A Career in Sales

A Career in Sales is an enormously dynamic sphere of the business world in which graduates are able to gain excellent financial reward and progress very quickly up the professional ladder.

A Career In Sales
Essentially, corporate sales involves business-to-business selling, where sales are directed at board level of a company rather than towards an individual consumer. As a corporate sales person you will be expected to maintain and develop relationships with existing clients and to find new business selling your company's products/services. You will therefore spend the vast majority of each day speaking to clients, cold calling and negotiating.

You will almost certainly have to reach performance related targets and will be rewarded for this with commission or profit related pay, commonly referred to as Performance Related Pay (PRP). This puts the pressure on but the reward for success is superb, with the majority of candidates entering into a job with On Target Earnings of £30-35k.

There is also plenty of opportunity for rapid progression within corporate sales. The sales department is generally perceived as the engine of a company because it drives the company forward, so people are rewarded for producing this revenue. Due to the high profile of the profession, there are many opportunities to move into management and other senior positions.

What qualities do you need for a career in sales?
Well, because you will be required to conduct face-face meetings, you need to be extremely confident in your own abilities and able to build rapport with colleagues and clients quickly and effectively.

You will also need a good telephone manner, persistence and loads of energy and enthusiasm. Excellent interpersonal skills are a must, as are persuasive verbal skills and resilience - you need to be able to pick yourself up after that big deal has fallen through.

A professional appearance and manner is also essential and you must be articulate and show initiative and motivation. If you can demonstrate these skills, companies are not generally fussy about what subject degree you achieved – they just want to know you have a certain level of education.

The job can be tough – you are likely to work in a high-pressured environment and may work long hours. But the rewards are immense. Apart from the obvious financial benefits, you may well be asked to travel and you will meet a huge number of people.

For more information contact:
Association of Business Schools
www.the-abs.org.uk

If you are seeking employment Join Xcel now for free, Job information please fill in the Career Information form

The College Information service is your free, Study information service, helping you find out about study opportunities at colleges and universities