How to shift away from a career in SALES!

For some people sales is a fantastic career. People in sales will tell you about the highs of the job, they will talk about the excitement and how great the feeling is when they use their people skills and powers of negotiation to close a deal.

However, I have coached two clients recently who were both desperate to get out of sales. They were sick of the relentless targets, the constant pressure and being viewed only as good as their last sale. Although deeply unhappy, both clients at first believed they would find it virtually impossible to change career direction. Both felt they were "stuck" in sales jobs for the rest of their working life. Can you relate to this feeling?

Stop and ask yourself how happy you are in your current job. Rate your overall job happiness on a scale of 0-10, ten being deeply unhappy. If you score a 7 or higher consider this to be an indicator that you need to take action. Are you willing to put up with working in an area that makes you incredibly unhappy? Decide right now that you deserve to have a job that gives you job satisfaction.

By completing the following ten steps you will soon begin to believe that there is life after sales.

Step 1:

Write down the barriers that are preventing you from leaving your current sales job. Here are some of the most common reasons:

Financial - you believe that another job won't give you the same salary.

Do you really know for sure that you can't earn good money in another job area? Have you actually done any research into what other options are available to you, or are you just jumping to conclusions as a way of legitimising staying put in an unfulfilling job? Could you afford to take a pay cut? You need to know exactly how much a month you need to live on so it is time to do a financial audit. Make a list of all your outgoings. Remember most people live up to their means. Are there any areas where you could make some cutbacks? In some cases a financial sacrifice may have to be made, but what price can you put on your own happiness?

Other barriers are, "I'm too old", "Sales is all I know" or "I'm too far down my career path to change direction". There are many other excuses, but are these obstacles a reality or just barriers that we have created in our minds?

Step 2:

Write a list of all the reasons why you dislike your current job and also all the things that you enjoy. Can you see a pattern? What does your list tell you about the type of work that you enjoy or will suit you?

Step 3:

Sit down and write down the answers to the following questions:
1. What inspires you?
2. What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?
3. What did you want to do as a child when you were growing up?

Step 4:

Get to know yourself. What are your, interests, personal qualities, strengths and values? Take a look at Melanie Castle's article, "Learning about Yourself" or email me at info@kayholdsworth.com for exercises that will help you to learn who you are and what would be your ideal type of work.

Step 5:

Complete a skills audit. Many people who have been in the same job for a number of years feel they haven't got the necessary skills or experience to change roles. Sales people can be the worst culprits when it comes to underselling their skills! The fact is sales people have a wealth of skills that are easily transferable to other areas of work. Here are just a few that I have quickly thought of:

Excellent communication and people skills, ambitious and highly driven, able to manage and motivate individuals and teams, confidence, good understanding of the needs of customers and business, ability to build rapport, use of initiative, good at networking, negotiating and persuasion.

Brainstorm with a partner or friend all the skills that you use in your current and previous roles. Now sort your skills into one of these three categories: people, technical or data skills and, most importantly, make a separate list of all the skills that you enjoy using.

Step 6:

Explore Your Options:

Brainstorm any jobs that appeal to you. Also think about who might have a need for your skills. Be as creative and as imaginative as possible. There are no stupid ideas and this is not the time to be realistic. Brainstorming will only work if you write whatever comes into your head without editing. Once you have your list of potential jobs decide what criteria you will use to evaluate the ideas, such as genuine interest and achievability. Ask yourself, what do I need to know about this role to know if it's right for me? By doing this you should begin to see clearly one or two career areas that you would like to pursue.

Step 7:

Use the internet and your network of friends and colleagues to expand your knowledge of companies and organisations. Sales people often have a great number of useful contacts so you should be ahead of the game! Explore journals and newspapers about the area you are most interested in and identify relevant professional bodies for information. Good sources of information are the library and Chamber of Commerce. By talking to people, asking lots of questions and doing research, the easier it will become. Soon you will know what new area of work you want to move into.

Step 8:

Create a CV and cover letter which is tailored to your new job role. Use the skills audit to assist you.

Step 9:

Take action and be as proactive as possible. Cold call companies and find out as much information and knowledge about the company and role you want. Only approximately 25% of jobs are advertised so you need to combine your investigative and entrepreneurial skills to discover vacancies and market yourself so you get that job!

Step 10:

Keep the faith and self-belief alive. Henry Ford hit the nail on the head when he said, "If you believe you can, or you believe you can't, you're probably right". At times you will have doubts and experience setbacks. This is only natural, but if you keep plugging away you will get results and eventually say goodbye to sales.