Is a Career in Sales Right for You?
A sales career is both rewarding and challenging, but it’s definitely not for everyone. There are some characteristics and skills that can push some people towards success if they choose to be in sales.
But there are plenty of examples of people who have entered the sales field without giving it much thought and have found themselves regretting it later. To have a thriving sales career one needs to possess certain personality traits along with certain skills to succeed.
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Let’s have a look at what these are so that you can decide for yourself if a career in sales is right for you.
You need to be a people’s person
The major component of making a sale happen is convincing a customer. Interacting with customers or should we say people are going to be the most integral element of your job. Therefore, you need to enjoy talking to people and be interested in them to drive sales.
A sales career is right for you if you are an extrovert. Extroverts have a natural ability to mix well with people. They like being around people and can easily connect with them. These qualities are required by a sales professional to understand a customer’s needs and convince them to buy a brand’s products.
You need to love challenges
Sales jobs are tough. You need to identify prospects and convert them into paying customers. This is not so easy when it comes to doing it in real life every day. A sales job comes with a target. You have to reach each week’s or each month’s sales target if you want to survive long in your job.
Each new day will be a new challenge in a sales job. This is because you will come across different people and would need to convince them to buy from you. The sales department is the revenue earning department of a company. Therefore, your performance will be frequently observed and you will be encouraged to perform even better.
Must have listening skills
Remember, as sales professional your ultimate aim is to solve people’s problems with your brand’s offerings. Therefore, you need to listen to the problems customers are facing to understand their pain points. If you fail to understand what they need, you will fail to communicate the advantages of a product in a convincing manner to them.
There is a wrong perception that a good sales professional just communicates the company’s offerings to its customers. Even if this is your end goal you need to first listen to the customer to effectively persuade him or her. The first stage of effective persuasion is active listening. Listening to what the customer has to say is essential for the effective pitching of any product.
Should be able to handle rejections well
To build a bright sales career you need to be mentally strong. In this field, you need to know how to handle a harsh rejection because the chances are you will be facing it day after day. If you are not able to recover from rejections, eventually the daily responsibilities of your job will start draining you. This will start hampering your performance and ultimately your confidence will take a fall.
To be successful in sales you need to see rejections in a positive light. This is because ‘no’ is a word that you will get to hear day in and day out. If you have the ability to handle rejections well and you see each ‘no’ as a new challenge then a career in sales is suitable for you.
Final Thoughts
Before choosing sales as a career, you need to check if you can handle the pressures of a sales job. The above-mentioned characteristics are necessary to succeed in this field. Even if you don’t possess them you need to be at least confident that you can acquire them.