To a lot of people, talking about a career in sales has an odd ring to it. Working in sales or having a job in sales, sure. But a career?
Sales used to be considered a stepping stone in your career. It was something you did for a while, but you moved on and moved up once you got a good sense for how business works.
Things are different now. A lot of the jobs that people used to move up to are either disappearing or becoming less secure. At the same time, selling is becoming more appealing to people who want something more exciting than settling into a position that soon starts to feel routine.
If you’re interested in taking on a sales position, here are four reasons you should consider making a career out of it.
You’ll Never Be Out of Work
Every company needs salespeople. There’s simply no way to stay afloat unless someone is on their feet and selling your product. For that reason, salespeople are often the first position that gets staffed and the last position that gets cut.
Working in sales also gives you a lot of mobility. Sales is all about mastering a few core skills, not about the specifics of the thing you’re selling. That makes you highly adaptable. So, even if your company folds or the product you’re selling becomes obsolete, you’ll be able to apply your skills and sales experience to a new setting.
Sales is also guaranteed more longevity than many other positions because it is automation-proof. Salespeople do use automation tools to generate leads and process them more efficiently, but that doesn’t eliminate the need for a flesh-and-blood person reaching out to customers and building relationships with them.
You might have to change the way you do things as the technology evolves, but you’ll never be entirely replaced by it.
Good Salespeople Command High Rates
Good salespeople are incredibly valuable to companies. Every company wants to grow and generate more profits, but they can only do that by selling more. They’re willing, then, to pay top rates for highly skilled salespeople.
A lot of sales jobs are rewarded via commission rather than a salary. That’s good news to anyone who is either good at selling or can master the skills involved in selling effectively. The better you are at getting prospects to buy, the more money you can pull in yourself. And because no one is going to limit the number of sales you’re allowed to make, there’s practically no limit to how much you can earn.
Few Other Jobs Have as Much Freedom and Flexibility
Unless you’re an independent contractor or the founder of a very small business, you probably don’t have the kind of freedom and flexibility in your work that a salesperson does.
Salespeople are mostly left to their own devices. You’re expected to do your job well, but how you do it is really up to you. So long as you’re being productive, responsible, and managing your time properly, you can essentially design your own workday and create the schedule that allows you to perform optimally. There’s no rigid procedure in place that will stop you from succeeding on your own terms.
Most salespeople aren’t closely supervised. Instead, they’re kept motivated by the rewards that come from performing well. So long as you’re closing deals and making sales, that’s all that matters.
A Career in Sales Is Very Emotionally Rewarding
At its core, selling is about solving people’s problems. You’re reaching out to people whose lives and work cold be made easier by the product you’re offering. Since you’re doing something that’s genuinely good, the work will never feel soulless or pointless.
It’s also not a job that gets so comfortable and routine that you end up spending eight hours counting the minutes at your desk. It’s a really dynamic career. You’ll have to sell new products, find new ways to sell old products, and keep up with changing sales technology. This will give you constant opportunities to learn, grow, and improve.
And finally, but perhaps most importantly, there’s absolutely nothing that beats the high of closing a sale. The rush you get from doing it is so powerful that you’ll never get bored of it. It’s an intense kind of reward that you really can’t get when you’re working in other parts of a business.
