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3 Ways to Jump-Start Your Sales Career

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I recently moderated a fascinating panel discussion at a sales conference. The panelists were all successful business professionals. One set strategy and vision for a $2 billion IT company; two were serial entrepreneurs, one of whom just sold his company for millions; the last was a CIO at a multinational company. What they said will provide you with valuable insights on how to become a better sales professional.

How do you deal with risk?

The first question I asked was how they made decisions and assumed risk. One panelist took the microphone and said very emphatically, “Very early on I realized I need to have risk. I can’t work in an environment which is risk free.” He was the one of the serial entrepreneurs who had never worked for anyone else. He had always been an entrepreneur.

Would you prefer to take on more risk? Perhaps you already do and are a commissioned salesperson. The amount of risk you can tolerate will determine how you get paid as a salesperson. Just be sure your family supports your view of risk. I’ve seen marriages end when a spouse couldn’t handle the same level of risk.

What size company fits you and your temperament?

Next I asked the panel to describe their first job and how they selected it. One of the panelists said he started out at a large company. He then realized he didn’t like being part of a large organization, and all his subsequent jobs were at smaller and smaller organizations.

You may find it odd and indicative of a career going in reverse. He didn’t. He wanted to try new things, control what he did, and he wasn’t concerned whether he was successful or not. He couldn’t get those opportunities at large organizations where so many people were involved. At smaller companies he would be forced to do a variety of work and make decisions simply because there weren’t other people there to do the work.

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What about your approach to sales? Do you like having autonomy to determine which products you sell? Or do you like having other people determine a global sales strategy of whom you should sell to and how much you should charge? Which of these scenarios makes you happy and which one makes you very unhappy?

Different-sized organizations delegate different levels of authority to their sales teams. You might be better suited to another organization depending on how you answered these questions.

Where’s your planned career trajectory?

I then asked everyone to discuss something in their career that led to their success. One of the panelists said, “I created a career plan when I first started. The first page was where I currently was at the time; page 20 was where I wanted to be over the course of my career. In between I had a document that I modified over the years and used to guide me to make my career decisions.”

What he included in his document was training and experiences he thought he would need in order to advance. His plan had questions to ask others to get the guidance he needed.

Such a career plan is what a strategic sales professional should have. What does your sales territory look like now? What do you need to do to advance your sales career? Do you plan to stay in field sales? Do you want to advance to management? Are you using your sales career to advance to another industry or another area of your company? You should answer those questions now so you can develop your sales career plan.

The IT strategist said he estimates of the 20,000 people he oversees that only 20% are happy with their work, or 80% are working only for their paychecks. If this sounds like you, now would be a good time to answer the same questions I asked the panelists. It's the best way to find out which group you are in, and to make some changes so you can be a more successful sales professional—and become a part of the 20%.

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Profile: Maura Schreier-Fleming

Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling, a sales training and sales consulting company. She works with business and sales professionals to increase sales and earn larger profits. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results and Monday Morning Sales Tips. Maura focuses on sales strategies and tactics that lead to better sales results. Maura is a sales expert for WomenSalesPros. She is part of their group of top sales experts who inspire, educate, and develop salespeople and sales teams.She speaks internationally on influence, selling skills, and strategic selling at trade association and sales meetings, demonstrating how her principles can be applied to get results. She successfully worked for over 20 years in the male-dominated oil industry with two major corporations, beginning at Mobil Oil and ending at Chevron Corp. She was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. and was one of Chevron’s top five salespeople in the U.S. having sold over $9 million annually. Maura writes several columns to share her sales philosophies. She's been quoted in the New York Times, Selling Power, and Entrepreneur.