subject: What A Salesperson Needs [print this page] There are a lot of ambitious sales staff out there. The problem is that not many of them have ever worked in product sales and many will try and fail at the profession. This is because most people do not know what it takes to be a salesperson. They believe that they know what it requires and that they have it, but they're really deluded and will spend a lot of time battling to make ends meet in a sales job before they admit defeat and find something else to do.
If you are looking at sales positions then you really should ensure that you have what it requires to be a sales representative before you waste your time and your employers cash trying to do something that you are not really meant to do.
The first thing that you are going to need if you want to look at filling any of the sales positions which are out there is a great personality. You need to be in a position to talk to people confidently and not have an ounce of shyness in you. You have to be loud and be able to speak to anybody, no matter what they look like. This isn't something that everybody is able to do though.
You also need to be able to adapt to different kinds of people. You don't want to have one approach that actually works with one kind of person and then try to apply it to each person who walks into your office. An introverted individual may be intimidated by you if you are too loud whilst an extroverted individual may feel like you aren't confident if you are not loud and thus will not take you at your word.
You need to be able to learn your products quickly and thoroughly. You cannot afford to um and ah and be unsure of facts about your products. You should know every thing there is to know about it and just how it compares to similar products. You need to know when your product is going to meet the requirements of your potential customer and when it is just not going to work for them and you must have the guts to tell the truth about it. You do not want to have unsatisfied customers coming back to you and demanding a refund.
Sales positions aren't something for everybody. The saying "must be able to sell ice to Eskimos" is a legitimate one. If you do not have the confidence to persuade somebody that your product is better than others then you are never going to make a sale. If this isn't you, if you're not a confident person, then do not waste your time with sales positions. There are better choices out there for you. If you fail to adapt your character then try something else. If you cannot learn and memorise facts about a range of products, then keep looking. If you're able to do all this, then give product sales a try!
