Sales career training, coaching, and planning are indispensable success factors.
Life-long sales careers can be incredibly rewarding. It makes sense to make progress on purpose rather than leaving it to chance. Sales career training and coaching offer a reliable means of creating momentum.
Sales jobs have lower barriers to entry than other well-paid roles. Qualifications are often less important than the ability to present in a confident and persuasive manner in interviews.
Money is most often cited as the primary reason for taking on a selling role. For many, a declaration of intent to pursue a sales career is as unpalatable as telling parents that you want to be an actor.
Yet finding new business opportunities and turning them into orders is amongst the most highly valued ability in commerce today. Getting a job in selling is much easier than keeping one long enough to build a solid history of success.
Successful salespeople can expect high earnings over the course of a career yet many fail to acquire the necessary skills.
While most businesses provide reasonable product training, few pay enough attention to sales skills and methods. Salespeople are often left to learn soft skills by themselves.
Those who learn how to consistently deliver results may find themselves quickly promoted into management. Selling successfully is a route to the top job in businesses today. The ability to marshal sales resources to bring in the essential lifeblood of a business, a constant flow of new customers and profitable orders, is held in high regard.
Not all salespeople aspire to take on the top job. Many fare better by remaining in a sales role while steadily increasing their business contribution. This path can lead to a fulfilling career without the need for management progression.
Salespeople who can remain at the top of their game, who can continually increase their productivity and corresponding results, may continue to be perceived as high performers, right up until retirement.
This career strategy has some drawbacks. The businesses that employ such super salespeople can change direction or focus in a way that makes the need for such accomplished individuals less important.
External events such as market shifts, takeovers, and macroeconomic swings can leave salespeople without the accounts that have fed them so well over many years.
There comes a point in a salesperson's career when it becomes difficult to compete for jobs with the next generation. Yet not everyone can become a manager.
Fortunately, salespeople don't have to be in a management position to multiply their contribution. There are other career strategies that can lead to fulfilling roles that offer more reliable employment towards the end of a sales career.
Taking responsibility for coaching others leverages experience, fulfils a needed service, and adds value that justifies senior levels of compensation.
Product development, internal consulting, and key account management also offer career progression opportunities that don't necessitate taking on management responsibility.
Sales career forethought, planning, and appropriate preparation lead to greater overall earnings, more satisfying roles, and a reliable income for mature sellers.
For those just starting out, thinking about career planning, career development, and ultimately retirement may seem unnecessary. So many don't come to the realisation of its importance until their sales career plateaus.
Article by Clive Miller
If you are thinking about seeking a job as a salesperson or looking for sales career training, we can help. Telephone +44 (0)1392 851500. We will be pleased to learn about your needs or talk through some options. Send an email to custserv@salessense.co.uk for a prompt reply or use the contact form here.
