Starting A Career In Sales: 10 Tips To Get Your First Sales Role
After polling our readers for their best advice for someone starting out in sales, many of the tips came up over and over again. Also read: Why Everyone Should Work in Sales at Least Once in Their Life.
1. Learn Core Sales Principles To Land A Sales Job With No Experience
You’re enthusiastic, eager, and optimistic, but do you know the core sales principles? Memorize, internalize, and apply these three core principles to land a sales job with no experience; trust us, your interviewer will be impressed by how well you understand them.
Build Sales On Trust
Opening up and discussing your flaws is a great way to demonstrate your trustworthiness, and it will demonstrate integrity, which will almost certainly land you a sales job even if you have no experience.
Benefits Sell – Features Don’t
Focus on the benefits you bring to the company during your interview: how will you make your boss’s life easier? What can you improve? It would help if you sold your prospect manager on the benefits of hiring you.
Persistence Is Key
Follow-up after your interview will show your ideal employers that you understand the fundamental idea of persistence. If you’re looking for a sales job with no experience, follow-up is critical to landing the job. Sales Representatives must be persistent by nature; following up, checking in, and making constant contact with prospects is the name of the game.
Listen to the Customer
Allow your customer to do 80% of the talking and use the other 20% to ask questions about their needs and help them sell your product if you want to succeed in sales.
Be Ethical | Starting A Career In Sales
We need to change our reputation as salespeople by being honest and trustworthy with our customers. If you don’t know the answer to something, don’t make it up; find out. Embrace the principle that integrity is always important in developing relationships.
Overcome Objections
Don’t be surprised if a customer says the product or service is too expensive; write down your most common objections and how to overcome them.
2. Read Sales Books
There is a wealth of information about sales, and one of the simplest ways to learn about sales is to pick up a few classic books, such as To Sell is Human, Grant Cardone’s Sell or Be Sold, and Matthew Dixon’s The Challenger Sale.
3. Take a Course in Sales
Sales courses are a great way to expand your sales knowledge while also networking and demonstrating to potential employers that you are serious about the field. If you’re a Singaporean, you can often pay for these courses with your SkillsFuture credit.
4. Highlight Transferable Skills
Don’t be afraid to highlight transferable skills from non-sales jobs. For example, if you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you’ve developed skills like identifying needs, problem-solving, and basic customer service, all of which are directly applicable to sales and highly desirable to employers.
5. Research Other Sales Professionals
Stick to the top performer like glue and copy his or her systems and processes u2013 Sean Richardson u2013 Telco Sales.
6. Do Your Homework on the Company
Before interviewing, read all of your company’s literature and visit their website. Do your own research as a customer would by searching online and reading reviews, and if possible, become a customer of your own product.
7. Demonstrate Your Skills
If you’re applying for a sales job and don’t have any experience, demonstrate your sales skills during the application process; these are the skills they’re looking for in a salesperson, so if you can demonstrate them during an interview, you’ll have a better chance of getting the job.
8. Know the Lingo
If you’re looking for an Inside Sales role selling B2B with a long sales cycle, don’t get caught unaware of common sales terms or the differences between different sales positions.
9. Build Rapport
If you’ve never worked in sales before, you’re likely to start at the bottom. Be friendly and outgoing during the interview, maintain a confident posture, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Also, don’t forget to laugh and enjoy yourself!
The best advice for getting started in sales
Many people start in a sales role with no training. Nalin Withana, Steve Pressland, and Arya Wirawan share their best advice to help you understand the ladder of customer loyalty. “Integrity is Essential” u2013 Craig Winkelman, Senior Representative, PFS Inc. “People before Process” u2013 Adam Carabetta,0Foundation for Sales Excellence
How to Get a Sales Job with No Experience
If you want to work in sales but don’t have any experience, read sales books, take a sales course, and focus on transferable skills like identifying needs, problem-solving, and basic customer service. Before interviewing, do your homework on the company.
How can I get a sales job with no experience?
How to get a sales job if you don’t have any prior experience
- Study up.
- Build a network.
- Highlight your transferable skills.
- Show them you did your homework.
- Tailor your resume and cover letter.
What are the easiest jobs to get with no experience?
Take a look at our top picks and start filling out those applications, no matter how brief your resume is.
- Medical Assistant.
- Administrative Assistant.
- Veterinary Assistant.
- Customer Care Specialist.
- Legal Assistant.
What are the best entry level sales jobs?
The Best Sales Jobs for Newcomers
- Inside sales is a fast-growing segment of the sales industry that offers challenges and plenty of training that can lead to a high-paying career. Westend61 / Getty Images.
- Insurance Sales.
- Retail Sales.
- Mobile Phone Sales.
- Real Estate Sales.
How do I get a job in sales?
What steps should you take to land your first sales job?
- Familiarize yourself with the industry u2013 Before you go in for an interview, make sure you know who the company’s customers and competitors are.
- Target successful companies u2013 Successful companies are always growing and expanding their sales team.
Is sales a good career?
A career in sales isn’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for a job that will provide you with a good income and the opportunity to truly succeed, you owe it to yourself to look into it. As a sales professional, you’ll gain personal satisfaction, growth, an unrivaled income potential, and financial stability.
How do I sell myself for sales job?
In a sales interview, here are six ways to market yourself.
- Emphasize Your Updated Skill Set.
- Highlight Your Specific Sales Metrics.
- Dig into Details.
- Aim To Answer The Unasked “So What” Question.
- End On A High Note.
What are easy jobs that pay good?
Top 18 Best-Paying Simple Jobs
- Personal Trainer.
- Optometrist.
- Flight Attendant.
- Dog Walker.
- Toll Booth Attendant.
- Massage Therapist.
- Librarian.
- Librarian.
How can I get a job immediately?
20 Unusual Ways to Get Hired Quickly
- Get Specific. When looking for a new job, time is valuable.
- Don’t Settle. Be specific about where you want to work.
- Don’t Just Quit.
- Remember the Cover Letter.
- Job Specific Resume.
- Keep it Simple.
- Employment isn’t Everything.
- Dress For What You Want.
What is the highest paying job with no experience?
Here are nine jobs that pay well and require little or no experience.
- Claims adjuster.
- Web developer.
- Power plant operator.
- Elevator installers.
- Nuclear technician.
- Radiation therapist.
- Construction manager.
What jobs pay over 100k without a degree?
Jobs that pay six figures but don’t require a college diploma
- Air Traffic Controller.
- Real Estate Broker.
- Construction Manager.
- Radiation Therapist.
- Commercial Pilot.
- Funeral Services Manager.
- Detectives and Criminal Investigators.
- Nuclear Power Reactor Operator.
What type of sales makes the most money?
There are eight high-paying sales jobs available.
- Base Salary: $120,000 to $250,000.
- Consumer packaged goods sales. Base Salary: $150,000 to $180,000.
- Digital media sales. Base Salary: $170,000 to $180,000.
- Medical device sales.
- Outsourced services.
- Software sales.
- Startup business development.
Can you get rich in sales?
Selling a product can earn you a lot of money, but it’ll never get you to the level of private jets and yachts, regardless of whether you license it or sell it yourself. The only way to get to that level of wealth is to sell a company, not a product.
What skills do you need for sales?
Customer-Facing Selling Techniques
- Prospecting.
- Discovery.
- Business Acumen.
- Social Selling.
- Storytelling.
- Active Listening.
- Objection Handling.
How can I start sales?
Form a movie club.
- Start with your objectives, and work backwards if you’re learning to sell.
- Recognize that sales is a process, not an art.
- Identify business pains.
- Measure every step.
- Sell to the right people.
- Embrace team selling.
- Conduct call reviews.
- Shadow your peers.
What jobs can I do with sales experience?
Former Salespeople’s Most Common Career Paths
- Marketing Specialist.
- Corporate Strategist.
- Consultant.
- Operations Manager.
- Business Owner.