Sales is the Highest Paying Hard Work and the Lowest Paying Easy Work

Typically obtaining a sales job with high pay is easier if you have a college degree in sales and marketing. Students from top business schools easily make it to the six-figure bracket. MBA alumni of Stanford Business School earn a median salary of $225, 000 after five years of their graduating (source: Forbes). MBAs from top business schools typically start their careers with six-figure salaries. MBAs from Harvard Business School, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and University of Michigan Ross School of Business, some of the top universities in the USA, earn six-figure incomes of in the starting year. Here is a comprehensive list of top 45 MBA programs with their median earning potentials in America. (Source:  Business Week)

Not everybody can manage a degree from these top universities. MBA degrees from even ordinary colleges help in getting better sales jobs and the chance to earn more. There is good competition in getting a job of sales representative and a college degree gives an edge. A college degree helps better than a high school diploma in getting a sales job. In 2006 nearly 44% of the sales force in the US had graduate or bachelor’s degree in comparison to 27% high school diploma holders or less qualified people. For technical and scientific product selling college degrees are a must. Of course, even school dropouts can make their mark in sales. But they are the exceptions. Sales experience and online business degree also can serve the purpose of earning more in sales and rising up the corporate ladder. (Source: BLS).

As a salesperson, you may be comfortable selling a particular type of product. Your attitude, personality type, family background, and upbringing will make you more suitable for selling a particular product. Some are good in the automotive sector, some in the finance, and some in the housing sector. Each sector has sub-sectors. Even in the auto sector, there are people that may be good at selling second-hand cars, while you may excel at selling new cars. A salesperson that loves driving couples and families around to take a tour of homes put up for sale is more likely to succeed in that field. Visualize what type of product you will be enthusiastic about selling and what type of customers would you be interested in dealing with. You must choose a field that you love.

Understand your sector thoroughly to sell well. Simply loving a sector will not do to become a top salesman. If you are not money savvy and do not understand how the financial market works how can you excel in selling financial products? Also, be well informed about the latest happenings and developments in your area of operation.

Be passionate about selling your product. Don’t be just another salesman. Be a driven salesman with a remarkable product. Sell energetically. Master your sales process and go about selling your product with enthusiasm. Keep the customer’s need in the forefront, the sales numbers will be taken care of automatically.

Sales skills ultimately boil down to some basic skills, but you need to keep perfecting them constantly to get the maximum results. For instance, good listening is a basic skill requirement of succeeding in sales. To be a super salesman you must try to get into the mind of the customers and read what they would require. Listening intently to what they are saying; the words and the body language they are using can provide windows to their intentions and interest in buying the product.

No other career offers an opportunity to earn a six-figure annual income. How soon would you reach there – it all depends on your attitude and enthusiasm.