One of the best things about a career in sales is that once you’ve gained solid selling skills you can move on to many different career paths and you don’t necessarily need to work under someone or in an organization. In fact there are many ways in which you can run on your own. Here are some career paths that a salesperson can take.
A life in fast lane is what a career in sales guarantees, more than anything. A trend that is highly observable is that most sales people get their first mobile, car, home earlier than people in other profession. This effectively means that salespeople do get paid well for what they do. This trend doesn’t discriminate between those who are employed at an organization or are self-employed. If anything, self-employed are often doing better than their salaried counterparts depending on the sales and other individual skills required to make it big. Here are some career paths that people in sales can take:
Corporate Management
If you are looking for an opportunity to get people work under you and manage budgets and that too without going through the risk and pain of starting your own company, you could begin with a sales based company and climb up the ladder. You can climb your way up with the same company or change companies as you progress to regional manager, sales manager, sales vice-president and if luck favors , perhaps CEO. Running an entire company being in sales isn’t as unlikely as it seems. Many in top management come through the sales department. It is the sales department which drives the top line, which is actually management; speak for revenue, profit and loss statement whenever you feel like. With great responsibilities on your shoulder, it is only fitting to expect a fat pay package and other goodies along with it. There could also stock options and other perks.
Full-time Sales
If you live and breathe sales, and all you want to do is selling than simply pursue a career as sales professional. You might change companies, brands or products, but you will always be the salesperson that you want to be. What kind of money you earn totally depends on your skills and abilities. The other benefit of a field job that every sales person will tell you about is the ability to control your schedule. You will be seldom required to be present at the office doing nothing but sitting at the desktop. There will be, of course, challenges like meeting a weekly or monthly target and hours long sales meetings, but besides that the life of a sales guy is pretty much easy. Most companies felicitate top performers through cash awards and public recognitions. After years of experience you will move up the ladder and you can apply to sales head positions in companies.
Business Owner
If you have the entrepreneurial spirit and want to do something out of the league then starting your own sales company is a viable option. If you want to get into direct sales business then you will have to contact a company whose products you want to sell. You can order the distributor’s kit online by visiting the company website. It is important to sell products that you believe in as your enthusiasm and confidence in the products can help you enhance your selling success. However, as a business owner you have to be prepared for a lot of initial setbacks, and public scrutiny, lean patches and harsh words of customers. Your earnings will be uneven and now you will have to care about sales and expenses because your compensation is based on the difference between these two.
Franchise Owner
If you want to enjoy the experience of starting your own sales business without having to start it from scratch and going through all the risks the best idea is to take a franchise of a brand which has already proven itself. From fast food to computers to travel companies, almost every big business has a franchisee model. By being a franchise owner you can claim to be self-employed sales person, all responsible for himself and his employees. The earnings will be based on your management skills, economic conditions and a lot of luck.
