In my 15 years journey of institutional sales, I have found many women who ask me why I chose “sales” as a profession!
I always say “why not”???
Career in sales is not the Mt Everest of communication. It’s actually easy if you step back and find examples within your own life. You "sell" the idea of good food to your kids. You "negotiate" with vegetable vendors, you "manage expectation" of friends and family...actually, everyone "sells" themselves, their strengths and uniqueness every day to the rest of the world. I may have oversimplified my explanation, but step back and see, “Sales” is for everybody! People just have to look within themselves and see that they are already salesmen!! Actually sales -women.
There is no logic that if one is extrovert, only then one can excel in sales. As long as you are a "social" and amicable person, you ARE a people's person...the most important quality required in a sales career.
There are things that you can do to enhance your skills. You could undertake online/offline short term courses on the basics of sales/marketing/customer management. A good way to develop a sales pitch is to do "role-plays" or “mock pitches". Rope in a family member/friend to be the customer, and present yourself like you would in a real life situation. Internet is a good medium to learn. There are webinars/ You Tube videos that help you to recognize a good sales style (though you DO have to develop your own personal style).
Handling customers from the front always has thrown up myriad experiences! I have always been on the learning curve. Every boss I have worked under has had a distinctive style and little snippets of experience to impart. Every team member in the sales team has taught innovative ways to approach a lead. The pre-sales and after sales team have taught how to complete the whole sales cycle.
Most importantly, the customer is your best teacher. You learn to pitch, sell, negotiate, argue, win and lose...all from a single sales cycle.
There will be many incidents that I will share as we go along.
Happy reading, happy “selling”