5 Benefits of Learning Sales...
Salespeople are the engine of the world economy.
In this blog, I’m going to share the top 5 takeaways I’ve experienced from working in Tech Sales & Business development for the past 8 months.
(Side note, to avoid being biased, I'll share 3 drawbacks of the profession at the end of the blog )
Why read this?
Learning to sell is a superpower that can print you money whenever you like, and no recession or person will ever be able to take this skillset from you…
You and I are selling every day…
Whether your friend wants Chinese and you want fried chicken, your dad wants to go to Barcelona and you want to go to Amsterdam…
We’re often trying to persuade or dissuade people on certain topics all the time. And help them see our own point of view.
2 years ago had 0 experience in Sales,
So no matter where you're at now in your career, this blog will be helpful for the curious,
Here’s my top 5 takeaways over the past 18 months,
- Sales is a Highly Transferable Skill (AKA 'HTS')
- Hugely Valuable for Personal development & Job Flexibility
- Job security
- Career Mobility & Growth
- Money
Transferable skills:
This is by far one of the BEST things about learning Sales...
The skills you gain as a sales rep will be valuable throughout your entire working life and also, personal life...
Sales skills are highly transferable. Meaning, you'll learn and be able to transfer a whole bunch of other skills on top.
Whether you decide to stay in tech sales or move on to a different industry like Marketing, Product, Operations, Customer Success…
Sales. Opens. Many. Doors. (if there’s one thing you remember, make it this)
Examples of transferable skills are; communication, listening skills, negotiation skills, and relationship-building.
Some other skills you'll practice are
- Leadership and People Management ⏰ ...
- Emotional Intelligence 🧠 ...
- Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking 🎱 ...
- Data Analysis 📊 ...
- Teamwork 🎯
- Copy Writing ✍🏼
In addition, it's a crucial skill to have if you want to start your own business.
Personal example: I’ve delivered presentations to C-level executives, software engineers, data scientists, and data analysts from the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Kenya, South Africa, Ireland, U.S.A.…
Through these experiences, I've learned lots about how to interact with unique personalities.
Personal Development & Flexibility:
Sales is a rejection-dense profession. You’ll often get told ‘no’ and face many objections.
As a sales or business development representative, your role involves getting people to agree to give up 15-30 minutes of their time so you can learn about their problems and challenges and then show them how your company's product or service can help solve their problems.
Remember how your parents used to say ‘You have to be thick-skinned out there’
Well, sales will build that thick skin for you, as you will need to show grit, and resilience and be calm and composed enough to handle objections and 'no's.
Flexibility:
On flexibility. A lot of sales roles are becoming remote. All you need is your laptop and internet connection.
So if you’re a stay-at-home mom, or want to work for a company across the Atlantic, you can easily work in sales.
The caveat is, if you’re very early in your career, I encourage you to be more social and aim for a role where you can walk into an office.
Your rate of learning will be a lot quicker…
Job security…
There’s only one way businesses generate profit, more sales. As long as you're hitting your sales targets, you’ll find high job security in sales.
The key is to become ‘so good they can’t ignore you’...
If you’re achieving great results and have solid relationships with your colleagues and customers,
Your company should highly appreciate your efforts and wouldn’t be willing to lose you. The caveat is, that it’s on you to get good at the skill and be accountable for your targets.
Even with this said, don't get extremely comfortable...
The nature of any job is you will always be replaceable, so there’s an extent to the job security throughout your entire career and the companies you work for. And if you get complacent or lazy in sales, you can definitely risk getting fired.
Career Mobility
Sales and marketing positions ranked second for the most in-demand positions, as of 2022.
Good tech companies will have a clear career path within an organization that employees can work toward.
Example, For me, I’m currently an inbound sales rep, and the next step would be an outbound sales rep and account executive. And the best part is, if you get really good, you can fast-track your success and progress quicker.
Money
Probably one of the most popular points in this list…
As per the above image, the average salary for a Sales Development Representative (aka, ‘SDR’) is £39,000/year in the UK (around $50,000 in U.S. dollars).
If money is important to you, earning a commission will be fun.
The average additional compensation for a rep in the UK is £9k-£18k (on top of your base salary).
So providing you choose the right company, with a great product/service, at the right time (more on this in another blog)
Depending on your financial goals, it’s a great way to up your earnings.
Although there are many more I haven't mentioned,
That’s the top 5 benefits I’ve experienced so far,
Now,
The Drawbacks:
This is very very subjective to the individual, so I will only speak on my behalf…
- Higher stress
- You have a target to hit as you’re fully accountable for your number. Your manager will be there to support you, however you have to be someone who works hard and smart so you can deliver results.
- Pressure can be higher in a sales role, and you can definitely combat this by being prepared and hard working.
- High competition
- If you don’t like competition or challenges, there’s a chance being in a sales role might not align with your motivators.
- Sales is like a sport, and if you like sports/ competitions then you can channel this energy into the role…!
- It takes a strong work ethic…
- If you’re not willing to work hard, embrace failure, take a few hooks to the chin and get back up again… and prefer a more laid-back job where you don’t have to work as hard...
I think you should unsubscribe.
Just kidding. Hard work is essential in any role.
Sales is the equivalent to running your own mini business within a larger set of businesses, so be prepared to work harder (and smarter) than a more laid-back role.
I trust this blog post was helpful to some of you (I hope so as I spent a lot of time writing this up lol).
So be brave and let me know if you’re more curious about Sales than before you read this blog.
If not, turns out I may not be as good at sales as I thought.
In a future post, I’ll cover a bit more
I don’t ask for a lot, but If you did enjoy this, consider taking a moment to share with a family member or friend.
And if you’re keen on more personal development content, connect with me on LinkedIn or TikTok where I’m sharing nuggets each week.
See you soon.