Is a sales career right for me?

With such a wide range of sales jobs available across so many different industries and sectors

, it can sometimes be difficult to know if you have the right skills for a sales career.

Generally with sales jobs, your drive, personality and communication skills are far more important than whether or not you hold a relevant degree or qualification. A degree is certainly an advantage, but not having one is unlikely to count against you.

If you are considering a career in sales, it perhaps goes without saying that an ability and desire to sell is a key attribute. Self-confidence, resilience and self-motivation are all vital, as the sales environment can be quite intimidating in the beginning and you need to be able to bounce back from difficult situations.

If you possess these personal qualities, you have all the ingredients for a successful sales career. The rest of the skills you need will develop over time, and you will almost certainly benefit from extensive on-the-job training.

When you start a sales job, you will usually be given a induction course to introduce you to the company and the goods and services you will be selling. After the initial training is out of the way, you will almost certainly be asked to shadow a more experienced sales representative and get a better feel for the sales techniques involved.

Gradually, you will be asked to take your own calls under supervision, and before long you will be expected to go it alone and start trying to match your individually-assigned targets.

In terms of career development, the more successful you are the more you will earn, and the greater your opportunities will be for climbing the sales ladder. Over time, you might get the chance to move into a more specialist role, as a manager or sales supervisor.

Most companies have their own promotion structures put in place, but you could move up through the ranks very quickly if you perform consistently well.

A major advantage of a career in sales is the fact that sales skills are highly transferable, and you could end up working in a variety of different industries. You may even decide to move in an entirely different direction altogether, with education, recruitment and marketing roles all ideally suited to sales professionals.

Is a sales career right for me?

By: Philip Weston

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