The challenge about not knowing what your first job should be can be a mind boggling question. Unless you really know what is it that you want its a daunting task trying to figure out what job you should apply in the first place. The consolation is that while you graduate young you could afford to make mistakes as you try to figure out what type of job suits you best. Its alright if the first job chosen might not be the one that suits you after a while. Its a journey of discovery that you could afford to explore. You want to find a job that will teach you the most about people and life in the shortest possible timeso that you will be a better person.
The coomon perception of salesman is a guy or lady with a briefcase ready to convince you to part with your money and buy something that you might not really need in the end.
In sales, however you perceive it, will toughen you up eventually in your life.
Everything in life involves selling
In whatever do there will always be an element of selling and buying. If you would like to propose a certain place to go for holidays, you need to get your friends or partner to buy in the idea why the place chosen is much better than the rest. If you would like to convince your friends to watch a movie of your choice, you need share with them the wonderful and exciting feelings that they will experience if they were to watch the movie. If you wish to get your students to be interested in a particular topic, you need to get them to buy the idea how it can help them get better grades. So what better way to hone your selling skills except by getting involved in sales directly.
You become thick skinned
Handling rejections is one of the greatest challenge in sales as not many prospects will say yes to your proposals. Maybe none that you met in a day might even be bothered about your proposal. This will be tough for you in the initial stage however once you are used to the feeling, you would not be bothered about the number of rejections that you received in a day or a week. You will take everything is in your stride. Once you have got rid of the phobia of rejection, you would not be emotionally disturbed by this possibility. This will make you stronger mentally in life as we begin to learn to take rejections as part and parcel of our life experience.
You learn to focus
Sales is a numbers game. There is a need to meet budget numbers either every mnoth or every quarter of the year depending on the policies of the company. That isthe primary yardstick of a salesman. Thr quality of a striker is measured by the number of goals that they score. As for salesman, its all about the sales that they bring it. Therefore you learn to cultivate a laser sharp focus on what you really want to achieve every month for the long term goals of hitting or exceeding the annual sales number. Its a single minded pursuit. Yet it enhances your understanding about the need to fous.
You accept failure graciously
Not every prospect that you meet would be convinced about your proposal and decide to buy from you. With every rejection, you accept failure to close the deal with an open heart. If you fail to close the deals ten times, you would most likely learn a lot more on how best to lower the rate of failure and start to increase the rate of success. This is because every single failure will teach you a lesson. The question is wheth er you are brave enough toembrace the lessons learned and reactify your mistakes so that you mighthave a greater chance of success with your next prospect.
Aggresiveness is cultivated
When you are willing to face rejection and experience failure,you develop a degree of aggresiveness in your mindset. You understand that you will not get any brownie points by sharing with the company how many prospects that you meet and how hard you try to close the deal. You might win some sympathy however the fundamental fact is you don’t have the expected sales number to boast. Therefore if you are willing to land the prize, you will be even more aggressive in your plans and efforts. Nothing will stop you from achieving what you set out to do.
The greatest lessons are always in human interaction
You learn the most when you interact with your prospects and customers. They will pounce you with questions that you least expect. They will test you hard on your knowledge of the products that you are trying to sell them.Nothing in school and no amount of books will prepare you very well when it comes to human interactions. Yet that is where you will learn the most in the quickest possible time. With every single prospect or customer you will always learn something new. You need to find time toreflect and how best to approach the next situation.
How then can you not be a better person assuming that you embraceevery single lesson with an open heart?
You find a way to keep your word
When you are selling, you are not really selling products. You are selling confidence. The customer is not really buying from you because you have the greatest product in the world. The customer is buying the good feelings that he or she will experience. The customer trust that he or she will sleep better at night knowing very well that you will not shortchange them and will be there whenever they need your help. That iswhy you must always keep your word. Your word is your credibility. People will tend to believe you more if they can learn to trust you. In life, that is a very important asset as it reflect deeply on us with respect to our loved ones and our friends.
You will learn to enjoy travelling
Sales is about being in the field. Going over to prospect’s and customer’s place. It could be in the same town, country or elsewhere. Travelling needs energy and you want to look energetic and enthusiastic in front of your customers. It is a trying effort ye tif you are young physically or mentally, you will learn to enjoy it. You will learn to adapt to different cultures quickly and find time to enjoy the opportunity of travelling.
You indulge in the art of listening
Sale sis not about talking and talking. There will be a time to talk yet there will also be a time to listen. It is in the art of listening that we learn more about the needs of our prospects and customers. I tis in listening that we learn about patience and understanding. We cannot understand about the other party if we keep talking yet do not know when to stop talking. We learn to take a step back and appreciate the opinion of the other party.
Negotiate well
Many love the idea of negotiating. Yet in sales, you negotiate every day with your prospects and customers as everybody wants to buy any good quality products at the lowest price.You learn to negiotate better and harder after each and every experience as long as you want to be a better person. Everybody negotiate in their own way yet it is this is thetype of experience thatwill always teach you something new.