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Working in sales

It is strange to refer to the "sales industry" when, in fact, sales professionals work across many different industries. The knowledge required to work in sales can vary dramatically from business to business.

Sales professionals need to be very personable with excellent communication skills. They need to have the ability to persuade and be able to build strong relationships with customers quickly.

There are a wide variety of different roles available:

• Account Manager - These roles typically have an established customer base. The skill to account management is to maximise the sales per client,through either selling more existing products or cross-selling products the customer doesn't already have.
• Field Sales - Typically remotely based and spend a great deal of their time visiting customers at their place of work. Most field sales roles involve a large element of new sales, i.e. identifying and securing new clients.
• Business Development - These roles are usually a mixture of selling to new customers and developing existing. The roles are often office-based with an element of travel.
• Telesales - Telephone-based and either inbound (the customer calls you) or outbound (you call the customer). Telesales require specific skills as you are selling to a customer without any physical contact.
• Direct Sales - Usually involve selling directly to the general public.
• Sales Manager - Motivating and leading a team of sales professionals. Sales managers are skilled at motivating, inspiring and leading a team to achieve sales targets.

There are very few industries where sales roles do not exist and so the opportunity and diversity of these roles is great. Successful sales professionals are very highly remunerated, and often receive a percentage of the value of the sales they have made.

If you're ready to take the next step in your sales career, or would like to enter this challenging but rewarding industry, contact your local Search office for more details.

We look forward to working with you.