If you’re looking for a career with great development opportunities and a healthy salary, then sales could be the perfect field for you. This is a great career for anyone with an outgoing personality, results-driven nature and a confident approach. A lot of the time, these traits are prioritised over degrees so you shouldn’t feel like the field isn’t for you if you don’t have a degree.
What does working in sales entail?
A career in sales will often have you communicating with prospective clients through different means, like phone and emails, though it can also involve in-person meeting with new and existing roster of clients. You will need to be confident when speaking to a range of different people, engaging them with your company’s offering and generally building positive and long-lasting relationships. An entry level position will usually be that of a sales executive, and you’ll be able to progress along the career ladder since there are a lot of different positions within different companies.
How to get into sales.
First, it’s a good idea to establish which industry you’d like to go in as sales departments exist across multiple ones; you can choose from pharmaceutical and media sales to recruitment and IT. Having some interest in the industry prior to applying for a sales position is useful as you’ll already have some relevant interest and knowledge.
If you’re a graduate, then there are many sales graduate training schemes available, with companies keen to recruit straight from university with no previous experience. The degree doesn’t have to be in a related field, you’ll just need to show aptitude and the right attitude for the role. A degree isn’t necessary to start your career in sales; having direct experience in sales can be useful, but even retail work and charity collection will be considered good by recruiters.
The interview process, whether phone or in-person, will be the biggest factor for hiring managers to decide if you’re a suitable candidate. It’s all about ‘selling’ yourself so being confident and well-presented is a must if you want to really impress.
Salary expectations.
Sales is an attractive career to many due to the industry’s healthy salary range, even at entry level, with some reaching as high as £30,000. This is likely to be just the basic package since working in sales is all about working to targets and target-based rewards are also very common, so you can expect additional income besides your basic salary.
Other benefits.
We touched on salary already, but a career in sales comes with many other perks. You can expect a sales role to offer continuous personal development coupled with excellent prospects, even if you begin with an entry-level position, a title like account sales manager won’t be out of reach. Sales roles also offer relative stability since most companies have sales departments and are always on the lookout for talented individuals who can help increase revenue.
There’s a lot of room for the role to be shaped by you, allowing you to manage your own time without being micromanaged by others, so it’s perfect for self-motivated individuals. Finally, working in sales can be really enjoyable for the right person with varied work days involving research, direct sales, and meeting potential and new clients making up just a small part of it.