Sales Rep 101 – Chapter 6

Prepare For Change

Sales is a wonderful career to have and I would not change a thing. However, I do wish that early on someone would have told me what I’m about to tell you. The one thing that is for certain in sales is that change is inevitable. So what do I mean by that. When I got my first job right out of college I was selling cell phones. I thought it was the best job ever. Cell phones were just becoming huge in the mid to late 90’s. I even decided to start my own cell phone business. But, what I wasn’t prepared for was the change that was coming after Verizon took over the world of wireless. That dramatically changed our profitability and ultimately forced me to get out of the business. So I decided to make a move to a more stable business…the yellow pages. Because those will be around forever, right? And four short years later as I could see what was going to become of the yellow page industry it was time for another change. My point is this. In sales, no matter how great your job is right now you always need to be prepared for change. Because it is coming. Maybe it’s next week, next month or next year. But something will happen and one of couple of things will happen. Either you will be able to adjust to the change and continue with your position or you will no longer be comfortable with the future of your company and it will be time to look for a new job. Now, I hope that you find a job that you love and can keep for your entire career. That does happen. But it is rare to find that so you need to always be thinking about the future and where you see you and the company you work for in the next year or the next 5 years. Because when change comes in the sales world it can come fast. And you aren’t prepared it can leave you in a real bind. So, enjoy your time with your current company but always be open to new opportunities as they come up. You may not be ready for a change right now but when you are it will serve you well to have a few backup plans.