How to have a great sales career

A recent article in New Scientist offered hope for any would be genius by debunking the idea that greatness depends on being born smart. Apparently, having a high IQ or any other natural talent, doesnt give you any significant advantage. Even hothouse nurturing of gifted children does not produce any higher incidence of Nobel Prize winners or otherwise successful people.

The secret is out. What makes a genius is a modicum of talent, the right encouragement, favourable circumstances, and ten years or more of working five times harder than ordinary folk.

Few barriers stand in the way of getting a novice level sales job. You rarely need any qualifications. All you usually have to do is convince one or two people in one or two short interviews that you can do the job.

There is a vast difference between a bottom-rung sales role and being at the peak of the profession. Top sales people earn more than Prime Ministers do.

The following tips will help anyone with sufficient desire and determination to climb the ladder. Funnily enough, it takes most people about ten years.

1. Choose an industry, market, or product set that interests you. If you are interested, you will find it easier to become a subject expert.
2. Become a subject expert. Learn everything that you can about your chosen industry, market, and products or services. Do not wait for your employer to educate you. Read the books written by subject experts, sign up for the best ezines on the subject, and get on the circulation list for appropriate trade or industry magazines. If the subject matter is new to you, book yourself on a relevant evening class or distance learning programme.
3. Complete your apprenticeship. It is always tempting to take short cuts, particularly if you enjoy some early success. If you dont master the basics properly and talk yourself into a higher paid job too early, you may find yourself without the skills you need to succeed. This path leads to guaranteed hopping. Before long, you will have a series of jobs on your CV, some with very reputable companies and none longer than two years. Sales managers start to get suspicious when CVs have two or more consecutive short hops. In the early years, the best reason for changing jobs is to renew learning. As soon as a role ceases to challenge, find a tougher one.
4. Find a mentor. A mentor is someone who has done what you are planning to do and is willing to give you some time when you call. The protge usually has to maintain the Mentor relationship. A Mentor is very different from a coach. A manager can appoint a coach. As the student, you take what you can get by way of teachers. You have to choose a mentor or at least, be involved in the choice.
5. Be enthusiastic and welcoming around anyone willing to teach or coach you, regardless of their competence as a coach. Do not expect them to declare themselves. Often, teachers teach and coachs coach without ever being aware of their role or contribution. The people who most upset us are the ones from whom we can learn the most. The lessons we most need to learn are frequently the ones we least think we need.
6. Recognise early that you must win peoples trust before they will listen to you or allow you the freedom to demonstrate what you can do.
7. Learn something about everyone you speak with or meet. Collect their contact details and record how you met them and what you learnt about them. Otherwise, you will soon forget the details. All you are left with is a business card that you soon discard. It is never too soon to begin deliberately developing and maintaining a network of business contacts.
8. Set your career goal and make a development plan to acquire the skills and capabilities necessary for doing the job you ultimately want to have. Dont leave it to the benevolence of your employer. The wisdom of the world is available in books. In many cases, if you know what you are looking for, the advice, information, or knowledge is available free on the web.
9. Read professionally. Even if you can only manage a few pages a day, you can absorb three or four books a year. Develop your reading skills. Learn the OPIR method overview, preview, in view, review. Listen to audio books while driving. Using these methods, you can gain the equivalent of a degree level education, every two or three years.
10. Take the time to help others grow and develop along the way. It is repayment for all the lessons others taught you, it multiplies your contribution, and it equips you for taking on greater responsibility.

If this seems like a lot of work, it is. Its about five times as much work that most people are prepared to invest in their careers.

Top sales people contribute to the well being of many. If the sales they make arent made, a couple of dozen people dont have jobs. Top sales people are masters of the art of the possible. They are change agents who make things happen for others, or help others make things happen.

You can do it for the money. Extraordinary earnings depend on an extraordinary contribution.

By Clive Miller, Founder of SalesSense