Is a Sales Career for Me?

If You Do these things, you have a potential fit If you do these things, you might not fit
Do your due diligence. Learn. Check out the Professional Selling Program at UT Arlington….talk with students and faculty and sales professionals about it. Let the fear of rejection get in your way. Great basketball players miss half their shots…or more. Great baseball players make outs 7 out of 10 times they bat.
Seek out employers (in sales or any other profession) who will tell you the truth about their careers and tell you the pros and cons of any profession. (maybe provide a link to sales professional networking Miss an opportunity by not investigating it. You may decide a career in sales is not for you, but you owe it to yourself to at least use factual information to make that decision.
Make sure you know your next steps in all your endeavors. Ask for interviews. Tell prospective employers when you will contact them. Close interviews by asking for next steps. Underestimate your skills and aptitude. Skills are transferable. If you do not have experience in sales, what have you done that is sales-like? Have you made presentations? Have you asked for agreement? Have you persuaded a student group to do something? Have you coached a team? These are all skills that are used in the sales profession.
Be persistent. Do not quit until you are told “no”. Go after opportunities. Try things. Be a negative person. Be optimistic about things. If you do not think things will get better for you, then why do anything to better yourself?
Interact with professionals. You can do this formally in an internship. You can do this in less formal ways by talking with professionals who might speak in your classes. Ignore the value of networking. It is okay to have people help you as you pursue a career. Simply put, think letters of recommendation and then broaden your thinking to other ways that people with whom you interact can help you and also how you might help them.
Act and look professional. Appearance and first impressions count. So does your ability to talk with folks in your first meeting with them. Act like you don’t want to be where you have to be.
Find mentors. The Professional Selling Program at UT Arlington will connect you with many who can serve in this role. Think you know it all. No one is perfect and no one is an island.
Work hard….as you pursue your education and then as you enter into your career. Hard work does pay off. Procrastinate. Use your education and your skills sets to build a foundation for growth and success for your lifetime.