Who here is in sales?

Are any of you guys in sales?

I've been thinking about a career change for quite some time now and I would like to explore the sales field. It's not exactly a direct transition from what I am currently doing so I would like to get to know someone who has had, or currently has a sales position. I'd love to get some of the ins and outs first hand from someone that has been doing this for some time.

I do not have any particular sales in mind at this moment. I just want to listen to what you have to say and possibly develop a business network.

Would be interested in:
- industry/field
- when you started
- how long you've been at it
- how much travel is involved
- challenges
- what has made you successful
- anything else to know

If you would rather PM me then please do so. Any information/feedback is very much appreciated.

You only eat what you kill.
Make sure you can live with that.
It can be very good or very bad.

You'd have a better chance surviving in a back ally with seven crackheads carrying switchblades than you would on a sales floor with seven cutthroats on commission.

Your coworkers WILL steal your customers and pocket your children's food during your days off.

That said, there is decent money to be made in sales.

pbharvey said:

You only eat what you kill.
Make sure you can live with that.
It can be very good or very bad.

Click to expand...

In my experience, when it gets very good. The numbers get adjusted, deal changes, commission rate, territory, car allowance, etc. It's happened to me personally and very common in the commission sales business.

Seek another option. As others have said, it's often feast or famine, and during the famine is when low producing folks get fired. Non-commissioned sales is okay but usually doesn't pay very well. Your best bet would be to look for a management position. Every sales position I ever had (starting with door-to-door Fuller Brush in 1970) promised me the moon, and it was up to me to figure out how to build the space ship and pay for the fuel. Also spent a year in the life insurance field. Hated it. The pressure to make a sale can be overwhelming, and those folks who are successful have a very special psychic makeup. If you can stand stress, fear, hunger, poverty, and uncertainty... give it a shot. Or put another way, if you look in the mirror and see Donald Trump... go for it. If not, find a salaried/managerial job.

With almost 40 years of very successful sales and sales management experience behind me, i guess you could call that a career in sales.

OP, there are many types of "sales" positions - in many industries. Used car salesmen and telemarketing reps conjure the "traditional" bad rap of sales in most folks minds. I agree with that - but that's not "professional sales".

I've worked in a specialized field my entire adult life. Our customers require high quality products that deliver more benefits, value and service than our competitors. That enables our customers to do what they do better - and with better outcomes for the customers they serve - routinely at a higher price (but not cost). Successful sales reps deliver value to their customers.

Professional sales is much different than the stereotypical "car lot guy" who jumps at you before you even enter the car lot. The required education level of our sales team is a 4-year degree plus industry experience. That's normal with professional companies in most industries.

My encouragement to you is:
- 1) Get your college degree if you have not.
- 2) Become knowledgeable on a particular industry or type of sales that may interest you most.
- 3) Read books on professional sales fundamentals. Talk with successful folks. Understand what made them successful.
- 4) Develop a network of contacts so when you are ready to pursue a career in sales - you can close the deal that you are the best candidate for the position.

Over the years I've personally closed a lot of deals, made the numbers and walked the talk. Being in "professional sales" ain't a bad gig.

Best of luck!

j8064 said:

With almost 40 years of very successful sales and sales management experience behind me, i guess you could call that a career in sales.

OP, there are many types of "sales" positions - in many industries. Used car salesmen and telemarketing reps conjure the "traditional" bad rap of sales in most folks minds. I agree with that - but that's not "professional sales".

I've worked in a specialized field my entire adult life. Our customers require high quality products that deliver more benefits, value and service than our competitors. That enables our customers to do what they do better - and with better outcomes for the customers they serve - routinely at a higher price (but not cost). Successful sales reps deliver value to their customers.

Professional sales is much different than the stereotypical "car lot guy" who jumps at you before you even enter the car lot. The required education level of our sales team is a 4-year degree plus industry experience. That's normal with professional companies in most industries.

My encouragement to you is:
- 1) Get your college degree if you have not.
- 2) Become knowledgeable on a particular industry or type of sales that may interest you most.
- 3) Read books on professional sales fundamentals. Talk with successful folks. Understand what made them successful.
- 4) Develop a network of contacts so when you are ready to pursue a career in sales - you can close the deal that you are the best candidate for the position.

Over the years I've personally closed a lot of deals, made the numbers and walked the talk. Being in "professional sales" ain't a bad gig.

Best of luck!

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Having been in sales for 20 years, I couldn't have said it better

Op what jobs are you looking at when you say sales? Are you talking about car, or furniture sales man or in the retail world of sales like a Walmart, home depot sales manager??

j8064 said:

With almost 40 years of very successful sales and sales management experience behind me, i guess you could call that a career in sales.

OP, there are many types of "sales" positions - in many industries. Used car salesmen and telemarketing reps conjure the "traditional" bad rap of sales in most folks minds. I agree with that - but that's not "professional sales".

I've worked in a specialized field my entire adult life. Our customers require high quality products that deliver more benefits, value and service than our competitors. That enables our customers to do what they do better - and with better outcomes for the customers they serve - routinely at a higher price (but not cost). Successful sales reps deliver value to their customers.

Professional sales is much different than the stereotypical "car lot guy" who jumps at you before you even enter the car lot. The required education level of our sales team is a 4-year degree plus industry experience. That's normal with professional companies in most industries.

My encouragement to you is:
- 1) Get your college degree if you have not.
- 2) Become knowledgeable on a particular industry or type of sales that may interest you most.
- 3) Read books on professional sales fundamentals. Talk with successful folks. Understand what made them successful.
- 4) Develop a network of contacts so when you are ready to pursue a career in sales - you can close the deal that you are the best candidate for the position.

Over the years I've personally closed a lot of deals, made the numbers and walked the talk. Being in "professional sales" ain't a bad gig.

Best of luck!

Click to expand...

20yrs here and the above is perfectly worded

Billman said:

In my experience, when it gets very good. The numbers get adjusted, deal changes, commission rate, territory, car allowance, etc. It's happened to me personally and very common in the commission sales business.

Click to expand...

Yep, happens to us all I think? The company only has so much money budgeted to pay you. Your pay cannot and will not continue to rise with your sales territory. If it does your working for your self.

j8064 said:

With almost 40 years of very successful sales and sales management experience behind me, i guess you could call that a career in sales.

OP, there are many types of "sales" positions - in many industries. Used car salesmen and telemarketing reps conjure the "traditional" bad rap of sales in most folks minds. I agree with that - but that's not "professional sales".

I've worked in a specialized field my entire adult life. Our customers require high quality products that deliver more benefits, value and service than our competitors. That enables our customers to do what they do better - and with better outcomes for the customers they serve - routinely at a higher price (but not cost). Successful sales reps deliver value to their customers.

Professional sales is much different than the stereotypical "car lot guy" who jumps at you before you even enter the car lot. The required education level of our sales team is a 4-year degree plus industry experience. That's normal with professional companies in most industries.

My encouragement to you is:
- 1) Get your college degree if you have not.
- 2) Become knowledgeable on a particular industry or type of sales that may interest you most.
- 3) Read books on professional sales fundamentals. Talk with successful folks. Understand what made them successful.
- 4) Develop a network of contacts so when you are ready to pursue a career in sales - you can close the deal that you are the best candidate for the position.

Over the years I've personally closed a lot of deals, made the numbers and walked the talk. Being in "professional sales" ain't a bad gig.

Best of luck!

Click to expand...

I have been in sales for 26 years myself and agree with this completely. Most of them successful, though I had a few jobs that were not a great fit for me.

Don't listen to the naysayers. If you have conviction and believe in the product or service that you are selling, you just to develop the skills to convince others why they can't do better with the competitor. Whatever you sell, you need to know it inside and out. Knowledge is power. You want to know your competition better than they know themselves. You don't need to learn everything right away, but you have to put in the time.

Sales is not a 9-5 job. In many sales positions it is all day...depending on your choice of jobs. Your ability to adapt to your customer and relate to them is important. After all, you are selling yourself. You want them to buy you.

Good luck, and if you choose an area of sales that you want to pursue, let us know and I am sure we can give you more helpful opinions.

j8064 and Overboost44 have the insight you need to hear. Selling is not easy, and it requires both a particular mindset and a particular circumstance to be successful.

If those variables line up, you will be in a good place. If they don't, you will be forever scraping by.

Before you "ditch it all" to go into sales, you need to have an alternate plan. If you didn't come up doing sales (40 year career is what I heard from j8064), you don't know how you'll do.

I've employed some scary-gifted salespeople over the years. They had "it". I know I don't have "it". You won't know if you have "it" until you try.

Good luck, and remember: Third prize is YOU'RE FIRED

There are many products. There are many clients. Sales is not a con job. It is the art of finding the right client for the right product. That takes effort. Never ever do anything dishonest. It's not about manipulation. It is about exceeding the client's needs, not selling refrigerators to Eskimos.

You asked about travel, I've been on the road over 100 nights this year, was supposed to come home last Friday from Germany, guess where I still am today?
It's not an "easy" job' a lot of pressure , however if you are good at it, it can be very fruitful.

A question no one else has asked yet, do you have experience working with the general public on a daily basis?

Because people in general can really piss you off after awhile. But unless you're selling a hot commodity, 99% of the time you can't choose your customers. Im not in sales but I am in a hospitality field, which comes with a similar skill set.

40 years sales experience
A sales position requires a multitude of skills and some positions require more of one than another. 3 to bear in mind
1) Lead Generation - who supplies the leads? If it is you then you will need to be very disciplined, motivated, patient and be able to handle rejection. It's a numbers game and you will need to be persistent. In my experience, this is the area most sales people fail! If you are sales focused lead generation is often a painful experience.
2) Closing skills - if you have a lead can you close the sale and do it efficiently and often! What most people think of when they think of a sales job. Every sales position has a different method for closing.
3) Customer Service - Do you also have the skillset to maintain relationship and service your clients? You need to have a bit of the servant mentality.

bmodzelewski said:

Are any of you guys in sales?

I've been thinking about a career change for quite some time now and I would like to explore the sales field. It's not exactly a direct transition from what I am currently doing so I would like to get to know someone who has had, or currently has a sales position. I'd love to get some of the ins and outs first hand from someone that has been doing this for some time.

I do not have any particular sales in mind at this moment. I just want to listen to what you have to say and possibly develop a business network.

Would be interested in:
- industry/field
- when you started
- how long you've been at it
- how much travel is involved
- challenges
- what has made you successful
- anything else to know

If you would rather PM me then please do so. Any information/feedback is very much appreciated.

Click to expand...

I'm retired now but have a history that matches your questions. I'm a biologist by education. I worked for 12 years in life science research labs after college doing mostly light and electron microscopy. It wasn't enough money, at that time, to live well in this area.

I saw a lot of people leaving the lab to go into scientific equipment sales, almost none going the other way. I was thinking about law school (biotech patent law) but decided I could try sales at almost no risk (no money put out) whereas I would be out a lot if I went through law school then found I didn't really like it.

So, I went into sales of lab equipment to the same labs where I had been working. I worked for both dealers and manufacturers. In the life science area, I prefer dealers...more freedom, less paperwork, micromanaging, fewer meetings.

In general, if you're willing to travel, you will probably make the higher dollars. Some might like it, at least initially, but for most, it gets old fast. How much you travel will depend on the kind of product you sell. I mostly sold high ticket items in common use, so I mostly had a very small territory, just two accounts at one time. I went there almost every day, just like I worked there almost. Another product I sold for a while, I literally had half the country, east of the Mississippi. I did a shitload of travel and got tired of it real quick. To be fair, I don't really like to travel at all.

I did the sales part, and a short stint in marketing, for about 27 years. The money can be good if you pick wisely. I went for jobs that had fixed base salary (or guaranteed draw in one case) with commission and bonuses.

You need to be organized and self motivated. Some might disagree but I think you also need to be conscientious, knowledgeable about your product and honest. Those were especially desirable traits when they became known to my customer base because they were buying capital equipment, sometimes requiring budgeting a few years in advance, and they needed to know they could trust you.

I found the biggest challenge, for me, was reconciling the demands of a company that incentivized its sales force by dollar volume of sales but incentivized management on margin. This means the sales force and management were constantly at odds. The other challenge was working for a large company that did not have its shit together. Some small companies are similarly disorganized but it's easier to function because you usually have more freedom. Always ask why the position is available. If it's turnover, check into how much turnover there is in the company; that's almost never a good sign if it's high. On the other hand, if turnover is low, and the territory is new because of an internal promotion, that could possibly be a good sign.

This is far too short to give you any detailed idea but it might put you mind onto some different views of this type job.

Thank you all for reading my post and your responses. I PM'ed some of you directly with further comments/questions.

mark71211 said:

Op what jobs are you looking at when you say sales? Are you talking about car, or furniture sales man or in the retail world of sales like a Walmart, home depot sales manager??

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I'm not really talking about any of these types of sales positions. I'm more interested in selling goods/services from one business to another.

MikeTF said:

There are many products. There are many clients. Sales is not a con job. It is the art of finding the right client for the right product. That takes effort. Never ever do anything dishonest. It's not about manipulation. It is about exceeding the client's needs, not selling refrigerators to Eskimos.

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Thank you Mike for the insight. I understand that it is not about BSing someone - you can't trick people into buying something they don't want/need.

-Z/28- said:

A question no one else has asked yet, do you have experience working with the general public on a daily basis?

Because people in general can really piss you off after awhile. But unless you're selling a hot commodity, 99% of the time you can't choose your customers. Im not in sales but I am in a hospitality field, which comes with a similar skill set.

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I am currently a graphic designer, while this is not a direct sales position, I am a main point of contact for many clients. I help them with their needs and schedule deadlines/printers/production/shipping - heavy customer service and organization involved with this!

I am 31 and starting to get worried that if I do not jump ship soon I will be getting too old to complete a successful career change. I am reaching out and trying to understand what makes "successful" sales professionals successful and how to make a grand entrance in to the world of sales.

Thank you all for your time and responses. I really do appreciate it. It meas a lot that you guys are taking time out of your day to respond in such detail.

20+ years in sales.....short and sweet....its all about confidence and product knowledge.

I still question if sales is what I will be doing 20+ years from now?

Why do you feel like you need to jump ship from Graphic design? Sounds like something you could do late into life, opposed to a sales gig.