A sales person's job description is relatively simple and short at its core. You are hired by a company to represent them and their products. Simple right? Well, maybe not.
Actually, the reason I consider sales a profession is that to truly be successful you must consider what you are doing as a vocation. It is the pursuit of perfecting both an art and a science. Interacting with people during a buying process exposes the sales professional to a typical buyer's deep seated needs and wants. Understanding the mechanisms at work is essential and may take years of experience and education to master. In addition, if you have ever had the great good fortune to watch a skilled salesperson execute a well planned sales project, you would be witnessing the art of the sale first hand.
A quick "Google" of the sales business will deliver no lack of sites and articles detailing why salespeople fail, the common mistakes they make or why you don't like them. Honestly, these aren't the type of salespeople we are discussing here. Most of these people are either improperly trained, lack the necessary tools, do not have a professional commitment or may be pursuing sales for the wrong reason. It just doesn't suit their personality.
So, the question that begs to be asked is - "Why would I consider the sales profession?" Good question! Let's take a look:
1. It's Me! Are you really at home with people? Selling is about the persuasive interaction with people. Folks who either are looking for a product or service or may not know it yet. The truth is that products and services at this level are purchased from people. Sales People. Buyers truly want to feel comfortable with a transaction and all who participate in it. Whether the sales cycle is 10 mins. or 10 months, the process and stages are virtually the same, just compressed or extended. You want to be at home with these relationships. There are bound to be challenges which require team work, communications skills and a desire to assist.
2. Big money can be made doing this? Oh Yeah... Unfortunately, this can be the primary reason someone pursues a sales career.
Not a good idea though. Compensation, especially in this profession, is the reward for a job well done not an entitlement. Just talk to a commissioned sales person about this. Truthfully, income can be extraordinary but in every case it is the result of extraordinary performance, as with any desirable profession. It's going to take determination, training, and experience but the financial rewards will be commensurate with the effort.
3. Life long educational process. You have finally decided to become a professional sales person. You may have gone to college and taken some psychology classes and joined the debate team. Finally got a sale job with a good company that has great products/services. Because they are a good company, comprehensive sales training was provided, a great territory assigned and sales are good. Nothing left to do now but keep sales high and the boss happy.
At best, you are headed for mediocrity. At worst, you are headed for failure.
The sales profession is about people and change. Mastering your ability to excel with each requires ongoing training and experience. Although the sales process remains, for the most part, unchanged, all else does not. If you enjoy the challenge of remaining current, this is the profession for you. Just think about the way people now interact with the literal ascension of social media. Cell phones, tablets, cloud storage, texting, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Squidoo, Hubpages are all relatively new tools and methods available to the sales professional.
If you are 20 something as of this writing, there is no problem. If you are 40 something, you better get your learning cap on and quickly. Get my point?
Whether it is prospecting, cold calling, proposal writing, copywriting social media pages, presentation skills, persuasion techniques or contact software applications, the process of educating yourself will be ongoing and constantly changing. Consider how fast our reliance on the internet has changed and will do so even faster in the near future. The sales profession stands to benefit considerably by these developments.
So, don't let the internet based critiques throw you off. Ignore your Uncle's long winded dissertation regarding the perils of becoming a sales person. Be wary of sales jobs promising untold fortunes.
Stick with us. In future installments, we explore many more bone-fide reasons for you to join our profession.
0 comments:
Post a Comment