Sales Recruitment

What are Sales Jobs?

Sales executives sell their company’s products and services to new and existing customers. Their customers range from retail outlets to businesses, individuals, wholesalers and manufacturers.

Sales executives are also involved with identifying new markets and business opportunities.

The role of Sales jobs is to help ensure the commercial success of a range of companies in UK and overseas markets and involves working with high-profile brands and products.

Tasks

Sales jobs fall into two different categories. Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C).

B2B Sales jobs involve selling products or services from one business to another. For example, a sales executive in a company that manufactures fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sells products to the retailer.

B2C Sales jobs involve direct selling to the consumer. Examples include selling credit cards via the telesales or selling cars in a showroom.

Skills and Personal Qualities required in Sales Jobs:

• The ability and desire to sell;
• Excellent communication skills;
• Positive, confident and determined approach;
• Resilience, and the ability to cope with rejection;
• A high degree of self-motivation and ambition;
• The skills to work both independently and as part of a team;
• The ability to flourish in a competitive environment;
• A good level of numeracy.

Previous experience in a sales job is an advantage for a candidate.

As there is a substantial amount of travel involved in sales jobs, most sales jobs require candidates to hold a full driving license.

Qualifications

There are no set minimum entry requirements for sales jobs. Employers may ask for GCSE (A*-C) in Maths and English and evidence of IT skills. Some employers may demand that applicants for sales jobs possess a degree; a business related degree may improve an applicant’s chances

Increasingly, academic qualifications are less important than personality, attitude and abilities, especially commercial awareness and strong communication skills for Sales jobs.

Career Path

After a period in a Sales job, you can expect to handle larger and more prestigious accounts and take responsibility for key products. A successful sales executive can expect to move into a Sales Manager role with responsibility for a team of people.

Most companies have a promotion structure that typically involves moving up from Sales Executive to Account Executive to Area Sales Manager or National Accounts Manager to National Sales Manager and ultimately to Sales Director.

Salary

Starting salaries for Sales jobs vary but are in the range of £16,500 to £35,000. After three to five years of experience salaries range from £22,500 - £45,000. At a senior level, salaries for Sales Jobs range from £38,000 - £100,000+.

Salaries are usually heavily bonus related based on successfully meeting sales targets.

For further information freephone 0800 9553108 or email recruitment@corkgriffiths.co.uk