Opportunities to further your career within the Sales industry

The demand for salespeople within the digital economy has continued to increase year-on-year, with organizations offering competitive salaries and packages to secure the right sales talent.

Recent Changes

Due to customers becoming concerned that sales professionals may focus more on earning their commission than providing value, the role of the salesperson has had to adapt to changing times. Companies now emphasize replacing customers’ suspicion with a relationship-building sales process, which, in the long term, leads to retained business rather than one-off transactions. The customer experience and the longevity of sales are now at the center of all effective sales activities.

Future Prospects

Sales teams or departments often have a very structured promotion pathway. In most cases, you start as a sales executive, move on to an area sales manager, then to a national sales manager role, and finally progress to sales director. Within sales, promotions are often tied directly to results. Delivering the right outcomes can lead to better salaries, customer accounts, and greater responsibilities.

• Salt's Advice for Getting a Job in Sales

  Employers’ Requirements

  Employers usually have high expectations of sales professionals. They expect, for example, that salespeople not only maintain relationships with current customers but also establish new ones, agree on terms and conditions with clients, close sales regularly, and advise on future product developments. Furthermore, sales experts are expected to create detailed proposal documents and consistently gather market and customer information.

  Resume Requirements

  The core competencies for an excellent salesperson include great communication skills, the ability to sell products and services (even when they are relatively complex), the capability to handle a high level of competitiveness, and good teamwork skills. Additionally, it is beneficial to know one or more foreign languages, as businesses increasingly operate on a global level and need employees who can communicate with diverse markets.

  Sales Job Interview Preparation

  Since personality plays such an important role in sales, interviewers often ask questions designed to uncover more about your character, strengths, weaknesses, aspirations, and preferences. Some of these questions include:

  1. What’s worse for you: not meeting your targets or not having happy customers?
  2. How would you describe this company’s target market?
  3. What do you dislike most about the sales process?
  4. Please name three adjectives a former client would use to describe you.
  5. What do you think our company could do better with regards to sales?

  Educational Requirements

  Generally speaking, skills such as excellent communication skills and commercial awareness are considered more important by hiring managers than academic qualifications. However, if you have a degree, the following fields can increase your job prospects: business, marketing, media, technology, or engineering. Large sales organizations often run graduate programs, which typically require a bachelor’s degree with good academic standing.