Is sales a good career?

Doesn’t sales involve taking on pressure?

What if I’m not good at it?

What if I get rejected?

Will I ever grow to a leadership role?

I had all these questions twirling in my head when I was asked to join the sales team. Fast forward to today, after spending 15+ years in this profession, let me answer these questions one by one.

Doesn’t sales involve taking on pressure?

Yes it does, but which role doesn’t?! When, that’s the case with all professions, isn’t it just better that you take on the most rewarding of them all? Without getting into cliches of ‘coal turning into diamond’ examples, it’s a well-known fact that you learn and grow only when you have to undergo situations of stress. That doesn’t mean that you take undue stress, so much so that you are depressed. Instead, use the stress to better yourself so that the ride becomes easier along the way. I have another blog on the topic of mnaging stress in sales. Go through it for some practical advices to reduce stress and excel in your sales career.

What if I’m not good at it?

That’s a fair point. And in the beginning, of course you’ll not be good at it. But isn’t that the case with everything in life. In fact you weren’t even good at walking for the first year of your life. Or cycling for that matter. I’m sure that’s not the case now.

So, what was the reason for you to become good at these things? Practice. Like every skill in life, sales is something that you have to learn and grow at constantly. And the good thing is that there are plenty of resources available to do that in today’s world. You can take courses on it, watch videos, listen to audio-books, read books on the subject. This has to be a constant effort though, There will never be a time when you know it all. If you just want to start with the first step: The best place is to get an Audible membership. Want to save on some money initially, then there are other free resources, you can consider too.

What if I get rejected? That’s the biggest question that prevents people from getting into sales and dare I say, not reaching their potential. Let’s tackle the question itself: Contrary to popular belief, we have faced rejection since we were babies. Remember the ice cream example from my previous blog? On average, a toddler is told the word ‘No’ 400 times in a day (https://www.redbookmag.com/life/mom-kids/advice/a2560/how-to-say-no), but they continue to pursue the things they really want. It’s just that as we get older, we get a lot more thin-skinned. Obviously as a human being, that’s something that you can’t just overlook altogether. Instead, you get better at it with each passing experience. In fact there is a fantastic book on it if you want to go over one writer’s perspective on it. Overcome this fear, and you’ll suddenly feel a lot more liberated to hold the proverbial ‘bull by it’s horns’.

Will I ever grow to a leadership role? That’s a question that students typically want to know for any professions. And it’s understandable, as that’s an important parameter to consider if you want to understand your chances of being in the echelons of your industry. So let me break it to you: Sales professionals are among the people who quite often make it to the top. While this isn’t typical for every sales person, I know from experience that most sales folks who have been good at their job, and thereafter are good sales managers/leaders, have quite a high chance to lead their company in the future. This is not just true for the companies I have known but even for entrepreneurial success. 

CONCLUSION

Sales profession or not, negative thoughts or naysayers will derail anything you wish to achieve, unless you make a conscious effort to look beyond it. For anyone who is trying to start out in the world of sales, remember that sales is one career option that’ll enable you to maximize your potential and impact in the word. If you want to be in a profession, that challenges you enough to get the best out of you, provides you success with respect to money and position, then that’s the reason why you should get into sales.