Creating a successful career in Sales (part 2) Building a foundation for success.

byJamesNewton

267 followers

Updated 11 months ago

It may not seem immediately obvious at first but the quality of your ‘home base’ can radically affect the degree of success you have.

You may have a local office to work out of…. And have a local team of fellow salespeople to work with. This can be a great asset particularly if you have access to more seasoned colleagues who can advise or guide you. This was my experience when I worked for NCR Systemedia in the UK. The team was mutually supportive and the experienced sales manager gave onsite guidance to us all.

However, if you are part of an organization that has more specialty products then you probably will need to work out of your home. I have already indicated that the mindset of being a successful sales professional is often challenged by the social demands of your family life. Therefore, it is essential to implement a rigorous policy of separating home and work life.

For me that meant that I ‘dedicated’ a spare bedroom to be my office so that my wife and kids knew that when I was in there I was ‘at work’ and not to be disturbed although my family life was the thickness of a door away. Failure to maintain this distinction leads to a blurring of the edges... and neither your work nor your family get 100% of you.... and ultimately that doesn't work for anyone. (Believe me I know!!)

Part of the ‘successful salesman’ mindset is recognizing that …. When you are not working your territory, you are not earning. That if you are not calling on your customer base then sales personnel from your competitors certainly are, so their activity will be eroding your present and future income.

This means that the essential requirement of those who truly wish to be successful in Sales is to have an attitude that is driving and assertive.

Welcome to the Rat Race

You, personally, need to be the equivalent of the “Energizer Bunny” and using rechargeable batteries! I will say, yet again, that the gaining and losing of orders is perhaps the feature that most accentuates the emotional roller coaster of this industry. Understand too that the demands that will be made of you will not really be fully understood by anyone who is not in the same field of work as you are…. All they see is the flashy company car and not the hours you spend on finding new business opportunities, time spent on liaising between your company and the customer or days spent in lonely hotel rooms as you work away from home.

So, putting it bluntly…significant relationships suffer so top salespeople are invariably those who are single.

So let’s summarize this aspect of this topic. There’s no doubt that those who are involved in Sales are an absolutely vital part of our economy and there are indeed great rewards available to those who participate.

Equally there’s no doubt that these will be well and truly earned through long hours and often a solitary if not a lonely life. Neither will you succeed if you are not a ‘self-starter’, a natural optimist; someone who can face disappointments and setbacks faced on a regular basis and ‘bounce back’ against them – and someone who is not prepared to work very hard!

However, if you can bring these attributes to bear on your sales career you will be part of an elite section of society - a professional salesperson!

If you still want to pursue this career, then read my next blog where I will cover what behavioral strategies to adopt to maximize your sales efficiency.