Sales is hard work but rewarding if you devote time and effort to it. It’s also really easy to get started in sales without a degree. You just gotta show aptitude, personable skills, and willingness to learn. Here’s a rundown of a few things to look out for if you want to do sales.
Most importantly above all else: you need to believe what you’re selling. The customer will see right through your pitch if you do not have faith in your product or service. Confidence sells. Uncertainty walks. “If you can’t dazzle them with facts, baffle them with bullshit”.
When interviewing for those jobs, ask about who the most senior and junior sales rep is in your district or area. If there’s nobody with more than a few years, that suggests a high turnover rate. While in the interview, if the interviewer is trying to sell the job to you i.e. they’re trying to convince you it’s a great job or company to work for, especially if they keep telling you how much they made last year, or how much you could make, RUN AWAY. They should tell you about the job and it’s responsibilities, not how amazing the office is or how little work they actually do. If the money you could make in the first year seems unrealistic, it probably is.
A common sort of scam I’ve seen people fall into that is especially predatory ends up being in smaller family-owned or newer companies: A turn and burn of new sales reps once they develop enough new leads and have a few accounts. They will fire the new salesperson at the end of 6 month probationary period for not reaching a sales goal or imaginary metric they didn’t know about. If you make goals, they’ll put you through hell to make you quit. Once you’re gone, they divvy the new leads and accounts to existing senior sales people. Wash, rinse, repeat with a new business marketing major.
If you inherit an existing book of business it will contain a handful of current customers, about 5-10 good leads, and approximately 4000 bullshit dead-ends that existing salespeople gave up on and sent over to you. Those current customers are loyal to your company but will more than likely still conduct business with your boss. Keep in mind sometimes an inherited book of business does not count towards your own commission as some companies only attribute sales to the salesperson who entered the new customer into the system (I learned this the hard way).
Do a deep dive into the company to ensure what you’ll be selling isn’t a quick fad or scam. Most importantly- READ, COMPREHEND, AND ASK QUESTIONS about your compensation contract. Get everything in writing that’s verbally promised to you. You will get burned on those contracts if you trust your boss. Remember, your sales boss is/was the best salesperson and got promoted to managing sales. They can and will convince you it’s a good/standard/normal compensation package when it might not be.
Compensation packages are usually $42k-$65k for the first few years plus reduced commission rate for sales earned over your salary. Some salespeople are paid straight commission. Some paid salary and commission (known as a draw), some straight salary.
The fun thing about being a salesperson is that after 2-3 years with a company, headhunters start calling you to poach you to work other companies. You can use this to leverage better pay. Other perks are additional sales incentives, bonuses, free swag from companies, company vehicle if you’re lucky, business cellphone, bonus vacations for exceeding goal by X%, and free trainings. You can meet goal and be the bare minimum salesperson, or you can tackle those incentives and earn ludicrous bonuses. Sales is honestly what you make of it…. Nobody is going to force you to earn that bonus vacation.