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The Job Nobody Dreams Of...
"Jobs define who we are and how we
feel about ourselves.
Live the dream, and discover the
exciting world of sales."
Bill Becker
When you
were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a veterinarian but my love of animals was overruled by my lack of
enthusiasm for chemistry classes and 7+ years of
college. So I turned my love of music into my next
career dream of becoming a Disk Jockey. That idea
fizzled when I learned just how much DJs earned or in
this case…didn’t earn. So I decided the next best thing
was to go into radio sales! I did this for 15 years then
made the move into technology sales which is where I have been
for the last 6 years.
The point is
I never dreamt of ever becoming a salesperson. No one else does either
but I LOVE being in sales! I love the money and the job
security which I control.
During my careers in
radio, recruiting and technology sales, I have worked
with hundreds of people who were seeking a better life
and I learned some important lessons. The most
important lesson I’ve learned is this..."most people define
themselves by their career." If someone is unemployed or in
a dead-end job, it affects how they feel about
themselves; their moods and how they act
around family and friends.
So I started
thinking..."Why don't more people consider sales as a
career alternative?It's the one field that can give
people the money, benefits and self respect they once
experienced in their previous career." Well
“my epiphany” as I like to call it, came very
quickly because I figured out that nobody sets out on their own to become a
salesperson!
Nobody went to college for four plus years; graduating with honors
in hopes of joining the sales force of their dreams. The
vast majority of people in sales today “backed into
it” because something happened in their lives that
caused them to question his or her current career choice.
Being a salesperson
never occurred to Darla Mitchell. She was divorced with
two small children. She cleaned houses to provide for
her growing family and heard about a sales opportunity
with a national insurance company through a friend. She
"backed into it" but that move really pushed her career
and life forward. That was several years ago. Today she is
a District Manager and can afford to have someone else
clean her house!
I have interviewed all kinds of salespeople over the
years, people like Darla and you know what I found out?
They were no different from you or me or anyone else.
They never dreamed of being in sales growing up. In
school they had other career plans. At some point a
sales career entered their lives, and it led to great things!
So always remember this: a sales career is almost always a
person's
2nd career. A career they never planned on...for it is
truly...”The Job Nobody Dreams Of!”
My book
is
a result of 20+ years of
sales experience and interviews with all kinds of sales
people. I have interviewed people brand new to sales, along with 20
year veterans like myself. I've talked with people from
a variety of industries who employ different types of
selling methods. The book is a game plan, if you will,
of the reasoning behind the benefits of going after a
sales career and a blueprint of how to land your first
sales job.
So “Why Sales?"
That pretty much sums up what everyone wants to know
doesn't it? Well here's another little quiz:
Name a career field that doesn't involve sales. Fine
Arts? Social Service? Health Care?
Does an artist sell
his or her work? Yep, or they have an agent or gallery
market their work for them. Don't think that social
service involves sales? You haven't seen them on their
fund raising missions! What about doctors?
Don't they “sell” their patients…convincing them on
recommended treatments? Sometimes with limited success,
like my doctor trying to “sell me” on the idea of giving
up Pop-Tarts!
What
about everyday life? With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy
(of “You Might Be a Redneck” fame) here are some signs
that "You
might be a salesperson..."
-
If you've tried
to convince your wife that seeing The Godfather for
the 97th time is a better movie choice
than the latest “chick flick"...you might be a
salesman.
-
When you were a
kid, if you tried to convince your mom that her
favorite crystal ornament was NOT broken during an
unauthorized rough house event but actually broken
years before you were born…you might be a
salesperson (by the way…I didn't close that
sale)!
-
If you are a
woman and have spent time telling your best friend
why she should dump her boyfriend...only to call the
guy up the very next week to offer to buy him lunch
and help ease his pain...well you're evil...but
you have a great concept of the basics of selling!
Finally,
guess what? Each and every one of you has already
“sold!” When you interviewed for a job…you were “selling
yourself”! If you've asked for a promotion or pay raise,
you were selling! Bottom line, sales is everywhere, all
the time and in every facet of life.
What Does It Take
to Get a Great Job?
How does someone land the job
of his or her dreams? Let's go over a list of the
attributes of the “perfect" job and look at it through
the eyes of someone considering entering sales:
No experience
necessary – The attributes
that make a great salesperson don't have to be honed in
a previous sales job. Being a great listener, being
tenacious, being able to ask the right questions, all
can be developed in any background. Down economies
require better salespeople – “better” doesn’t mean
more experienced! An individual with 10 years of “order
taking” is far less valuable to a company than a brand
new person who can produce in tough times.
No education
requirements – There are no
undergraduate or graduate degrees in sales. Sales
“education” comes from just “doing it”; studying on your
own and the product training that employers provide new
salespeople.
Great pay
– Wouldn't it be great to finally earn the kind of money
you always wanted? I’ve seen sales “newbies”
become the top salesperson in a firm in their first or
second month on the job.
Sales is the only
position that routinely offers the opportunity to make
more money than your boss! Most Sales Managers are paid
on a combination of salary and bonus. Individual
salespeople are paid on some sort of combination of
salary and or commission with no cap on earnings! The
more you sell…the more you earn.
I have spent most of
my life working in radio advertising and IT. Every company I
have worked for had at
least one person earning more money than the Sales
Manager.
More
sales positions available -
Look in the classifieds
in your local paper. Most listed positions fall into
three categories. Entry-level, Medical or Sales. The
first two are out: you can't survive on an entry-level
pay scale and the last time you checked you didn’t have
a medical degree. Even in the toughest job markets there
are sales positions openings being advertised.
Here is something
else you should know...most sales openings are not
published. Sales Managers would rather hire based on
referrals from their sales staff, customers and business
network. Every so often they need to replenish
the pool of candidates periodically so they will run an ad
in the paper or post an opening online.
One more thing!
Just because a company isn't actively recruiting or
advertising an open sales position doesn’t mean you
can't get hired. Almost every sales manager I know will
give someone that impresses them a shot – even if they
are not hiring at that particular moment.
What all this means
is between what is published and the positions that
never get publicized AND the opportunities you can
create yourself, at any given moment there are more
sales career opportunities than any other single job! If
you've been unhappy in your present job, under employed
or unemployed doesn't it make sense to check out the
place where there the most opportunities are?
No layoffs
– Am I saying that salespeople never get laid off? Of
course not. Those that don't produce or became “order
takers” in better times will be let go when things get
tight but only because they are not producing. Do you
really think a company is going to let go of an
individual who is bringing in profitable revenue???
Your age isn't
important – Guess what? Sales
Managers don't care how old you are. All they want to
know is, can you help sell their product or service. If
you are young and have a killer attitude you'll get
noticed. If you're older and need to generate sales to
help feed your family they willl understand your
motivation.
Of all careers that
you might be considering, sales has the most
quantifiable results. There’s no daily wondering,
“How am I doing?” You don't have to wait for your
annual assessment with your supervisor to learn where
you stand. Because of this accountability you
have the power to determine the outcome of your career!
Please take
time to reflect on your past careers or current job.
What did you like or what don't you like about the jobs
you have held. Knowing what you know now, would you have
gone down the same career path today? Think about the
perfect job attributes listed above. Do any of career
opportunities that you are currently considering come
close to offering what a career in sales offers?
"Why
sales?" you ask . . . I say, "Why Not Sales!"
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