Sales are everywhere. In fact, many entrepreneurs often say, “if you know how to sell, you can do anything.” It’s no surprise that many people’s first job is in sales. When you start your career in a sales role, you learn invaluable skills you can carry with you for the rest of your life. Those who have worked in sales know who to speak confidently, build relationships, and provide exceptional customer service. Having a sales position on your resume signals to future employers you are a driven self-starter and team player. Now, are you convinced you need to work in sales early on in your career? If you are preparing to start a job as a salesperson or wholesale distributor, make sure you know how to succeed:
Look for a mentor.
One of the first things you should do after starting a sales job is find a mentor on your sales team that you can shadow and learn from. Ask your sales manager whether the company has a mentoring program in place and if not, ask for a recommendation on who you should approach about the opportunity. Once you find a mentor, talk to him about what he has learned over his years in the business, how to deal with tough clients who demand too much, and what sales tactics work best for the company’s products. Your manager will love that you are taking initiative so early on in your career, and you will learn invaluable information from someone who has been in the business for years.
Sell yourself first.
Before you begin selling the product to other people, you have to sell it to yourself first. If you don’t believe in the product, you won’t be able to passionately sell it to customers. Learn about the many benefits offered by the product, and test it out to see what you think. If you’re a food distributor, take a sample of the product, see how it tastes, and peek at the nutritional information, too. Customers will be able to sense if you’re selling something you really couldn’t care less about, so don’t start making sales calls until you have bought into what it is you’re selling.
Learn about the company.
Customers should not be able to tell that you are a new salesperson, so you have to be familiar with everything that the company offers before you make a phone call. Learn how customers are invoiced, when deliveries will be made, and who they call when they are having issues with the product. You should be able to answer all of your customer’s questions without putting them on hold to find a manager first. It’s important that you display confidence on sales calls, and if you can’t answer questions, you will come off as very inexperienced and unorganized.
Don’t give up.
The beginning of your sales career can be very frustrating. Sometimes companies will pass off the most difficult clients to you, or they will have you make a lot of cold calls to find customers on your own. Either way, you may have to deal with a lot of rejection, which can be disheartening when you are trying to start a new career. Remember, even salespeople who have been in the business for a decade get rejected once in a while, so don’t let this stop you. Rejection is part of the business, and new salespeople have to be able to bounce back from it quickly.
Did you succeed at your first sales job? Or was it a huge disaster? Either way, leave your stories in the comments below!
