to billionaires, for example. There are many media companies that report annual lists of the richest people in the world, because many people are interested in knowing them.
Salespersons are also judged the same way, based on their monetary worth: the amount of money they bring in to the company.
If you make a sale for the company, especially a large one, you’ll be regarded as an accomplished salesperson. On the reverse, if you don’t make money for the company, you’re treated by the company poorly as well.
Compare this to a mere employee who’s sense of accomplishment is just doing their job to the company. Mostly, they are considered insignificant to the success of the company. This is the reason why many normal employees don’t sense a feeling of accomplishment in their jobs.
Back To Summary List
5. Low barrier to entry
Sales has a low barrier to entry. You don’t actually need a marketing or sales degree to become a salesperson, although a degree helps.
Companies would hire you if you can demonstrate that you have the ability to sell their products and/or services. Your sales record would be regarded more than your marketing degree.
There are even companies who test a sales applicant by actually asking them to sell their product and/or services in a test run.
Back To Summary List
6. Huge earning potential
Salespersons are usually paid on a commission basis. This means that the more they sell, the more they earn.
There are companies who have unlimited commission structures to persuade their salespeople to work as hard as they can.
Compare this to a salaried employee who, no matter how hard they work, still earn the same amount of salary.
There are also sales jobs where salespersons earn a small base salary just to get them by while they are still new to selling. Base salaries are also given to sales persons to aid them during lean times, usually during the downtime of a product and/or service demand.
But commissions are what separates the high earnings of salespersons from other employees. This is because companies need to motivate their salespersons who are actually the ones bringing customers to the company.
Back To Summary List
7. You’ll determine how well you do
Sales is only one of a few careers where you can usually dictate how much you’ll earn. If you want to possibly earn a lot of money, all you have to do is find more customers.
If you would rather relax than earn money, you could do this as well with sales as a career. All You have to do is to meet your minimum quota, and you’ll earn money without having to work too hard.
This is the reason why many companies pay very low base salaries for salespersons. They don’t want their salespersons to be content with what they earn, they want them to earn as much money as they can selling the company’s product and/or services.
Also, there would be periods where the demand for a company’s products and/or services will dip because of the product demand cycle.
A good salesperson should compensate financially for the dip in the demand for the product by selling as much products as they can when it is most in demand.
Another disadvantage of being a salesperson is that your sales are tied to your importance to the company. You might actually lose your job if you don’t make any sale for a long time for your company.
Back To Summary List
8. There’s a clear measurement of success
Many normal employees lament that no matter how hard they work for their company, they get paid the same. Usually, their only option is to find another company that would pay them higher.
A salesperson might work leisurely or hard, but this doesn’t matter to the company as long as they meet their quota.
Also, there are employees who get promoted and earn high salaries just because they are team players, charming, beautiful or kiss the boss’ behind.
This won’t do with a sales job. A salesperson’s worth to the company is measured by the amount they sell and nothing more.
The rules of success in selling is simple: sell more than your competitors sell, whether they are competitors from other companies or your own company’s salespersons.
Back To Summary List
9. Job security
Selling is also a very transferable skill from one industry to another. You can work for your company’s competitor if you want to. There is very minimal or no skill transfer required.
You can even be a salesperson for another industry. This is because salespersons are hired based of the soft skills they developed being salespersons, and also by their sales record.
There is also a never ending demand for salespersons. They can even sell multiple products from different companies at the same time.
For example, a real estate salesperson can sell for a real estate company while also selling funeral plots on the side.
A salesperson can even sell for a company even though they already have their own business which also involves selling.
For example, a salesperson can sell insurance for a company while also having their car insurance as their own business.
Back To Summary List
10. Work-life balance
Since most salespersons are left alone by their companies to do their job provided they meet their quotas, salespersons usually don’t have to follow a set work schedule unlike normal employees.
A salesperson is usually allowed to indulge on their family or personal life by the company as long as they meet their quotas.
Also, if a salesperson meets their quota, they might not even need to work anymore until their next sales quota cycle.
There are even salespersons who spend all their weekdays playing golf or drinking with their clients. They only return to the office once their clients have signed product orders with them.
Back To Summary List
11. Career growth potential
Most salespersons are not valued based on education or technical skills, but on sales performance. This is why if a salesperson is able to sell a lot consistently, not only will they earn a lot, but they would most surely be promoted fast.
Also, a major part of almost any company’s success depends on their salespersons, for they are the one bringing the customers to the company and making them money.
That is why companies usually give special treatment to their salespersons by treating them well and elevating them into high positions within the company.
Also, by selling, salespersons get to meet a lot of people which increases their opportunities in life.
These opportunities could be in the form of contacts to other customers, a business partner, a mentor, a much better employer and so on.
Back To Summary List
12. Travel
One of the jobs of a salesperson is to go out in the world to find customers. Unlike, normal employees who spend almost all their working lives inside a company, salespersons get to travel places.
By traveling, salespersons get to see more of the world, have the opportunity to visit fabulous places and meet interesting people.
Many lucky salespersons get to even travel for business and leisure. This means that there are salespersons who are lucky enough to have leisure while conducting their business. Normal employees are usually stuck doing their job all weekdays and even weekends.
Another benefit of being a salesperson also is the fact that many salespersons are issued company cars to drive to their client’s location which they also use on a personal basis.
Compare this to normal employees whom the company sees no compelling reason to provide a company car to.
Back To Summary List
13. Networking
Salespersons get to meet a lot of people who could turn into opportunities to enhance their career and even personal life.
The business interactions of common employees are mostly limited only to their co-workers. They must ensure to mingle well with their co-workers and to please their boss. This is how far their chances of uplifting their professional life is.
Compare this to salespersons who are by career forced to develop close relationships with contacts, customers and prospects who can enhance their professional careers.
These contacts, customers and prospects could become contacts to other customers, a business partner, a mentor, a much better employer and so on. Normal employees won’t have access to these people.
Back To Summary List
14. You’ll become competitive
Since salespersons compete with other salespersons to get the same customer, salespersons learn to become competitive which passes on to other areas in their lives.
This is the reason why many salespersons can be assertive in many other situations in life, because they get constant practice at being competitive.
The high compensation given by the company to their top salespersons also fosters friendly rivalries within the ranks of their sales teams.
This is unlike normal employees who are usually treated the same no matter what their performance is.
As a result, many normal employees do the bare minimum in doing their jobs, because they don’t see much benefit in working harder than usual.
Compare this with salespersons who have to compete with salespersons from both inside and outside their company, and who are rewarded for being the best of the best.
Back To Summary List
15. You’ll have a variety
Many common employees end up doing the same job for decades and even until the time of their retirement.
But salespersons are trained to become problem solvers of the problem of their customers and prospects. If a salesperson can’t solve the problem of a customer or prospect through the product they are selling, then they don’t likely earn.
This is why most salespersons have variety in their jobs, because there is no one way to solve a customer or prospect’s problem.
Salespersons need to adapt the company’s product and/or services to the customer or prospect’s requirement. This might involve researching a solution for the client or presenting the company’s product in an entirely different way.
Every customer and prospect is a puzzle for the salesperson to solve. Each customer and prospect behaves differently, have different requirements, have different financial capabilities. This is what add to the variety in the job of salespersons.
Back To Summary List
16. How to become a successful salesperson
If you are interested in a career in sales, there are a few strategies that you can implement to increase your chances of being a success.
You might not be a natural born salesperson, but selling is a skill that can be learned even by the most shy but determined person.
Here are a few strategies that you can implement:
16.1 Find something that you are interested in selling:
Many amateur salespersons make the mistake of trying to sell a product and/or service because the commission rates are very high.
But these high commission rates could be very misleading. Maybe the reason why high commission rates are high is because there is something wrong with the product and/or service.
If you sell a product and/or service you are genuinely interested in, you would be enthusiastic in selling it to customers. Even your customers might become enthusiastic of the product and/or service because of your enthusiasm.
Selling a product and/or service you’re not interested in would be a drag on you, which makes selling it very difficult for you. Slight disappointments in selling it could easily make you give up selling it, which would be a waste of your time and effort.
16.2 Be an expert in what you’re selling:
Being an expert in what you’re selling builds your confidence and builds trust from your customers and prospects.
Being the expert in a certain product makes you the de facto resource for the product. This not only builds your reputation, but also increases your chance of being approached by customers and prospects.
16.3 Know what your customers want:
Your more pressing job as a salesperson is not to sell your company’s products and/or services, but to solve your customer and prospect’s problems.
It might just turn out that your company’s product is a mismatch with your customer and prospect’s needs, but you might still end up with a sale by selling another product from another company, which still ends up as a sale to your company.
So, don’t only sell your company’s product to your customer and prospects, but rather, know what are your customer and prospect’s needs, you would surely make a sale if you do this.
16.4 Have measurable goals:
Since you can set the amount of success and compensation you want for being a salesperson, it is important that you have a goal for success and compensation. Otherwise you might end up working too little or too much, both are bad for your career.
Back To Summary List
17. Signs that you are meant to be a salesperson
At this stage, you might be seriously considering a career in sales, but do you have the right personality or are willing to develop the right personality for it? Here are a few signs you were meant for a career in sales:
17.1 You can stand endless rejections
17.2 You are a natural networker and relationship builder
17.3 You are organized
17.4 You are a hardworker and can go beyond normal office hours
17.5 You are persuasive
17.6 You are a good speaker and a natural conversationalist
17.7 You are competitive yet a team player
17.8 You take the lead and is a leader
17.9 You are confident
17.10 You are humble
17.11 You are a problem solver
Back To Summary List
Final Words
Sales as a career is an exciting, rewarding, educational and profitable one. A lot of people have improved their character and lives by having sales as a career.
Salespersons get to travel to sometimes beautiful places and meet a variety of people who can become opportunities in uplifting their personal and professional lives.
Due to the importance of salespersons, companies reward them handsomely if they perform well and promote them to high positions within the company.
Salespersons also learn soft people skills which greatly benefits their position in the business world and society.
Lastly, salespersons are often one of the highest paid employees in a company which promises them unlimited earnings if they sell well.
Back To Summary List
You Might Be Interested To Read This Article:
How to Network: 13 Easy Actions You Should do First
Networking is very difficult especially if you are shy. It’s not easy developing connections with people especially if you are thinking of doing business with them.
But there are a few easy actions that you could do to attract people instead of them being attracted to you.
In some of these actions, you might do a little bit of approaching people, but you won’t necessarily force contact with them...