5 life skills working in sales teaches you

A job in sales might feel like a stepping stone to something bigger but don’t belittle the life skills such a role teaches you. There are important skills and lessons to be learnt from this type of work - here are five you can take away and utilise in the future:

Develops confidence and assertiveness

Sales is all about making the customer understand that what you are offering can benefit them – if it won’t help or enrich their lives perhaps you should take a look at what you’re selling – so assertiveness is an important trait to embody.

You need to be sure of yourself, confident, and able to relay your thoughts and argument for buying what you are selling clearly and convincingly. After a sales role this can help in many situations, such as when it comes to negotiating that phone contract deal or haggling on a house price, so it’s an important life skill to take away.

How to deal with rejection

It’s safe to say you’re going to hear the word no… a lot. Therefore, it’s important you learn how to deal with rejection calmly and without letting it affect your performance in the workplace. Rejection is disheartening, yes, but a sales role prepares you for the future and how to cope when a door is metaphorically slammed in your face.

Talking to strangers

Picking up the phone and talking to a stranger, for many of us, can feel daunting. But a sales role, whether you’re working in a car dealership or a position at ccjm, encourages you to pick up the phone more, develop some courage and get chatting away down the line. This will help when you need to ring the energy supplier to query a bill or something as basic as phoning for a taxi before a night out.

Time management

A sales role is going to require prioritization and the ability to manage your time in order to get everything done you need to for that day. You will come to understand where to focus your energies first and this is a skill that can be carried through into other careers and everyday life.

Persistence

Many of us – especially those who have always lived in the UK – find the notion of persistently contacting another person rude and infuriating, so a good sales job will teach you how to go about this in an unintimidating way that can help you in the future.

It takes 6-8 touches to generate a sales lead, so you’ll learn how to be persistent without scaring people off. This will really help when you’re trying to land a job at a big company or trying to get your business idea seen and acknowledged by an investor. Persistence allows you to achieve your goals, it’s a great skill to take away from a sales role.

A sales job is a great place to start when it comes to building up life skills for the future, don’t see it as a stop gap between roles or a job to tide you over until something better comes up. Every minute spent on the phone or pitching to potential customers can only enhance how you manage yourself in the future.

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