How to begin your career in sales

How to begin your career in sales

• 1.
  How to beginyour career in sales/marketing? When one begins a career in sales/marketing there are lot of hopes and aspirations. We look forward to a vibrant career where we will meet lot of people and get involved in lot of action. But in the initial stages of our career most of us face many problems which dispirit us, degrade our enthusiasm and sometimes even force us to question our career choice. In this post I try to discuss some of the problems we face as beginners in this field. 1. Lack of respect/acknowledgement from the people you interact. Many a times the people with whom you interact will be much more experienced than you, especially when you go out of your company. Not all of them will be good spirited enough to give you recognition after learning the fact that you are a fresher, especially if the product you are handling is a bit complicated or expensive. Learn to talk confidently; don’t hesitate to get your doubts cleared. At the same time share your knowledge also. That way you will learn things quickly. Don’t forget that not only beginners, all the people in the industry are wary of lack of acknowledgement. 2. Dearth of contacts in the industry. To improve your network in the industry find a mentor who is having good contacts and who is willing to help you. Sometimes your own relatives will be there well established in the industry. Whenever you meet people strike a meaningful conversation with them so that they will remember you. Have a clear networking plan for yourself. Use your existing contacts to widen your network. Join online groups, attend functions/seminars of the industry. Workout how all you can improve your contacts. Whenever you go for a seminar or party where people from and sales and marketing is the majority you will feel dejected as all others seem to know each other and you are only one who is all alone. In such situations don’t panic. Regain your composure and look around. You will find many others who are facing the same problem. You just have to wear a confident smile and go to any of those people and introduce yourself. Soon you will find yourself meeting new people and moving around. 3. Lack of proper training
• 2.
  Some times whenyou meet a customer or when are in gathering of people from your industry, you face situations where you will not able to answer all the questions tossed towards you. Some times such situation can embarrass you also. Try to avoid such incidents as in the industry the first impression always counts. Learn in detail about what you are going to sell. Prepare a list of questions you may face and get answers for all of them. Take help from your immediate seniors. Ask them to share their experiences. 4. Learning how to talk to people. Some people find it extremely difficult to start conversation with prospects, customers, industry peers and some times your seniors also. Make it a practice to meet and have a talk with minimum 10 strangers in any social gathering. Keep in mind the common ‘small talk’ guidelines like listening, not forcing your ideas. 5. How to implement new ideas/procedures. It must have happened with many of you. You joined an established company and you are trying to implement a new method of marketing or sales of which you are absolutely confident. But the people in your office either don’t approve of it or they ignore it. Here you are forgetting one important fact. The idea/method is your child and you have to market it the way you market your product. These people in your office in the beginning of their career must have taken many initiatives but have miserably failed to get results. Now it’s your duty to create a need for a change in the minds of these people as only you have hundred percent faith in your initiative. Instead of directly promoting your idea it is always better to indirectly make people understand the benefits of such a change. 6. When your initiatives don’t give results. Many of us want our career to be perfect and are not ready to accept any setbacks in any of our ventures. If something goes wrong they became depressed and desperate. This is a hurdle all of us have to surpass in the beginning of a sales/marketing career. It will occur to you that no matter how much effort you are putting, the end results are always negative. The prospects with whom you spend a lot time, turns you down in the last moment. But you must recognize the fact that the initial disappointments are a part of any career and especially if you are into sales/marketing you have to deal with it. Once in a while you should sit back and analyze what you have done, find out what your mistakes were and formulate a better plan learning from your mistakes.
• 3.
  7. When youare intimidated by sales target for you. First and foremost believe in yourself. If your senior believes that you can achieve your target then why don’t you. Instead of getting intimidated by the targets, congratulate yourself for gaining your senior’s confidence. Form plans for achieving your target. List down the leads and opportunities you have and work out how to convert them into orders. You are in the beginning of your career. You are expected to give your maximum rather than achieving the targets. 8. How to get it going. Whatever we have discussed above give you an idea how things are and what are the options you have. Now how to get it going. Read good literature; books, web pages and blogs in which people share their experiences. Get help from your seniors and colleagues. Each of us different set of capabilities. Understand and analyze what you want to achieve and create a master plan of how you are going to achieve it. I will recommend some books, blogs and websites for your reading. www.captureplanning.com www.mpdailyfix.com www.sethgodin.typepad.com www.churchofcustomers.com Harvard Business Reviews Marketing Management-Philip Kotler The Guru Guide to Marketing-Joseph H Boyett