How to Land Your 1st Sales Management Job

How to Get Your 1st Sales Management Job – 3 Tips for Getting a Sales Management Job

 

Many business development professionals have a difficult time transitioning to a sales management role for an abundance of reasons ranging from waiting for too long for a promotion at their current position to not growing themselves enough for a company to give them a shot at running a sales team.

 

However, if you do aspire to transition into sales management, here are 3 tips as to how to do so:

 

1. It’s the resume and the message you get across that counts the most.

 

State clearly and candidly why you are going for a sales management role and why you deserve a shot at the job. If you want to get, at a minimum an interview for your first sales management job, you must state why in your CV.

 

 

This is best written on the top of the resume and displayed in a format of a resume objective. A good example of being candid and creative is:

 

 

“A proven leader and sales professional who has consistently met quota and who has always created a positive, growth oriented atmosphere within the companies that they have worked in.”

 

Also, the first few points on your latest job should display leadership and management points (see point #2), again telling the resume reader your point of sending them the resume and why you deserve a second look for the position.

 

Another factor to mention and focus on is industry experience. Upon hiring a new sales manager, the major of the recruiting companies that engage our firm want strict industry experience in the sales executives whom they hire.

 

Therefore, if you want to transition into management, it is imperative that you know your industry better than those who already have the sales management jobs to show on their resume.

 

Simple, continued learning should help the job seeker out in this area.

 

2. Think about your management experience; you probably have some already:

 

Many of the job candidates whom our recruiting firm comes across do not realize it, but they already have some form of management and leadership experience.

 

Although this may not be formal management, as a potential sales management job applicant, think to yourself the management and employee growth you have done and make sure to express that during the interview.

 

3.  Have a Plan: 

 

Upon going into the interview, have a plan as to how you plan to grow the sales force and, if pertinent how you plan to sell yourself:

 

By not having any sales management experience, you are obviously at a disadvantage (the majority of the time). Therefore, you must convince the interviewer that you are more apt and a more promising employee than the other sales management applicants going for the job.

 

One of the best ways to do so is to come to the interview with a plan as to how to grow the business as well as, more specifically the sales team. Try to be careful when making assumptions, but remember that taking risks is the best and only way to get to the next level in business development.

 

At the day’s close, experience in any field only matters if you take accountability and learn from your mistakes. Fortunately for you, not many professionals due this, thus being a great way to exploit the more seasoned competition going for the same sales management job.

 

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Why Job Offers Will Never Be Perfect

So, you’re interviewing with a small business and it comes time to discuss your compensation package. How are you supposed to know your value on the open job market?

In all actuality, that’s very hard to know, because human beings naturally value their own worth much higher than the market is paying.

Think of it this way: your favorite shirt may be worth $100. You have worn the shirt 10 times, yet you would not sell it for the paltry-seeming sum of $120.

To someone else, it’s a nice shirt, but there are other shirts out there. Make sense?

So, when interviewing with a small business one of the main factors that will increase your compensation package is the length of time that small business owner has been looking for the right job seeker. If it has been a long time, you can bet that if you negotiate properly you will get a higher salary than you would if you were to receive an offer for a parallel position at a Fortune 500.

Why is this so? Hiring is very tiresome for the business owner. If it were easy and fun, I would not be in business.

After a while, the small business owner wants to be done with the staffing process, just as we all want to complete projects that we set out to do. Therefore there is a direct relationship between length of time that a job has been open and the percentage of increased salary you should be receiving.

 

How to Have a Better, More Fulfilling Career

 

“Well, I’m interviewing with a larger organization how do I know if I can get extra compensation?” Always be on the lookout for new initiatives from that company.

For instance, if they have amassed training out of state, that means that the hiring managers must have their team together prior to that particular date. Now, (wink, wink) to make sure they have everyone they need at that meeting, they may have to pay you a little bit more or risk training someone later, at extra expense and inconvenience.

This rule of thumb also goes the other way. For instance, if everybody wants to be in the industry that you’re going for, you can rest assured that you are going to be taking a pay cut getting into that vertical.

Let’s take media, for example. Our universities pump out an immense amount of twenty-somethings who want in on what they perceive to be an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in publishing, advertising, PR, television and film, etc. It is no coincidence that those very industries are some of the lowest-paying, especially at the entry level.

However, you could mitigate something like this by putting it out on the table. An example would be, “I do understand that a lot of people are going for this position. It’s a great job and would be naïve not to acknowledge that.

I hope that my higher salary demands won’t preclude me becoming a part of the team.”

In the end, the more you know business and the more you can empathize with the individual who is making you an offer and their place in a business, the higher your salary is going to be.

Remember, when negotiating salary always be amiable, never let the negotiations become contentious and, understand that just like every human being, no job offer is perfect.

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4 Tips for Choosing Your 1st Business

There is a big misconception regarding first time entrepreneurship and that is the justification that it is okay to fail your first time simply because some well-known entrepreneurs failed and then hit it big.
What is not mentioned is the number of individuals who failed their first time as an entrepreneur and never got a second shot.

Therefore, you might as well make it profitable the first time around.

Thus, to ensure higher odds of entrepreneurial success, you must choose the right business.

Here are 4 tips on how to Choose Which Business to Start as an Entrepreneur:

1. Don’t Let the Economy Determine What Business You Should Start

The first thing that entrepreneurs think of when starting a business is our current economic condition.

Although it is hard to bypass the thought of a horrid economy and the subsequent effect on your new entrepreneurial venture, it is imperative that you not let the economy sway your decision.

This will especially prove true when the economy turns in the next few years and you are left with an average business that was overly defensive and a lot of regret.

2. Let Google Assist You In Your Choice of Business

How do you truly determine market demand for the product and / or services you plan to offer?

One way to do it is to use the Google Keyword Checker.

This basic site will tell you how many people are searching monthly for your product or service.

Another key element that the Keyword Checker brings to the table is the use of adjectives.

For instance, you may want to open a business selling blue widgets, but upon looking up how sought after the product is on the web, you find out that green widgets are searched for times as often as blue.

3. You Cannot Avoid Sales, Instead You Must Embrace It and Not Let It Determine Your Business Choice

A willingness to engage in sales separates the men and women from what will be future job seekers.

Entrepreneurs hate sales because for some reason they tend to be more afraid of rejection than your average Corporate Joe or Jane.

Why this reason is, I cannot tell you, but to avoid human interaction, entrepreneurs will completely alter the business that they are going into.

What they don’t realize is that regardless of industry, sales is part of business and, thus part of entrepreneurship.

4. K.I.S.S.

Keep the concept simple (or, to use the real phrase, Keep It Simple, Stupid).

A rule of thumb for first time (and any entrepreneurs) is that if you cannot explain your business in two sentences or less, it’s most likely not going to sell.

It is very rare that people reinvent the wheel with entrepreneurship.

As a matter of fact, you can count them on your fingers: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sir Richard Branson and?

The odds of hitting Pick 6 are better. In entrepreneurship, especially when choosing your first business, go for a base hit, not a home run your first time at bat.

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Is Your Sales Manager Any Good

Working under a competent, engaged sales manager can be rewarding both personally and fiscally.

 

On the contrary, working under a sales manager who is withdrawn, incompetent and who does not care about their subordinates’ well-being will prove to stagnate any career.

 

Either prior to taking a job or considering leaving your current sales position, here are some measurements you can use when assessing whether a particular sales manager is worth your professional time or whether they can headaches, aggravation and an unpleasant workplace.

 

1. What are the sales manager’s training methods?

 

Whether or not a sales manager is hands-on tells a lot about the person and tells even more about your future prospects working at his / her company.

 

Managers who do not train and are not committed to growing their subordinates are not worth your time as if you are not advancing in your career, what is the point of employment at the firm?

 

2. What do his / her superiors think about them?

 

What a sales manager’s bosses think about them will give you very strong insight as to what type of individual this person is.

 

Senior management of any company likes leadership. Subordinates in any company need leadership and direction.

 

Let senior management tell you if the sales manger has the ability to lead and whether they command the respect of those above them.

 

3. How good are they at selling?

 

The last thing you want as an employee is to be under a sales manager who cannot sell themselves.

 

To be a good sales coach and mentor, sales managers need to have solid business development techniques and need to be to help the sales force when they get into a jam or need additional assistance.

 

Sales managers who are not very competent at selling tend to be less secure than managers who are proven salesmen / saleswomen.

 

When you get a sales manager who is not secure in their selling methods, chances are likely that the manager will not get along with the more apt sales professionals in the group.

 

 

Do Sales Representatives Need a Base Salary

 

Recommended Considerations Prior to Accepting a Job

1. What Are Their Expectations for You?  Are They Realistic?

As a job seeker, the last thing that you want to do is take a position in which you are destined to not live up to expectations.  Some managers and companies simply do not have realistic expectations for the output of their employees and it is your job to gauge whether or not you can meet their expectations.  Failure to do so can quickly make employment at the company less than desirable.

2. Do You Want to Work at a Larger or Smaller Firm?

There are benefits and drawbacks to working at big companies as opposed to smaller, start-up organizations.  Preference varies per person, but here are some quick points to consider:

– Larger firms usually have more stability as a company.

– Larger companies typically give better benefits.

– Larger companies will not allow the job seeker to wear as many hats and, in most cases, learn as much as smaller companies.

– Larger companies tend to be more bureaucratic than smaller firms and getting promotions within these firms can prove more difficult.  Of course, bureaucracies are not exclusive to larger companies.

3. Perceived Longevity.

Bouncing from job to job will lower anybody’s value on the market.  Therefore, if you think that the company does not have longevity as a firm, stay away regardless of the compensation they offer.  The high pay will quickly fade and lead to much lower future pay packages.

4. What Do You Think of Management?

As a job seeker, you should believe in the leadership ability of the managerial team who will be leading you.  If you are not growing at a company, it is simply not worth your time and employment at the firm will soon become mundane, thus making you unhappy and unproductive.

You have to get along with your manager from the first interview and have some facets in common or you risk getting fired – a proposition which not only bodes poorly on a resume, but can hurt psychologically.

10 Questions to Ask During a 1st Interview

 

The following are effective, intelligent interview questions that job applicants should be asking on their first interview:

 

1. Let’s Say I Execute All the Set Duties of My Position For A Long Time….?

 

You should always find out where the job is taking you in the next few years, however you must phrase this question properly.

 

If you come out and say that you want to know exactly where you’ll be in 3 years, the interviewer is going to perceive that you are not into this job and feel as if you are above it.  Once this happens, all hopes of obtaining an offer letter are over.

 

On the other hand, you can ask the interviewer that if you plan to do exceptionally well in the position, after you really prove yourself (the “really prove” must be stressed), what potential is there for you to grow both personally and professionally?

 

Again, you have to make the interviewer aware that you are 110% dedicated to the position that is currently being discussed and not put too much emphasis on this point, but finding out is important.

 

Pull this off correctly, and you’ll get the person on the other end of the table or on the other phone line to show his or her cards and tell you whether there is truly a future within the company.

 

2. What Is The Average Turnover Rate of the Corporation? 

 

This may make the interviewer a tad uneasy, but it is a valid question and can be phrased as such:

 

“I want a career and not just a job, do you mind me asking how happy the people at the company are and, in a rough estimate, is the turnover rate towards the higher or lower end?”

 

Prior to interviewing with the company, you should have done your best to do the proper research to determine a rough estimate for yourself, but you should always hear this directly from the interviewer.

 

This way, they can either confirm what you have deciphered from your research or whether they have a rational, different spin Interview Questions 3 to 10

 

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Ken Sundheim KAS Placement Twitter and Youtube Channel
 
 

How to Never be Fired as a Marketing Employee

How to Become Indispensable as a Marketing Employee

There is much more to marketing than just branding. Branding is the fun part of marketing, as it is usually pure imagination.  

As humans we both like to give input and like to shy away from extensive learning of new, complex and seemingly uninteresting topics, and branding can seem like an easy cheat there.  

After all, the Budweiser frogs were all imagination and they brought in revenue that is hard to imagine as a real, quantifiable number.

Of course, for every trio of  amusing amphibians, there are 500 failures that only get brief, yet highly negative coverage on CNBC and Fox following the Superbowl. Remember Salesgenie’s 2008 Superbowl ad?  

Hopefully you don’t, for Salesgenie’s sake.

It’s the brave who become the well-rounded marketing employees, and therefore the most indispensable members of an organization.  

And it’s the versatile marketing pro who, regardless of age, quickly marches to a $100,000+ yearly salary.

Below, you will find a few aspects that every marketing professional should learn in order to increase job stability, management satisfaction, self satisfaction, and of course monetary gain.
 
Know How to Maintain, Grow and Program the Company Blog and Website
 
Companies have recently become obsessed with having a blog attached to their website, as well as video and other site add-ons.  

These extras may or may not attract the visitor after hitting the main site, but regardless will catch the virtual eye of the search engines and could increase a site’s bounce rate all the to its page rank.
 
Be Able to Implement Social Media Initiatives
 
Although things like LinkedIn and Facebook cannot be relied upon for steady revenue, most employers, without any evidence, seem to  believe the polar opposite.  

As an employee, you can capitalize on this infatuation within LinedIn, Facebook and Twitter buttons even with minor additional learning.
 
Understand Analytics
 
To complement how lucrative your creativity and marketing persuasion techniques are, learning basic analytics is crucial to your climbing to a salary that mirrors the executives of the firm.

This is especially true when working for a media company or any firm selling directly to the consumer, as creative marketing may pique the interest of the consumer, but the money-maker is in learning how to control the mice once they are in the maze and tweaking a campaign accordingly.

The average American consumer may be just as intelligent as the mice (if not a little behind), but the demand for eating cheese is not heavily contingent of the economy.
 
Know How to Sell
 
Learning sales is all about repetition. Extensive study of consultative selling is not needed (if anything, negotiation is much more important), nor are any further academic endeavors. Selling is about repetition and learning what works and what business development tactics lead right to the perpetual answering machine of a prospect.
 
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