Sales success is all about liking people
IF YOU love working with people, why not make a career of it in sales?
Rachel Adams, a sales executive with software company Sendible, sells social media management software.
She says: ‘I studied psychology and was always interested in how people make buying decisions.’
Some people avoid sales jobs because they fear rejection, but Rachel, 26, from London, says: ‘Researching your customer and finding out who to speak to in a company means you are more in control and rejection is less likely.
‘You build relationships and develop a rapport with companies. Each is different, and that keeps the job interesting.’ Rachel recommends finding a job that offers sales training. ‘I started in lead generation, finding potential customers and booking appointments. It’s a difficult job, but you learn a lot that helps later on.’
For vacancies see sendible.com.
Cliff Walker, sales trainer and network marketing specialist, says: ‘At some point everyone has to sell. The skills required are attraction, promotion, persuasion, enthusiasm, wit and nurturing.’ The highpressure approach will usually meet resistance, he says, so people should ‘promote’. Those in sales should see a customer’s ‘no’ as ‘not right now’, always follow up, and do both online and offline networking.
Direct sales (selling face-to-face, through parties or online) can let you to try out sales as a part-time business.
The Direct Selling Association says 62 per cent of the UK’s 400,000 direct sellers have another job, and almost 95 per cent of sellers work part-time on their business. Its website, dsa.
org.uk, lists firms that comply with UK law and the DSA codes of practice.