Tag Archives: Sales career

Hitting “Reset”

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“The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”

—Thomas J. Watson, American businessman

I do like this quote. Mr. Watson was consummate salesman and a career business leader. You can read about his attempts at many careers “failures” as a teacher, butcher, bookkeeper, and even a variety of sales positions on his was to running IBM for over forty years. The idea is that no one is put in charge of running the company in their first position. The variety of positions and companies does provide the background of success and failures to learn and build upon.

Why are the best leadership skills learned from failures? The majority of new initiatives are not going to be a success. So, it is the ability to know the signs to head the other direction from the current endeavor. It is hard to say “stop” when you have been committed to a project, product line, people or a company. It is easier to continue the course until the issues “hit you over the head” and it is too late. Hitting “reset” is a large part of running a business and being a leader.


Getting The Sales Job You Want? Think backwards!

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Let’s assume you are looking for your idea sales job. It offers the money, position, the company and industry you want. So let’s, also, assume you got the job as describe above. It is time to think backwards. If you break down the process in which you got the job, it helps if think about the process in reverse order.

Working backwards:

  1. You connected and are trusted by the people at the company enough to receive an sales job offer
  2. You had the experience, education, and skills that they were looking for
  3. You took the initiative to seek out that interview with the industry, company and position that you desired
  4. You put together a professional sales focused resume
  5. You sought out an educational background, internships, and experience necessary for a sales role
  6. You did the research necessary to see if sales was a career that you wanted to pursue (You read my book “Your Sales Career Strategy”)
  7. You listened to trusted career advisors (your family and friends) about what careers that you might enjoy

Without a doubt, you must start the sales career search process with the end goal in mind to achieve the results of where you want to be with your desired career goals. I wish you the best of luck with attaining your sales career aspirations and remember think backwards!

Chris
Author of “Your Sales Career Strategy”
A guidebook for researching a successful career in outside sales

Pharma Reps under fire

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Pharma Reps under fire – 13% of sales calls deemed a waste 87% of sales calls a success! In a recent report by ZS Associates, the article highlights that 13% of pharma reps won’t gain access to doctors on their sales calls. Although some might describe this as a waste of resources by some, the sales reps role and value has not changed. The sales representative still provides the best resource for doctors to receive the latest promotion and market feedback loop for their companies. If you compare this to alternative marketing efforts (print media, tv, online, etc.), this investment is still the best value for their companies. It is amazing to me how the value of sales representatives is always understated – especially for pharma sales representatives. Keep the faith sales people, you are still the most important marketing effort that your company has.

Regards,

Chris
Author of “Your Sales Career Strategy”
A guidebook for researching a successful career in outside sales

It is time for food, family and networking!!

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Holiday season is here! For those college students home for Thanksgiving, do not forget to network with your family members about your interest in becoming a sales person. If graduation is quickly approaching, time is of the essence to start planning your sales career.

As the turkey is hitting the table, the discussion will more than likely revolve around the economy and around how everyone’s 401K has been cut in half. It will be important for you to divert the discussion at some point with Uncle Charlie or Aunt Sue to start networking for internships and entry level sales positions.

Here is a short list of questions you can ask of your family and friends that might stimulate discussions for your benefit:

What industries do they see emerging during this soft economy? There are some industries that actually benefit from a soft economy (the bill collection business is an obvious one).
Do they know of any company that they view as a strong company (great leadership and proven results) that they would target if they were you?
Do they have any contacts that they would forward your resume to and make a recommendation for you?
Can they recommend a sales person to contact as a potential mentor?
Are there sales people they know that you could “shadow” for a day or two?

This is a starting point for you to get going. I am sure you can craft your own questions that are important to you. The main point is for you put down the game controller and ask your family the questions. If you don’t, you are missing a golden opportunity. Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris
Author of “Your Sales Career Strategy”
A guidebook for researching a successful career in outside sales