Breaking Into The Sales Industry

Breaking into the Sales Industry

Why would I want to work in sales? Twenty years ago the sales industry had a bad press and sales people were frequently accused of being self-centred, egotistical and materialistic. But the sector has enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent years and has moved from being a loathed to an admired profession today. Sales people can be found working across virtually every industry sector imaginable, from manufacturing to distribution and services, persuading customers to buy their company’s products and looking after the needs of existing customers in areas including: • • • • •

FMCG – fast moving consumer goods consumer durables industrial supplies IT, software and media services

Here are a few examples of the jobs that are available across the sales industry: Tele-Sales Executive: cold calling potential customers and closing the deal over the phone Direct Sales: visiting customer’s homes to sell consumer goods, usually without an appointment

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Field sales: typically responsible for increasing sales within a specific geographic territory Business development: selling to new customers and increasing revenues of existing clients Account Management: identifying opportunities to grow existing customer base Sales Manager: oversee, motivate and lead a team of sales staff ensuring that targets are achieved There are a number of strong reasons why a career in the sales industry should be a serious career consideration. Every company that has a product or provides a service needs sales people to take it to market. And as long as companies strive to remain competitive there will always be jobs available for good quality sales people. Promotion is based on results and it is not uncommon for good sales executives to find themselves moving into management positions quicker than they would in another industry sector. Employment is predominantly permanent. However, there has been an increasing trend towards interim recruitment with sales people hired to help drive an organisation’s sales drive for a short period of time.

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Breaking into the Sales Industry

What are the common sales career paths? It is said that sales people are born, not made. But nothing could be further from the truth. Individuals from all backgrounds and all education levels enter the sales industry and how far they progress in their sales career is a result of their personal drive, ambition and dogged determination to be the best at what they do. Regardless of whether you are a recent university graduate or someone embarking upon a change of career as a sales person, pretty much everyone starts at the same level as a sales executive in an office or field based role. Thereafter, career progression is down to how well you perform in your job. After a few years of experience under your belt as a sales executive, your career will invariably progress to key account management where you will be responsible for managing some of the company’s biggest customers or taking responsibility for key products. From here, you could expect to move into a management role as a Sales Manager, then Regional Manager before progressing to National Sales Manager and ultimately Sales Director.

Further Reading - How can I choose the right company? - What are my transferrable skills? - Should I work part-time, temporary or permanent?

www.monster.co.uk Of course, Regional and National Sales Manager roles are for larger organisations that have a number of offices throughout the country. For organisations with a single office, the typical career path will be the same as above except that it by-passes the Regional and National Sales Manager positions and may incorporate a Team Leader role before becoming a Sales Manager. Although sales is open to anyone a number of large employers operate graduate training schemes and fast-track management programmes that are designed to enable high calibre entrants to realise their management potential within a planned and deliberate time-frame. Starting off in a sales executive role, fast-trackers will spend an allotted period of time mastering the role before moving up to Team Manager or Sales Manager. Employment opportunities for sales people exist across a wide spectrum of sectors, the most popular of which in terms of the number of people employed, are: media, pharmaceutical, technical, financial, and FMCG. Some employers are SME’s with just a handful of sales people whereas some others will be multinational organisations with a sales force numbering in the hundreds or even thousands – each type of employer will have its benefits and it’s up to you to decide if you prefer to work for a small or larger organisation.

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Breaking into the Sales Industry

Where can I find out about sales employers? Finding out about different employers is one of the most important parts of your job hunt. But it is also one of the easiest that can also turn out to be very rewarding – providing you are prepared to put the effort in and go that extra distance. A survey found that 68% of recruiters have used search engines like Google to find information about job applicants. So if employers are doing their homework on you, you need to be doing the same on them. Google the companies you think you would like to work for and see what is being written about them in the industry press. And look at their company website to get a feel for the type of organisation they are and what they expect of their employees. Better still, contact the companies you have your eye on and create an insider network of contacts. That is, ask if someone knows someone who knows someone else in the organisation willing to give you an insight as to what it is like working there. With around 1 in 5 organisations running an employee referral scheme, your insider contact may even give you the heads up when a suitable position becomes available and they could get paid a fee for doing so!

www.monster.co.uk Ask those people closest to you – do any of your friends, family and former work colleague’s work in sales? Or do they know someone else who does who they can put you in touch with? When you have made a new contact ask them about the nature of the job. How did they get into sales in the first place? What skills and attributes do employers look for? And are there are any jobs going where they work. Recruitment fairs and industry conferences are another great opportunity to mix with the type of people who can give you an insight into the type of organisation you want to work and may be privy to current unadvertised vacancies. Take advantage of this opportunity to expand your network of contacts. Although there are few magazines that focus on sales as an industry in its own right, every sector in which you will be selling will invariably be represented by various online and print publications that will enable you to keep abreast of the latest trends and developments. For further information about the sales industry, the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management and the Chartered Institute of Marketing can provide a more in-depth insight into various career paths and employers.

Industry Associations There are many associations in the UK covering almost every job role and sector. To find out if there are any relevant for your occupation, take a look at: -

Wikipedia: British Professional Bodies Trade Associations and regulatory Bodies

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Breaking into the Sales Industry

What qualifications are important in sales? If you have made it this far in our overview you are obviously attracted to the idea of working in sales. Perhaps you are considering sales as an alternative career path or maybe you are attracted by the earning potential. Either way, the first step to embarking upon any new career is to understand what academic and professional qualifications are important to employers. Although the sales industry is attracts people from all educational backgrounds, most recruiters look for a standard level of academic achievement – four GCSEs grades A-C or equivalent. However, there has been a growing trend in recent years for employers to ask for graduates with a 2:1 or above, especially for technical sales roles. Technical sales people will usually have a degree or equivalent in a related subject, such as computing, engineering and IT. Similarly, science graduates are hot property for pharmaceutical sales. Whilst those with a degree in languages are employed by companies who operate on an international level and need sales people to liaise with customers whose mother tongue is not English. Once established in your sales career, there is the opportunity to study for professional qualifications in the form of Certificates and

www.monster.co.uk Diplomas accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management, or the Managing & Marketing Sales Association. Indeed, when economic conditions are testing, sales employers will place more emphasis on recruiting better-qualified and more professional people. So although professional qualifications and postgraduate study are not always necessary to progress your sales career they can help your career development. More important than academic and professional qualifications is evidence of how your experiences in your career so far will make you a good sales person. If you have never worked in the sector before, it will be useful to gain some work experience within a customer interaction role, such as bar work or in a shop. There are normally plenty of jobs available in these types of places and they can prove invaluable in increasing your level of commercial awareness, customer relations and more importantly an understanding of the sales process. Alternatively, if you have established good contact with someone in your network, ask if you can shadow that person when they go out on client appointments – this way you will get to see how the job is done for real and you will pick up some helpful tips on how to do the job when your time comes.

Find Courses - UCAS - The Open University

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Breaking into the Sales Industry

What skills are sales employers looking for? With academic achievement increasingly taking the back seat in the priority stakes within the sales industry, employers are more concerned with the skills and personal qualities that you can offer that will help to develop their business and increase their competitiveness. A number of sales roles look for certain skills that are specific to their particular sector. For example, technical sales people with a related degree will be expected to be able to translate their scientific or technical knowledge into a saleable format that that is persuasive without sounding too techie. Whereas someone working for a publisher selling advertising, for example, may need to be creative, have the ability to design advertisements for clients, monitor response and chase outstanding invoices. And the further you progress up the career ladder, the more skills you will need to acquire. However, there are a common set of skills that sales people must be able to show evidence of or, at least, indicate a willingness to learn, including: •

an outgoing and likable personality

• confident and authoritative speaker • strong presentation skills

www.monster.co.uk • confidence in your own abilities • a high degree of self-motivation • a passion for selling • personal ambition • resilience and persistence •

ability to communicate with people at all levels

• strong negotiation skills • able to work own your own initiative and as part of a team • results orientated • good time management Arguably the most important quality that an employer is looking for is your obvious passion for selling. Even if you lack the experience employers will relish the challenge of taking you on and providing you with the training you need to help you realise your full potential. Indeed, a number of sales organisations actually favour employees with little or no previous sales experience so that they can teach them to sell how they see best – safe in the knowledge that you are not stuck in the way you have been selling in your career to date.

Further Reading - What are my transferrable skills? - How can I improve my skills on my own initiative? - Should I become a specialist or a generalist?

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Breaking into the Sales Industry

What makes a good sales CV? Before you can start your career you first need to convince a potential employer that you are worth talking to. And that’s where your CV comes in. Your CV is designed to open the door to a job interview so you need to ensure that it is relevant to the job you are applying for. Selling and being successful at sales is all about how well you can match the features and benefits of a product or service to fulfil the needs of your client. The same is true when preparing your CV. You need to be mindful as to what the job requires and tailor your CV so that your skills and abilities match what the employer is looking for in a candidate. Although the job advert will give you some indication of this, it is worth asking the HR department or recruitment consultant for a copy of the full job description. However, avoid simply making a list of all your skills and abilities will leave recruiters thinking So what? Employers spend as little as 30 seconds on average considering your CV so they don’t have the time nor inclination to read a list of key words that appear on every single CV they see.

Further Reading - How can I tailor my CV to an audience? - What are my unique selling points? - What are the classic CV mistakes to avoid?

www.monster.co.uk So you need to focus on adding ‘achievement statements’ that show employers you can do what you claim you can do - regardless of whether you have worked in sales or not. Here are a few examples of achievement statements that can be used in a Sales CV: Ability to hit targets: Worked with a team of sales assistants to promote the store’s customer loyalty card during a dedicated period of sales. This resulted in an uptake of 150 additional applications – 30% above target Presentation skills: Whilst at university I regularly presented the findings of my research to group of fellow students and college lecturers ranging from 6 to 30 people Negotiation skills: In my last role I negotiated a series of short term contracts with a number of new clients who renewed their orders and have developed into key accounts worth in excess of £150,000 for the organisation Strong communication skills: As secretary for my university student union I ensured a clear channel of communication and effective working relationship between all parties, including students and the university management team Achievement statements need to provide an action verb (e.g. increased, launched, developed) that describes your responsibilities, and they need to be measurable in terms of money or percentages or value-added to dispel the “So what?” attitude on the part of the recruiter.

Free CV Templates We’ve put together a range of free CV templates that will help you start your document off in the right way. Find and download them for free now.

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Breaking into the Sales Industry

What does the job interview process consist of? Congratulations if you have been invited to an interview. The very fact that you have means that you have already beaten off a large chunk of the competition and you are only a step or two away from being offered the job you want. Now the selling really begins! If you are applying via a graduate training programme, you can expect to take part in an assessment centre where you will be surrounded by your fellow candidates. This not only includes an interview but also the opportunity for you to demonstrate your capability, skills and attributes by undertaking a series of tasks, such as group exercises, presentations, competency or personality tests. This will normally be held at the company’s head office or in a dedicated training centre. For everyone else, the interview will invariably take the more familiar shape of a two-stage process. The first will normally be run by the department head or line manager. And if you pass this stage your second interview could involve two or more people, but rarely more than four – which will invariably involve a line manager, senior manager, and someone from HR.

Take part in a Virtual Job Interview to find out if your answers are what employers want to hear. Click here when you’re ready to begin.

www.monster.co.uk Regardless of whether you are applying for a sales executive or manager position, your interviewer will be looking for a number of key skills and qualities that will have been highlighted in the job advert, such as ‘self-motivated’, ‘outgoing personality’, ‘drive and determination’, or ‘flexible’ – the interviewer is almost certain to ask you for examples of how these apply to you. So prepare your answers in advance. For example, knowing that you strive to move into a management position within the next three years demonstrates your ‘drive and determination’. Similarly, anticipate the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ questions, and brush up on your industry and company knowledge because you will be tested on this and you don’t want to fall short because you haven’t done your background research. When you receive the job offer, make sure that what you are being offered is in line with your expectations and that the company is the kind of place that you will be happy working in. And if you feel that the financial package being offered is less than you deserve, don’t accept it. Employers will always try to get themselves a bargain when hiring new staff and if you are as good a sales person as you claim to be, then the employer will expect you to negotiate a better salary.

Further Reading - How do I make a good first impression? - What should I wear to my job interview? - How can I calm my job interview nerves?

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Breaking into the Sales Industry

What career goals should I set myself? You’ve succeeded in knocking all your competitors into touch by landing the job you applied for and now you are rightly looking forward to the start of your new career in sales. But when it comes to determining where you go from here, what career goals should you set for yourself and how will you know if you have chosen the career that’s right for you? When you went for your interview, your soon-to-be employer no doubt enticed you with the promise of a quick promotion or high potential earnings. But just like the holiday posters that promise golden sandy beaches and perfect sunshine, sometimes the reality of the situation actually lives up to expectations. Some things will be better than advertised, some worse, and some the same. And you will find out which is which within the first few weeks of starting your new job. During these early days in your new job you need to listen, learn and ask intelligent questions about the way things are done in your company and see for yourself the steps that need to be taken to progress your career to the next level and beyond.

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www.monster.co.uk And the best way of doing this is to associate yourself with the people who are visibly doing a good job – they will know what it takes to make your mark in the organisation and then you can plot your course accordingly. Making your next move up the sales career ladder can be quick with many successful sales people making it into management within two or three years of starting their careers. This is an industry that readily rewards successful people - partly because sales people thrive on recognition and need to remain motivated, and partly through employer fear of losing good sales people to their competition. However, sales is not for everyone. Sure the idea of making a good living and getting considerable praise for your achievements can be great but, if you are struggling to handle objections or find it difficult to cope under pressure then perhaps the industry isn’t quite right for you. But don’t despair. Sales people are valuable commodities in the business world and many executives have moved into a number of related industries, including marketing, advertising and public relations.

What Next? If you’re still looking for advice on finding the right job, creating a great CV or tips on job interview, career-advice.monster.co.uk contains everything you ever wanted to know, and more! If you’re ready to apply for jobs, upload you CV to Monster and then take a look through the latest roles.

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Breaking into the Sales Industry

They say that the grass isn’t greener on the other side, but often it is. Our series of eBooks brings together expert advice to help you secure the job you want and build a successful career. For more career tools, visit career-advice.monster.co.uk.