People with formal educational backgrounds in sales have a clear understanding of what is required for gainful employment in sales positions. However, those who may not have a sales background in either professional or educational forums may be curious as to what is needed to launch a new career in sales. Is it truly possible to do so without a prior related background? Actually, people venture into the world of sales from a great many different professional and educational backgrounds. This is because pursuing a career in sales is based more on the development of core functional skills unlike other professions. In other words, if you have the basic skills needed to be strong in a sales career, you will usually discover landing a job is not complicated.
The most important skill required for a career in sales, centers on communicative ability. Specifically, you will need to be able to speak and listen well. These are the skills that allow you to be persuasive and empathetic, which are two traits that greatly increase the odds of being able to close a sale. No matter what educational background a person possesses, without significant communications skills, it is impossible to be successful in the capacity of a salesperson.
In terms of actually landing a job in sales, it may be best to sell yourself to companies based on these strengths. Sales personnel need to be strong “go getter” types and any resume that reflects such attributes will draw the attention of recruiters. However, if you lack experience, you may find answering classified ads or sending out cold resumes to be a difficult venture. Thankfully, there are a number of “face to face” methods that can be employed to land a first sales job.
The first strategy could involve visiting job fairs and other public recruitment events. This is because such events follow the reverse strategy of the classified ad venture. In other words, you do not send out a resume and then get called for an interview. Instead, you sit down with a rep face to face and speak for short while before submitting a resume. In short, these events allow you to sell your skills when your experience may be sparse.
The second method involves seeking the help of a headhunter to help place you in a sales capacity. If the headhunter can find a spot for you, he will since this is his job. He may not be able to deliver results right away but there is no reason for him to stop searching for you and he will certainly continue to try and place you in a job.
So, it really is not tough to land a job in sales as long as you have strong core skills and try many avenues in which to be hired.
