Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been in sales over 7 years now. I've had success, I've had many sales jobs, but there's a lot of things I've heard people generalize about sales jobs over the years that I feel just are totally inaccurate. Maybe it's a sign of the times, a new era, etc. But here's what I've heard:
1.Sales people are always out meeting potential clients
I disagree. Most of my time is in the office. The most meetings I've ever been able to schedule in a week is 7, never more than 3 in a day. 90% of my time is easily spent at a desk. People aren't willing to meet as much because communication done easily through email. That, and they just don't have an hour to spend out of their day to entertain a vendor.
2.Sales people make so much money
What economy do people live in today where sales people are making so much money? I've had some decent months where I've made a lot, but try selling products to companies who don't have money. Budgets are cut, people are losing jobs, businesses are going under. How are you supposed to get them to sign off on a big sale when they don't know if they'll be open next week?
3. Sales people come and go and are free to do what they want during the day
I had a woman actually say this to me. My boss is up my ***** constantly. He looks my numbers on a daily basis and if I'm not 120% over goal then I'm "Not Doing Enough". If your sales numbers aren't proving your worth (See bad economy), then you have to prove you're making the effort and things will turn around soon by spending long hours, making a lot of phone calls, and setting up more meetings (see #1).
4. Just make sure you sell on "Value" and not "Price"
Let me know how that works out for you when you sit down with someone and they say "we're just going to be deciding this on who gives us the best pricing. Or a prospect actually DOES return your call and says "I don't have time to meet you, just send me your price sheet". Or maybe you're dealing with an admin or coordinator who is just gathering info for their boss. You ask to meet their boss or speak with them and they say "no, I'm in charge of getting this information, but he makes the decision". Then you get an email weeks later "thanks for your time but we chose someone else who had a lower cost." Try having a conversation about "value" at that time and let me know how many you close.
5. Bad econony is no excuse, there's still people being successful despite that
This one I agree with for the most part. But sometimes you have a bad month. But to someone who's a baby-boomer and lived during the prosperous late 80's and 90's they don't think this recession is a big deal. That baby-boomer is your sales manager that thinks sales is easy. They never had to sell during a bad economy. I've never worked in a good economy. I've always heard "we're expecting a big economic turnaround and recovery by next quarter" since 2006. Still waiting for that....
Just thought I'd clear the air for those who think sales is such a sweet deal that pays out crazy money. It doesn't. It's never been harder to sell than it is today. People hide behind phones, technology, email, too busy, jobs on the line, working their job and 2 other people's jobs they let go, not able to spend a lot to stay in business, etc. I've done alright in my career, but there are definitely days where I wonder why I got into this profession.
Working in sales has changed since I started in the mid-90's, that's for sure. I caught the tail end of the era when you could still take clients out to lunch or leave behind a nice gift around the holidays. From talking to the older reps in my office they would tell me about taking clients out for the classic "three martini lunch" and then getting contracts signed when everyone had a good buzz on. Now the biggest gift my clients or prospects get is a $1 calendar.
Big change is how much security there is around buildings these days. I would usually visit a client and then go knocking on a few doors on either side of them to introduce myself. Even if nobody could see you, at least you could say hello to a receptionist and grab a business card to call/email the prospect for an appointment. Used to sell stuff to warehouses and manufacturing plants and used to be able to often walk in the back dock to see the warehouse manager. Those days are gone, companies keep the front door locked or have a security guard that won't help you at all.
It's not bad for outside sales people in the US, just different than it used to be. When I started I would spend each morning popping in to see clients, mix it up with a handful of cold calls and tried to have one set sales call to pick up an order. Then spend the afternoon filling orders, sending emails and working on quotes.
Now I can't even just pop into existing clients, need an appointment just to check up on them. Cold calling is all but dead, my prospects tend to have security guards, locked lobby doors or restrict sales people.
Spend the bulk of my day doing research on prospects now. It's more like playing detective than sales, but it is the nature of the beast these days.
I LMFAO every time a sales manager says that to me:
Just make sure you sell on "Value" and not "Price".
When a client can buy the same or very similar product/service for $400 from someone else. WTF would they buy from me at $800? Because I can provide "VALUE"? AHAHAHAHAHAAHAA!! Yeah, GOOD LUCK to "VALUE" because the guy who can sell it for $400 is also promising "VALUE".
Another example: 2 yrs ago, I needed to cut down 5 huge pine trees in my backyard. I had three contractors bidding for the job. All of them promised "Value" if I went with them. One contractor qouted me $7,000, 2nd contractor qouted me $3,000, the 3rd contractor qouted me $800. They all offered me to do their best. Guess which contractor I went with? LOL.
I've been in sales before. I spent 95% of my time marketing, prospecting, calling, looking, or begging for clients. I spent the other 5% Selling. I use to tell my sales manager, this is not a sales job, it's a fracking marketing job.
Having been in sales over 10 year I agree with your manager on #4. I worked for a low cost leader and what I found is that if you can't add value to low price they will just grind you down for another 100 off, then another 100 off. You have to sell at a competitive price and you have to be able to talk about why your company is good, and most importantly why you are the right person to buy from. Value and comp. price go hand in hand.
With the economy bad I focus on selling things people already use, even if that means transactional commodity selling. Trying to sell companies new equipment with some ROI model these days, good luck. In this economy if it ain't broken few are buying.
I've been in sales before. I spent 95% of my time marketing, prospecting, calling, looking, or begging for clients. I spent the other 5% Selling. I use to tell my sales manager, this is not a sales job, it's a fracking marketing job.
Strangely when I try to pimp my marketing credentials and experience....I get slammed and asked what that has to do with sales.
Marketing = sales as far as I'm concerned.....you'd be surprised how many people can't figure it out. Phone sales went out with 1-800-collect and beepers.
My region still has trouble understanding this thing called "e-commerce". They seem to think it's some sort or pun or play on words for "whiz" kids working at Microsoft.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
