A career in sales offers a promising and prosperous future for talented individuals who can successfully close a deal. Despite the financial allure of a sales career path, many young professionals are unsure what opportunities await them in this exciting field.
With the right guidance, your career in sales can quickly take off. Here’s your go-to-guide for a sales career path, the roles you’ll need to become familiar with, and what salary to expect.
What Does A Sales Career Entail?
With a sales career, you will typically work within a company that provides products or services to customers and clients. You may specialize in one particular area, such as real estate sales or insurance sales, or you may be a generalist who is comfortable working with any product.
As a sales professional, your primary goal will be to generate new leads and convert them into customers or clients. This will require you to have excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and a confident demeanor that exudes professionalism and trustworthiness.
How To Succeed In Sales
Everybody has to start somewhere, and most sales professionals start off in a minor position where they either pursue relatively minor sales projects or attempt to upsell an already established client. Likewise, rather than throwing new salespersons into the deep end and hoping they swim, many sales teams will have newcomers pursue the recruiting of new team members or the cross-selling of existing customers.
Progressing upward through your career in sales requires charisma, perseverance, and an ability to close deals and bolster your image in the eyes of your manager.
Those pursuing a sales management career path may need to put in a few years as a basic salesperson before they’re entrusted with overseeing and encouraging other professionals. Sales management is a career path that requires excellent leadership skills and the ability to sell. As a sales manager, it will be your job to oversee a team of salespeople and help them close deals while also keeping clients happy.
The best sales companies understand that their most valuable asset is their people. Without a top-performing sales team, it’s impossible to hit quotas, reach goals, or bring in the revenue necessary to stay afloat. For this reason, top sales companies invest heavily in their employees, offering comprehensive training programs and plenty of growth opportunities.
Some of the best sales companies to work for include American Express, GoDaddy, and Google. These companies have a reputation for providing industry-leading training programs that equip entry-level professionals with all the skills they need to succeed in their roles.
In addition to comprehensive training, these top sales companies also offer competitive salaries and commission structures that allow employees to earn a significantly higher income than most professions.
How Much Does A Sales Job Pay?
The salary that a successful salesperson takes home can vary depending on the industry. According to one report from CNBC, a medical device sales-rep in charge of pushing life-saving equipment could take home up to $80,000+ annually. Realtors, on the other hand, may end up taking home six-digit salaries if they manage to sell valuable real estate during a boom period in the housing market.
There are different occupations falling under the sales career umbrella, including advertising, insurance, retail, travel, real estate, financial services, technology, and wholesale and manufacturing. Modeling and cashiering are also classified as sales jobs because they offer services and solutions.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for sales workers and specialists will remain high in the next few years since such roles remain critical to starting and maintaining a client base. Median salaries in this field also vary, depending on the nature of the work, type of company, location, and other factors. Annual pay can range from around $27,200 for cashiers to $104,000 for sales engineers.
More often than not, a salesperson’s salary is almost entirely dependent on how much they sell. Whether you work for a general recruiting firm or operate as a sales consultant in a niche industry, you’ll likely have a minor base salary plus a commission that encourages closing deals.
What It Takes To Start A Sales Career Path
Many sales positions require specialized knowledge to succeed.
A relevant bachelor’s degree may be needed to work sales in niche industries, like software or pharmaceuticals. For those seeking general employment in the recruiting industry, a human resources degree is often highly valued in the field of sales.
While a sales career path does not require a degree, those who work in lead development or manage massive business accounts may find that a degree helps them secure managerial positions that are otherwise unobtainable.
In some sales positions, such as retail or customer service, on-the-job training is all that’s needed to get started. For others, such as those working in advertising or manufacturing, full training and licensing may be required.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have a relevant degree. While educational credentials always help and never hurt, a talented go-getter who can convince others to purchase something can potentially make a nice living for themselves in sales without a college education.
Commercial titans like the Harvard Business Review have spent years identifying the best skills that top sales companies identify for successful salespeople to possess. Some of them include:
- Empathy, or the ability to feel what others feel so that you can forge a connection
- An ego-driven desire to succeed in the face of adversity
- Willingness to receive training from learned peers
If you have these skills, don’t let your lack of a degree stop you from chasing commercial success.
To start your sales career path, it’s important to research what jobs are available in your area and familiarize yourself with the skills that each position requires. In a competitive job market like today’s, it is essential to find ways to make your resume stand out.
Other skills that may help you succeed in a sales career include:
- Being able to quickly build rapport with others
- Having strong communication skills
- Being persuasive
- Being able to handle rejection
- Having a high level of energy
- Being organized
- Being results-oriented
With the right skillset, determination, and a willingness to put in the hard work needed to succeed, you can start your journey towards a rewarding career among the best sales companies.
Start Your Sales Career Path With BestCompaniesAZ
Ready to start earning considerable pay? The experts at BestCompaniesAZ can put you in contact with companies hiring for sales in virtually every industry. Great companies are hiring for sales roles now including Freedom Financial, Farmers Insurance, and GoDaddy. By compiling a list of the top sales companies to work for across Arizona, BestCompaniesAZ lets you compare sales positions based on salary, sector, location, and other preferences. With our team’s help, you’ll be able to find the perfect sales job for you and begin your career path towards success today.
Whether you want to start small and make face-to-face deals or pursue an account executive career path, BestCompaniesAZ will help you get your foot in the door of this fast-growing industry. To learn more about our services and start your sales career path with one of the best sales companies to work for, visit us online today.
Companies hiring for sales staff, specialists, and managers across Arizona are in desperate need of your talent. Visit BestCompaniesAZ today to find your dream career in sales.
