Sales is about building long-lasting relationships, following through, communicating, learning from your previous mistakes and persisting. It is also about reading between the lines, problem-solving and perfecting your pitch.
So, how do you get started in sales, what skills do you need and if you have the skills for it, is it a career you’d consider? We’ve created this guide to help you answer these questions and help you decide if this is the right career for you!
Essential skills for salesÂ
Whilst an ideal sales team should have a healthy mix of members each bringing their own set of skills and experiences to the table, there are a handful of skills and traits that can be a differential factor between a good and a great salesperson.
1. People Skills
In sales, you need to be able to connect with people and build trusted relationships to make them feel comfortable enough to open up to you. This will assist you in understanding how your product or service can be of value to them. People are more receptive to hearing from someone they trust
2. Active Listening
The job is to understand the client or customers’ needs; said and implied to help provide the best possible solution. So, being able to read between the lines is quintessential
3. Effective Communication
Each consumer is unique. Active listening helps you understand what they’re looking for, but being an effective communicator can help you pinpoint exactly why what you’re selling is relevant to them
4. Negotiation Skills
A win-win situation is always ideal but not always possible. At such times, a salesperson can apply their negotiation skills to help both sides to find a mutually beneficial common ground
5. Time Management
Simply put, closing a deal swiftly without rushing the process is crucial. It is important to be able to organise your days to efficiently and make the most of the available time
6. Learning from Rejection
Sales is all about trial and error; you get to learn from past mistakes, get better at objection handling, understand your target market better and improve your sales strategies
Determining if Sales is for you
Have the skills to be in sales but are unsure if it’s the right career for you? Here are a few pointers that will help you take a call.
1. Consider current & future career interests
The ability to sell doesn’t limit you to a career in sales. Many sales skills are transferable. So, comparing your current or future career goals can help you realise if this is the right field for you
2. Complete a Psychometric Test
Psychometric career assessment tests can help you identify and explore your personality, strengths and abilities to help find the right career path and if you’ll have the natural knack for sales
3. Talk to people in the industry
Speaking to someone working in the sales space would be the best to reach out to. They can paint you an honest and comprehensive picture of what day-to-day life in the field looks like
4. Take a sales-related course
With the emergence of e-learning, it has now become easier than ever to take courses, even from the comfort of your home. It can enable you to learn the tricks and tools of the trade to be well-prepared to enter the sales world
5. Practice
Practice makes perfect. Like everything else, the more you practice selling, the better you’ll get at it. You can start off small and try to make pitches to your colleagues or your close ones to get the confidence to go big
6. Take on a sales role
At the end of the day, you’ll know if you’re good at something only if you give it a real go. Take on a sales role, it will help you get some real work experience, and you get to learn from your daily experiences too!
Considering recruitment as a career path
Recruitment is all about people, with many successful sales leaders having started their careers in recruitment. Through working with a diverse range of candidates and clients, you can build and expand your network across industries and gain many sales skills that can translate into other roles.
Why recruitment is a great option to kickstart your sales career
A recruitment consultant typically plays two roles where they leverage various sales techniques to promote the organisation, its culture and the job itself to the candidate whilst matching and promoting the strengths of the candidate to the organisation at the same time. This definitely helps you build a stronger sales skill set in a shorter timeframe,
Whilst sales can be more transactional, depending on the role and industry, being in recruitment will give you more opportunities to focus on building long-lasting relationships. A recruitment career can be extremely rewarding, not only financially, but helping people land their dream roles and achieve their career goals whilst contributing to an organisation’s growth!
Recruiting with Miller Leith
It’s important to understand the organisation you are planning on joining to have a fulfilling career in recruitment. The culture, their way of measuring success, the organisation’s willingness to invest in their team and the expectations from their consultants can vary significantly between different recruitment agencies.
At Miller Leith, our team is a mix of recruitment and industry professionals ensuring you are supported by the best of both worlds! We pride ourselves on having a people-first and consultative approach, where our team takes the time to understand our partners and their work environment in detail to deliver the best outcomes for all. We invest in our people and provide true career progression opportunities with clear pathways to get you to where you want to be.
All our consultants receive competitive remuneration, uncapped commission structure and vast employee benefits that create an outstanding work-life balance at Miller Leith. We have recently adapted to the 9-Day Fortnight model where every fortnight, our team gets a day to recharge and look-out for their well-being. Learn more about life at Miller Leith.
Considering a career in recruitment? Here’s what one of our superstars had to say about their first month in recruitment with Miller Leith!
So, if you’re a self-motivator with great people skills looking for a career change, we have opportunities across all levels of experience and would love to hear from you! Check out our current vacancies, drop your CV here or reach out to us on hello@millerleith.com.au and our team will be in touch!
