Starting A Career In Sales? 5 x Tips To Help Guide You
Starting a career in sales?
First of all; congratulations! When done correctly, sales can be a very exciting and lucrative career choice.
So where do you start, and what should be your first priority?
In this article, we’ll give you five tips that have helped other Salespeople starting a career in sales, so that you too can benefit without having to wait years and years to succeed.
Starting A Career In Sales? 5 x Tips To Help Guide You
Starting A Career In Sales Tip #1 – Embrace Small Mistakes
One of the first things to understand when you’re starting a career in sales, is that you will make mistakes.
Most people fear potentially making mistakes and are scared of what it will mean if they fail.
Although this is completely natural; we should be conscious that mistakes are made by everyone and failing at sales tasks can be some of our biggest teachers and lessons.
Yes – we should try to ensure we do things correctly, however if you’re starting a career in sales with the mindset that you don’t want to make any mistakes – you’ll take no risks.
If you take no risks, you’ll receive no reward.
Obviously, this is very much dependant on the kind of risks you’re going to take, but we mean this with the context in regard to innovation.
Innovative behaviour is important for Sales Professionals, and often runs in alignment with risk.
With risk, comes the potential for making mistakes – and that’s OK.
Embrace that they will occur and are a part of the process.
More importantly, embrace mistakes like a student, and allow yourself the opportunity to learn from them.
Related article: How To Be A Good Salesman – Your Ultimate Guide
Starting A Career In Sales Tip #2 – Know Your Audience
Another important tip when starting a career in sales, is to know your audience.
Who are you selling to; and what do they want?
And can you in fact serve them with your new career in sales?
We’re going to look at three key areas here:
- What do they want?
- What are you selling?
- Can you help them?
What Do They Want?
Another important lesson; especially if you’re just starting a career in sales; is to understand that a successful Sales Professional approaches their selling, like a Doctor would approach their patient.
This means instead of prematurely presenting and hoping something will stick; they learn or know their potential client’s issues and prescribe solutions instead.
Prior to pitching your product or service; do a quick exercise with your Sales Manager and work colleagues, and find out what your potential clients want?
What problems do they want solving? Why do they reach out to your company in the first place, and why you should reach out to them?
Related article: The Sales Process – A Step By Step Guide
What Are You Selling?
Many people who are just starting a career in sales, think that they’re selling the actual product or service. They think the actual physical, digital item or service is what people are buying.
This couldn’t be further than the truth.
People don’t buy a drill; they buy the end result of a hole in the wall.
The same goes for luxury watches; people aren’t buying the watch.
They’re buying what they think people will think when they notice the watch, and the feeling of an elevated status by owning a luxury product.
Ask yourself a question, and be as honest and open as possible – what does it mean when people buy your product or service? What does it mean when they own it?
Sell the meaning – not the product or service.
Related article: Why People Buy
Can You Help Them?
Now that you know that you’re solving people’s issues as a Sales Professional, and secondly – they’re buying what it will mean when they own it; the next part to understand when starting a career in sales is to identify whether or not you can actually help them.
Many Salespeople think that their job is to help everybody they can.
This mindset is flawed and will actually damage your sales efforts.
Not to mentioned, it will leave you with unhappy customers if they buy something they don’t need.
We recommend using a qualification process called BANT.
Check out the related article below to learn how to use this.
Related article: BANT In Sales – How Does It Work?
Starting A Career In Sales Tip #3 – Become A Master At Questioning
Asking great and purposeful questions will be the most powerful thing you can learn when starting a career in sales.
Asking questions will:
- Help you learn their situation
- Build rapport
- Understand their pain points
- Find out what they want to achieve
- Learn their desired outcome
- Help them sell themselves
Deep diving questions can help you uncover each of these areas mentioned above, which will inch you closer towards the sale.
At The 5% Institute, we teach Sales Professionals to help people sell themselves, rather than you do all the hard selling.
To learn how to use questions in this manner, check out the related article below.
Related article: Tie Down Sales Techniques – Your Ultimate Guide
Starting A Career In Sales Tip #4 – Don’t Present Too Early
As previously mentioned in this article, as per our article in Entrepreneur.com; you should never present an idea, or start prescribing solutions without knowing their exact problems, and how to solve them.
When you’re starting a career in sales, you’ll start noticing colleagues and other people around your prematurely presenting.
Don’t fall for this trap – it’s lazy behaviour, and actually damages your results.
Instead, we recommend using a consultative selling approach, so you can find out what it is they’re wanting to achieve, and then present in a way that demonstrates how you can solve it.
Related article: 10 x Effective Sales Presentation Tips You Need To Use
Starting A Career In Sales Tip #5 – Get The Right Training
Sales Professionals who get the right training up front close more deals, build better relationships, and become a lot more successful quicker than those that use hope as a strategy.
We should never stop learning, and you should continually add to your personal development so that you progress a little more each day.
Sales training can be very beneficial, because instead of learning from people’s bad mistakes, or having to wait years and years to find out what works – you can invest in a sales course which’ll give you exactly what you need up front in a short period of time.
To learn more about investing in your future, as well as short cutting the time to learn what you need to know to succeed in sales, check out The 5% Sales Blueprint by clicking here.
