Does Working in Sales Change Your Life?
According to some estimates, salespeople make up nearly 13% of the entire United States workforce. This isn’t surprising since every company needs someone to sell their product. But despite being so common, sales is a profession unlike any other.
Working in sales can change your life, and for some people the changes happen almost overnight. If you want to make more money in sales, use an AI-Powered CRM like Spiro, and if are considering getting a sales job or already have one, you’ll recognize these ways that sales can change your life:
1. Money
One of the biggest ways sales can change your life is the money you’ll make if you’re a competent sales rep. Unlike salaried jobs, salespeople typically have no ceiling on how much they can earn, and oftentimes end up making more money than management does. If you want to make money, and are an effective communicator, sales is the absolute best option for you.
2. Relationships
Sales is an industry where you can build relationships with your coworkers like no other. Since it’s so stressful and there are so many ups and downs, you end up forging close bonds with the people who surround you at work to get through it. The friends you make in your various sales roles will oftentimes become your friends for life.
3. Resilience
One of the best things you learn by working in sales is how to be a more resilient person. Facing intense pressure, constant rejection, and pushing through adversity are all of the core requirements of a successful sales career. If you can adapt and take control of your own destiny through those obstacles, it will be a skill that you can apply to all other parts of your life.
4. Experience
There are many successful entrepreneurs who started their careers in sales, and this isn’t coincidence. Many CEOs also started in sales. Working in sales provides experience that almost no other role within an organization can match. “Nothing happens until someone sells something”, and people who can’t sell will have a limited skill set that can limit options. Every employee should learn to sell their product, their vision, and themselves.
5. Stress
This is one of the ways sales can change your life that isn’t so good. There are few careers with as much pressure and stress as sales. Some people aren’t equipped to deal with it and don’t last long, but those who can push through end up reaping the rewards. To survive in sales, you need to accept that it will be stressful, and learn how to manage it in a healthy, consistent way.
6. Uncertainty
Another sometimes difficult aspect of life in sales is the uncertainty that working in a commission environment can create. Fluctuations in pay or going weeks or months without a big check can be too much for some people to deal with. Salespeople need to learn financial discipline, smart budgeting, and, most importantly, hit their sales quotas to deal with the uncertain future.
7. Opportunity
A common misconception about sales roles is that salespeople face difficult job prospects. Nothing could be further from the truth. Salespeople are always in demand, and nearly every organization has a sales force. Selling is also a very transferrable skill, which means salespeople can switch industries and still find themselves gainfully employed. Very few other professions can say the same.
8. Excitement
Let’s face it, sales may be a lot of things but boring isn’t one of them. Not only do you get to talk to different people almost every day, you also get to experience the elation that comes from closing a deal along with the crushing hopelessness of failing to. You absolutely have to take the ups and downs in stride, but if you feel like you’re actually bored in your sales job, it’s time to move on.
