Sales Rep 101 – Chapter 10

Gaining Experience

This is one of favorite topics because many new Sales Reps think that they should automatically be making six figures in their first job. But unfortunately, that is not how the world works. Now, to be fair I do know many Sales Reps that hit the ground running and started making great money very quickly. But those people are rare and the exception not the rule. Sales is one of those careers where it might take you changing jobs 3 or 4 times before you end up in the right company with the right opportunity. To be honest I changed jobs 5 times before I finally found the perfect fit for me. So does that mean we did something wrong? Absolutely not. Sales is all about gaining experience. Every Sales Person that you ask will always tell you that they are a much better Sales Person now than they were when they first started. And why is that? Because over the years and working with different companies you are constantly learning. At least the good Sales Reps are. From working on finding ways to relate to prospects better to figuring out what type of Sales Person you are. You can find more on that topic in our library. You pick up small things and phrases along the way and you figure out when and where to use them. But here is the deal. You cannot be afraid to make a change early on. This is not the 1970’s and 1980’s where you work for the same company for your entire career. Just doesn’t happen any more. You may like your first Sales Job but may find something is missing. So always be on the lookout for other opportunities. But at every stop take the time to learn as much as you can from your job. You will learn more from some than others for sure. And some you may feel like you are not learning anything. But even in those situations you will look back and realize you learned some there too. Many people look at changing jobs as a negative. Absolutely not! And your friends or family that can’t understand that have never been in sales. If you find out that you really like sales then keep fighting through the tough times so you can make it to your perfect fit. It took me almost 20 years to find my perfect fit. So don’t give up. I will have a video on this very topic in the video library so make sure and check that out too.