My wife is a teacher but is ready for a change. She is considering book sales, Rx sales, medical equipment, etc (any other sales ideas?). Does anyone have any specific advice (besides hotjobs and monster) on where to start? Or should she use a recruiter? Thanks!
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These type of job are easy to get but hard to hold on to since they are usually on commision only. Actually, the Sunday Newspaper are full of these type of jobs unless she likes to move to a different area of the country, use the local newspaper.
What type of sales experience does she have? I have met folks who went into teaching and people who came out of teaching... their conclusion, if someone think teaching is hard.. real world is much harder.
Oh, MM is correct. I am always open to lunch with hot sales rep, even in Subway, while decline meals in steak house from uh, not so hard sales rep.
My advice to a salesperson: If you ever are talking with someone and they mention FW, run as far away as you can as fast as possible. But be sure to cover all orifices as you run.
lostdude said:I am always open to lunch with hot sales rep, even in Subway, while decline meals in steak house from uh, not so hard sales rep.
My exceedingly hot, nymphomaniac ex girlfriend (from about 10 years ago) worked for Waste Management. She outsold any two other salesmen, as she was selling to small business owners who just wanted to be called on by a pretty girl.
Doesn't work so well for some other kinds of sales. Oddly enough, hot chicks don't do that well at selling cars, with very few exceptions.
I'm in sales and here are somethings I thought might help. 1. Business to Business is the best type of sales job IMHO. Business owners can be nasty at times but tend to treat sales people with some respect. Lets just say when you work retail you meet all types. 2. Expect to hear No alot. 3. Get all bonus, commmission, and payment schedules in writing. 4. It took a year of hard work to make below average money 5. It took 4 years of hard work to make good money. 6. The only thing that really matters is "the number". Just thought I would add my .02 cents
djohn said:My wife is a teacher but is ready for a change. She is considering book sales, Rx sales, medical equipment, etc (any other sales ideas?). Does anyone have any specific advice (besides hotjobs and monster) on where to start? Or should she use a recruiter? Thanks!
I changed careers from accounting to sales, several years ago.
It is very hard to break into sales from another career.
Good sales jobs are very difficult to find for anyone other than good looking women.
Although presented rather crudely in this thread, good looking women do very well in sales.
I did technical sales and one of our sales team was completely stupid, but was a very hot, young woman. She admittedly did not understand the products she was selling, but realized that sex sells and she played it to the max. I was constantly fighting her for top spot each month. (No pun intended)
Most sales jobs are very bad and pay very poorly. Even when you get into the six figure jobs with the bonuses and free trips, you have to fight to survive in a cutthroat environment.
I am looking at entering sales myself as its one of the few areas with potential high incomes and not requiring another college degree. My problem is that I am a very honest guy. I am not looking to lie to or screw over customers like so many sales positions expect you to do.
My question is: Where should an honest person go if they want to work in sales?
lowpricewanted said:My question is: Where should an honest person go if they want to work in sales?
Since I was in college, I always wanted to work in a very lucrative field. I started working for a real estate/mortgage broker doing marketing and customer service. Here at this company I realized that sales is the highest-paid profession in the world (potentially). I learned about refinancing and all that stuff and have been helping people with their loans. I read a lot and always give them as much information as I can and always show them the advantages/disadvantages of a specific loan. In the end it pays off knowing that you're offering your clients good advice. As far as monetary compensation, it's very rewarding. We charge between 2 and 2.5 points. I know people here at this company that just care about closing no matter what... and they do a lot of money... but I also know people that really care for the client... and they do much better... so I think that you can be successful in this field without screwing on people.
I have also thought of becoming a Financial Advisor... but from what I've read, I don't think a sales person can give honest financial advice... probably I will do it as a fee-only advisor. I think this is the way to go if you are honest and really want to avoid the conflict of interest.
OP, true salespeople are the ones who sold cookies and magazine subscriptions in school, went out for sports, and thrive on comeptition. Does she have that kind of drive and background?
If you want to use a webite, I recommend www.indeed.com.
Forget about a recruiter. Recruiters work with people with solid credentials in their field. They don't work with career changers.
StevenColorado said:OP, true salespeople are the ones who sold cookies and magazine subscriptions in school, went out for sports, and thrive on comeptition. Does she have that kind of drive and background?
If you want to use a webite, I recommend www.indeed.com.
Forget about a recruiter. Recruiters work with people with solid credentials in their field. They don't work with career changers.
nice link, thanks for the info!
There are a lot of outside sales position, it depends how "prestigious" it is. I looked at pharm sales without any outside sales experience, managed to get a few interviews, and were shot down by many through the phone or recruiting fairs stating that I didn't have any experience, of course I didn't really interview that well either because I wasn't all into the sales bit. There are a couple of recruiting companies that focus on outside sales (all entry). I can't remember the names, I'm sure a google search can net you something. Companies like Paychex, nabisco and etc all have some sort of outside sales thing going.
I've been working in outside B2B sales for a Fortune 50 company for the past 2 1/2 years. Graduated college in 2004. Suffice to say, B2B is the way to go for sales. I kinda went into it due to the economy at the time, not what I originally was planning to do out of college...looking more for marketing, PR-type jobs.
I think my job entails many aspects of business, as I've had to learn some simple accounting, working with HR people, etc. It definitely requires much learning. Definitely make sure your wife wants to get into it. It can be stressful and she probably will have erratic schedules. Like this week for example, I don't even think I had a chance to sit down and actually eat a lunch. A couple days, I didn't eat lunch until 3 or 4 pm...it may have well been my dinner.
But if she's a teacher, then I assume she can handle a fair amount of stress, which will come. Her experience teaching children I think is a bonus. A lot about sales is plain educating the customer. My company stresses being very honest and upfront with a customer so I never feel that I HAVE to lie in order to get something. True, I'm learning to manage my information, but I wouldn't compare that to blatant lying.
Money-wise, it's great! I don't think I could advance as quickly and make as much if say I worked in HR. I get paid a base salary and I try to live off of that. Any commission I earn is basically treated as a bonus and I sock that away in ING Direct.
Bottom-line is: 1) sales is stressful...there will be up and downs 2) make no mistake, sales has a demanding learning curve...both in product knowledge and working with people 3) if you do outside sales, you will be traveling alot. Sometimes, my accounts that I'm cool with, they let me hang out and do office work at their location on my laptop. 4)Another perk that I like is that I'm not confined to an office...which can be good and bad at the same time. Though I get mileage expensed, I've already logged over 40K miles on my 2 1/2 year old car...bought brand new at the end of 2004 5) it's a lonely job...true I meet many people, but it's in a business environment so there are agendas, though it is possible to joke around and build friendships. I've been asked to go hiking with one biz contact...one female office worker in one of my accounts asked me out! I love my monthly group meetings as I get to chat with my counterparts and we always go out and get drinks after the meetings 6) If you can manage your money well and get a decent base salary, use commission to really boost your savings
Oh yea, advice! You can try getting a list of Fortune 500 co. and going to their websites for career opportunities. Or if she goes to a physician, maybe ask them who they buy from, etc.
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