Career Options
General
Professional Sales is essentially the process of running a business within a business. Sales professionals focus on building trusting relationships with business clients within a geographic territory, selling their company’s products and services, and growing the sales revenue to achieve territory business objectives. They spend the majority of their time in the customers’ work environment. Their goal is to understand customers’ business needs and develop product- or service-based solutions to positively impact desired business goals and objectives. To learn more about the Professional Sales career field, watch the video below where we meet with three Cameron-Brooks alumni to discuss their experience in a Business Development and Professional Sales career.
Attributes and Skills
Relationship Builder
Customers buy from people they like, and you will spend the majority of your time establishing professional relationships with your customers.
Goal-Oriented
Sales representatives have a track record of establishing and achieving highly demanding goals despite adversity,
Competitive
Excellent sales representatives like to win the business and are competitive.
Work Ethic, Initiative, Autonomous
Excellent sales professionals work hard and take initiative to achieve their success. They operate independently with sole responsibility for their territory.
Communication Skills
Sales representatives spend the majority of their time in front of customers discussing the ways a product can impact a customer’s business. They are persuasive communicators.
Possible Job Titles
- Sales Representative
- Account Manager
- Territory Manager
Sample Job Description
Professional Sales: Please keep in mind the following job description is just one of many possible Sales job descriptions.
You will have responsibility for the sale of your company’s products in your territory (either defined by a geographic boundary or a list of accounts). Your mission is to grow the sales revenue in your territory by building relationships with your accounts and helping them become more successful by using your products and services. Professional selling is a consultative process where you play a key role in understanding the business processes and needs of your customers and consulting on how your products can impact their results. You will become an expert on all aspects of your product capabilities and their application in the customer’s environment. You will spend the majority of your time in the customer environment, building relationships with key buying influences, analyzing processes, uncovering needs and presenting ways that your products can add value. Since this is repeat selling, you will play a key role in your company’s long-term success in your accounts. You will also have a large role in providing world-class service to your customers after the sale. You will get involved in order management, inventory control, pricing strategies, contract management, working with business partners (distributors, etc.), product delivery, product training and problem solving. You will be the “steward” of the customer relationship, acting as the point person for all of your company’s activities in your customer accounts. You will have full responsibility for everything that happens or fails to happen in your territory (you will run a business within a business). Successful sales representatives have excellent career opportunities throughout the company in areas such as sales management, marketing, operations, manufacturing, product development and more.
Career Tips
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