life in sales

I have been wanting to write about life in sales but was unsuccessful for the longest time. Probably because my experience is not that established yet and up until now I am still learning the ins and outs of sales.

I have been with an IT distributor for 2 years, 8 months and 19 days to be exact. Still seems pretty short right? But for me it seems like a long time. Promise. Here are some of the things that I have realized in that period:

1.)    There is no work that is easy to do – Each job entails challenges and difficulties. It is up to you on how to manage everything, get it done or exceed expectations since this is why you got hired to the job.

For sales, the daily challenge is to meet the quotas and targets. Easy to say but challenging to achieve. You just have to use your arsenal of talent with your charming personality and a bit of luck. You might just reach what you do.

2.)    Don’t expect any sale if you did not work for it – Since majority of sales people have commissions, they need to earn it by visiting and calling the clients, making proposals, checking the stocks and everything. EVERYTHING! From collection of due accounts, monitoring of store level stocks. Everything! There are chances of getting sales while just seating in the office but those are rare cases. Sales is like planting: you have to place the seed, nurture it, protect it from the elements and grow it to a big tree. Like I said, it is HARDWORK!

3.)    There is no such thing as perfect – FAILURE! Not all proposals will lead to a sale. Most of the time, it ends in failure. Maybe because they still have stocks or that your product is not being asked by the customers or they don’t like you product at all. I have firsthand experiences of failure many times. I normally get depressed before but I learned to check what went wrong, learn from it, then move on. Your time would be better utilized if you get back on the horse and ride again  than mope around to lick your wounds<eiww>

4.)    Relationship is important – In order to continually grow your business strong relationship must be established with your clients. Each client is different so they should be treated differently. A successful relationship is built on trust and it should be maintained always. But we must always remember who we are working for. Your company must not be aggrieved. There must always be balance. Go for the WIN-WIN situation always!

These were just some the things that I’ve learned from that period. I know that these are not enough to merit me a part time teaching post or a book. The thing about sales is that it is always challenging. I am not saying it’s hard because that would be a bit leaning to the negative side. Challenging is a more positive one. And I am still learning more and more each day. Like they say, each day is a new day.

Sales is still one of the most financially rewarding career in the entire world. Yes, all can do sales, but not all can handle the challenge. J