What are the best sales careers for women?
Take your pick. Women can work in any sales field a man can and sometimes can even do a better job. It's true that traditionally sales have been thought of as "men only" except for a few specific areas. However, today, women can operate in any sales field men can, and sometimes can even best their coworkers.
Top Sales Careers for Women
Women are succeeding exponentially in every sales area, but the following are considered the most lucrative specialties for saleswomen:
Pharmaceutical Sales
Since pharmaceuticals have gone global, positions in both sales and marketing are in dire need of being filled. To participate in pharmaceutical sales, you generally need a college degree, although you're also considered if you have other sales experience. And in fact this is quite a popular field to pursue since most people generally view it as "recession proof." Pharmaceutical sales are also growing because health care these days is shifting away from being centered on healthcare centers, hospitals, and like to more home care and self-care.
Biotech sales, general healthcare sales, and dental sales, too, are related areas looking for new recruits. Again, and for most purposes, a college degree is required. If you have no experience and are newly graduated from college, some companies won't hire you until you have some experience, which may be a pharmaceutical sales requirement. However, the type of sales experience is not as important as the fact that you have some.
Insurance Sales
Insurance sales are a very popular sales area to work with. Depending on your area, you'll need some sort of licensing requirements to be filled. Usually, you have to take some coursework (oftentimes, this can be done by self-study or online) and then pass a test so that you can obtain your license.
Insurance sales jobs are popular because in many cases, you can work on your own time and around your schedule while you do another "day job" at the same time. Of course, this requires self-discipline and the ability to work when you'd rather play. One caveat with insurance sales is that your starting pay is usually strictly commission based, so it can be meager at first until you get a foothold.
IT Sales
This is another popular area for women to get into and it's a field that's rapidly growing: technology sales. Unlike other types of sales, you don't necessarily have to have a college degree to earn an IT sales job. However, you do have to have an innate and very complex understanding of computers in general. In many cases, those involved in IT sales can start by working as a salesperson at an electronics store that sells computers, get some experience, and work their way up from there.
Advertising Sales
Advertising sales agents generally work to solicit advertising for television, radio, newspapers, other periodicals, and many other mediums. In fact, advertising agents are the lifeblood of media agencies, because advertising generates significant income. Because of this, advertising sales agents are always in demand.
Advertising sales agents acquire sales accounts doing cold calling, visiting, setting up appointments, and so on, but they also maintain the sales accounts they have. For this reason, advertising sales agents must have both the ability to handle rejection and the discipline necessary to maintain follow-ups with existing clients. These agents may also analyze and handle demographics so that they can adjust how they do their sales accordingly. Of course, given the prevalence of technology in many traditional industries, they may also branch into online advertising sales.
Advertising sales agents are free in general to work the hours they choose, which means that if uneven pay is not a problem, the job freedom they have may be a plus. Of course, this means they must be disciplined enough to manage their hours so that they do work adequate hours.
Real Estate
As with insurance sales, real estate requires that you have a real estate license to practice in your area. In addition, your income is dependent on the number of homes you can sell. Not only does this depend on your natural sales talent and ability to sell, but it also depends on the market you're in. Therefore, if real estate is very lucrative and selling well in your area, you're likely to do well as long as you are a good salesperson. However, if the real estate market is doing poorly, then your income, too, is likely to suffer. Again, as with other types of sales jobs, real estate sales jobs are commission-based.
Conclusion
Today, the sky's the limit for women who want to get into sales. In some cases, formal schooling or even a degree is required, while in other cases a simple license or even on-the-job training may suffice. Depending on your area of interest, though, a sales job may be for you. Sales have a lot to offer and you can find just about anything to suit your interest, as long as you're good at the skill of selling itself.
