FuzzWuzzy said:How does one even get in to sales without being pushed in to cold calls or knocking on doors?
The only sales people I know are in insurance or the security field, but it doesn't seem "hard" yet makes a killing.
I was recruited in. It seems to me that most people "climb the ladder" so to speak. I'm honestly not super familiar with the job search world, that's all I've got.
re: industrial sales - someone close to me has worked his whole career at Carmeuse Lime and Stone, much of it in sales, (they sell lime - like a billion dollars per year of it.) and says they are always looking for smart people. He has a technical degree (chemistry and geology) and I think he would say that really helped him in all his roles including sales.
Based in Pittsburgh however and I don't know if they'd require relocation, but if you'd like to be connected let me know.
Robbie said:re: industrial sales - someone close to me has worked his whole career at Carmeuse Lime and Stone, much of it in sales, (they sell lime - like a billion dollars per year of it.) and says they are always looking for smart people. He has a technical degree (chemistry and geology) and I think he would say that really helped him in all his roles including sales.
Based in Pittsburgh however and I don't know if they'd require relocation, but if you'd like to be connected let me know.
Thank Robbie,
I would like to be connected . Thanks! brhood at gmail
I work for a top-tier medical device company. I don't work in sales, but I work pretty closely with the reps. Send me a PM, I'm happy to tell you what I know. Cafepharma & Medtechy are anonymous forums used by surgical sales reps. 90% of the discussion on those boards is just trolling and BS. There's always a sliver of truth though.
Surgical sales jobs can be great, or awful depending on which specialty you're calling on (Spine, orthopedics, pacemakers, stents, etc). Some of the "worst" also pay the most. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
The top-tier companies usually don't hire people w/out medical device sales experience. Having a clinical background will definitely help, for sure. I've also heard stories about reps who started selling photocopiers being wildly successful.
If you aren't hired as a rep, consider stating in clinical support. This entails training the hospital staff on the technology the rep sells, and case coverage (showing up and making sure the equipment works during the procedure). They can make pretty good $$$, but it may entail a ton of travel and odd hours, depending on the company & specialty. I've seen plenty of people transition from the lower-level support roles to a sales territory. The only limitation is...you may need to switch businesses or even companies if a local sales position doesn't open up.
Sales and cold calls. It’s a requirement.
100 cold calls turn into 10 requests for quotes. Those 10 quotes turns into 2 orders. The first order is easy - the second order is harder. Making a lot of cold calls is part of the game.
People hate to be sold to - for example imagine a slick used car salesmen that is your average slime ball.
People love to buy - look at how materialistic our society is.
Your job is to “help” them buy what they need and sometimes educating them is a big part of the process. I help them purchase the right product.
Now get off my lawn.
In reply to Hoondavan :
Pm sent, thanks!
What do you like? Love it? My son managed restaurants in Atlanta, Manhattan and Greenwich, CT. That experience gave him knowledge of the workings, but also great patience, people skills and people reading skills. The Palm, in Manhattan sent him to school to be a Sommelier. That knowledge got him a gig with a wine distributor, he now works for a vineyard in California, mostly from home.
He loves the work, has traveled to France, Argentina, Chile, Italy, many times to Cali. There are resume' writers out there; what you need is one (or someone like that) to gather your personality, your preferences and experiences, sprinkled with diplomas and calculate the direction best suited to you.
I wish I could offer a solution, but when you hate to get up in the morning, it's a looong life.
Good luck.
grover said:In reply to z31maniac :
I woldn't mind hearing about it!
https://www.netsuite.com/portal/company/career.shtml
Take a look and see if you find anything.
grover said:frenchyd said:In reply to grover : industrial sales was my gig for most of my selling life. It provided a solid 6 figure income back when that was a rare thing.
Except for periodic meetings you are essentially your own boss. Travel is always on the company dime and they want/ heck, need you to stay upscale. Towards the end I had a Lear Jet with two pilots and a hostess.
Leave in the morning in time to pick up client. Fly to plant to show him the product during assembly. Take them to a fancy dinner, bring them to the local golf course where their clubs and a pro waited. Round of golf, sign paperwork on new deal fly them home for dinner.
Get a few referrals from them for your next customers.repeat 2-3 times a week.
That's sort of an amazing story. I'm not sure i'm ever going to get to plan level, but I wouldn't mind it.
My education was modest, I just learned how to sell. The real “trick” to selling is to understand how your product will help him. If you do it in an honest way you will be successful.
Don't try to sell in your first meeting. Find out what is important to him. Most people are different and “canned “ or memorized sales pitches will fall on deaf ears.
I couldn’t tell a joke if I had a copy in my hands, I wasn’t particularly friendly or personable. I’d just do a real good job of listening and asking questions. I avoided the temptations on the road, accepted loneliness as the cost of success. Kept my shoulders on the wheel and paid attention.
In reply to mattm :
I agree 100% here. One thing to keep in mind is you don't always have to do end user sales. I have been part of the channel sales team at Dell for the better part of 2 decades. My job is as much education and enablement as it is hard sales. I do a sales call or 2 every couple of weeks but mostly I educate our partners on how to have the conversation and also the benefits of selling our products. It's been really good to me and I've been in the $200k+ range for awhile now.
In reply to frenchyd :
That is one of the major pitfalls I see alot of people fall into. Temptation on the road.
I spent a career in "industrial sales." But it wasn't in the front lines. I had an Engineering degree, plus a few years as a machinist/fabricator, so I saw it from the Marketing perspective, I saw it from the the Product Management perspective, and I saw it from the Technical Sales perspective. I earned a fixed salary (pretty good, because I was pretty good). But the direct sales guys I supported did very, very well financially. Mind you, they were under heavy pressure to meet numbers. (I called them " the shock troops.") Don't discount that. That fact kills a lot of sales jobs. You have to perform. You have to meet your numbers. But the product and support was good. So they did well as a result. So you can make good s'carole in industrial sales. Just choose the right company and product, and be intelligent and aggressive.
cdowd said:In reply to frenchyd :
Temptation on the road.
We hire a new guy from PNW - say Portland. He flies to SFO and rents a car. Meets experienced coworker and visits our large rep and makes his first call that’s an all day event involving some product training.
Coworker flies home and new guy tells me he decides to drive home rather than return the rental and fly home - save some time.
On Monday the SFO rep calls super pissed off and we were told to never send that new guy to his office. We found out the new guy drove back and tried to get a hotel date with the reps office secretary lady that rep guy was dating.
New guy denies but continues to chase ladies on the road.
In reply to Datsun310Guy :
Yikes
My view is colored by my experience, but may give you some food for thought. I never imagined I would make a career in retail sales (yet here I am.) I don’t feel like your stereotypical salesman, but I enjoy the process of selling and the interactions I have with customers, and even better, I now help hire/train/oversee sales staff, which is fun and rewarding for me. I don’t make a killing at it, but I get by just fine and enjoy a great quality of life. YMMV, and my thoughts pertain mostly to retail/end user sales, which might be different from selling somewhere else along the chain.
I see a distinction between selling necessary items/services, and selling something fun or luxury items. The latter involves less chasing after customers and more interactions with people who are excited. Nobody gets giddy about shopping for new insurance or a cell phone plan, but people generally like shopping for motorcycles, guitars, jewelry and the like, and you can be reasonably successful by having some product knowledge, being attentive to the customer, building rapport and asking the right questions. If you get in at a successful business with decent foot traffic, it doesn’t even feel like work sometimes. At the end of the day, you get the double satisfaction of reviewing your numbers, and also seeing the smiles, hearing the, “Oh my god, I can’t believe this mine now!” and having satisfied customers ask to snap a photo with you to commemorate the moment.
grover said:Robbie said:re: industrial sales - someone close to me has worked his whole career at Carmeuse Lime and Stone, much of it in sales, (they sell lime - like a billion dollars per year of it.) and says they are always looking for smart people. He has a technical degree (chemistry and geology) and I think he would say that really helped him in all his roles including sales.
Based in Pittsburgh however and I don't know if they'd require relocation, but if you'd like to be connected let me know.
Thank Robbie,
I would like to be connected . Thanks! brhood at gmail
sent you an email!
Datsun310Guy said:cdowd said:In reply to frenchyd :
Temptation on the road.
We hire a new guy from PNW - say Portland. He flies to SFO and rents a car. Meets experienced coworker and visits our large rep and makes his first call that’s an all day event involving some product training.
Coworker flies home and new guy tells me he decides to drive home rather than return the rental and fly home - save some time.
On Monday the SFO rep calls super pissed off and we were told to never send that new guy to his office. We found out the new guy drove back and tried to get a hotel date with the reps office secretary lady that rep guy was dating.
New guy denies but continues to chase ladies on the road.
This is soooo common.
In reply to chandler :
It's super common in the wedding photography industry as well, there are sketchy people everywhere.
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