Any sales reps here? (employees, tips, wholesale, interview)

[geekduo]

I'm interviewing for a job as a sales rep. Not my chosen career, but hey, it pays halfway decent and I need a job. I sold appliances once for a while and the rep job would be for an appliance company. Anybody with any experience in this field? What did you think of the job? Anything I should know about it, good or bad? Any tips that would help with the interviews?

[NJ Chutzpah]

can you do cold calls?

[geekduo]

I didn't get the impression that cold call selling would be a part of the job, and I wouldn't want to do that either. It sounds like I will be maintaining relationships with stores in the area and doing training on appliance features for management and sales staff. It is for a nationally popular brand that virtually all stores already carry.

[At1WithNature]

I have 3 years of sales experience in a couple of different sales fields (i no longer do that as i know work for the government). It's an OK field simply due to the monetary gain. There is a lot of rejection but all that matters is that 1%. it's a good way to increase your social skills/ability to hit on women without fear of rejection. for me, it got stressful during the slow times because everybody at the company is depending on you to bring in income for the business, the employees, and all of their families. Sales is like a roller coaster. just take it 1 day at a time and leave your work at work! don't bring it home with you (that doesn't mean tangible things like papers, it means your thoughts).

[Foreverking]

I always wanted to be a mattress sales rep, it seemed like they just show up, talk to the manager about up coming new product, gave out tape mesures, and gave mattress training once in a while. Other than that, I thought they had the best jobs around.

[geekduo]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

I always wanted to be a mattress sales rep, it seemed like they just show up, talk to the manager about up coming new product, gave out tape mesures, and gave mattress training once in a while. Other than that, I thought they had the best jobs around.

That's kind of what I was thinking. All my favorite parts of being in sales without the uncertainty of commission work and the terrible hours. I was mainly wondering if there might be some down sides that I may not be aware of. Also any interview tips, I really need a job.

[Foreverking]

Originally Posted by geekduo

That's kind of what I was thinking. All my favorite parts of being in sales without the uncertainty of commission work and the terrible hours. I was mainly wondering if there might be some down sides that I may not be aware of. Also any interview tips, I really need a job.

I would know the company like the back of my hand. Know the company and the product. They will ask you what you know about company X, trust me. Be upbeat, know what year the company opened for business. be able to tell what year significant changes where made in the company. know the name of the CEO. Know where the product is sold. Basically if you can show you can do the job in the interview, then I don't see why they would not hire you.

[micrguy]

I've been in sales for over 12 years and love it, nothing like having the freedom to drive around all day, make sales calls and work out of my house. The type of sales job that you are describing is more of an account manager sales job, these jobs tend to be stable but usually pay less because you are calling on the same accounts every month or so. I have always had better luck in account manager jobs, I'm good at sales calls, but lousy at prospecting.

Here are a few questions that you need to ask: How big is the territory? Is overnight travel part of the job? Why are they hiring? Is this a new territory, a split territory or a territory that has been worked really well? What happened to the last rep and why did he leave?

My dad worked in the appliance field for years and had similar jobs. From what I remember, each year got tougher and tougher because all of the independent and regional appliance stores were being replaced by Best Buy, Circuit City, Lowes and Home Depot. One day I was in Wal-Mart with my dad and just saw his face drop when he noticed that they were selling one of his lines cheaper than his wholesale cost to his dealers. Each year his territory got larger and larger in order to create the same amount of business. The first year he was able to cover his whole territory and be home every night and when he left the appliance industry he was gone 4-5 nights in a row every two weeks.

One red flag is the turnover of the sales reps. Ask how long other sales reps stick around, if nobody has been there longer than 2 years I would really question it. As far as compensation, a big part of your compensation will be an expense account and mileage reimbursement. Find out how much they will give you to do your job, especially when it comes to paying your gas. On that note, if you are in outside sales, just be prepared to trash cars every 3-4 years and budget for it. I always try to buy late model imports with 80-90,000 miles on it(that way you get them cheap) and then try to squeeze another 60-70,000 miles out of them.

[geekduo]

Thanks for the insight Micrguy! The job is straight salary with bonuses and the coverage area is reasonable, 20 minutes to 1 hour from home. The mileage reimbursement rate is over double the cost of gas for my cummuter vehicle. I'll be working with all stores from the Mom and Pop's to Best Buy, etc.
I will ask about the turnover thing, that could be a flag. I remember working with one of the previous reps when I was on a sales floor, but I can't remember his name.

[micrguy]

Focus on selling them on the fact that you used to work retail and you know the business from that angle. I think retail is a great training ground for future outside sales jobs and I know many successful sales reps that got started in retail.

Look around at the ages of the other sales reps. My first sales jobs had a lot of younger sales reps, but that was because they had a reputation for hiring young reps, giving them a lot of training and then because of the reputation other companies would poach our reps after they had been there 2-3 years. So the reason that there was a lot of turnover after 2 years was due to headhunters and not the job. The first sales company that I worked for was pretty up front, they said that if you make past 2 years you will either make a lot of money because of all your repeat business re-ordering from you or you will have a headhunter call you.

This job sounds like it might be a good first step into outside sales.