vallumlj

I m currently a sales rep selling into garden centres and earn about 34k a year including commision. I am looking for a different field to move into and was just wondering what fields pay quite well.

I see yellow pages pay 34k basic plus comission.

any advice would be good

thanks

stilover

Car sales man.
Estate Agents.

Sti_Prodrive

agreed

Butkus

Does anyone know much about car sales jobs? I wouldn't mind a change. Do you need to have experience? What is the money like?

(Hope this isn't hijacking the thread by the way, just curious).

lordretsudo

I thought car sales men were having a very hard time these days? The brother-in-law of a bloke I work with is a car salesman and he's always going on about how awful the job is, how little money they make, the pressure they're under, the long hours, etc, etc. He's changed jobs several times, but admittedly hasn't sold for any of the 'prestige' brands (BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc).

It always seems like a hard way to earn a living to me, plus everyone will hate you!

scoobynutta555

Is this him?

TopBanana

One of my clients is an American software firm. Their sales guys earn between £60k and £200k. It's not rocket science - some of them used to sell cars (and it shows).

Tiggs

I did cars for 6 months about 12 years ago....at the time it seemed most where getting 20-30 and the good ones 30-40, but it was commission only with NO support.....and i was rubbish!

I looked at selling IT/software or financial and took the first job i was offered...which happened to financial sales (made over 100k in the second year and just kept getting better)

Neither field is as easy to get into now as the mid 90's but worth exploring....for a good salesman £100k is fairly straightforward in either. (i would imagine software is a bit more high 5's and target meetings if thats your thing)

PeteBrant

Thats why this planet is so ****ed up. The people that sell the item earn more than the people that actually produce it.

GC8

Yellow Pages used to require a couple of years of advertising sales experience.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

I have a mate in IT software sales. Does a bit of travelling, quite a few meetings demo ing the products etc, he earned just over 100k last year. Part of that was a large bonus though (approx 30k's worth)

Thing is, I wouldnt buy anything from him

Avi

My Mate has worked for yellow pages for a good few years and he's on 24k basic - cold calling. I guess the guys in the field get a bit more.

Another mate sells for Saab.. he seems to work all hours and comes out with about 25k equivalent.

Tiggs

because selling it is the hardest part.

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Depends on your location too. You wouldnt get a sales job in Cornwall for £100k i know, lol.

I did car sales for about 8 years. Bloody hard work! Worked every weekend (saturday AND sunday) for 3 years! One day off during the week and every bank holiday. Wouldnt do that again.

Field sales would be where i would recommend, mon-fri, no weekends or bank hols, decent salary with commission, car allowance, etc.

Anywhere north of exeter should fetch an easy £30k. Sales jobs down here in Cornwall are between £17-£23k and house prices to almost match london!

vallumlj

Software sales sounds good but would they hire someone with very little software experience.

Does any one some good agencys i can contact

thanks

Suresh

You'll need some Banking experience first, but this type of thing is still apparently quite lucrative -

Fixed Income Institutional Sales Job, London UK

Klaatu

Usually, if a "sale" is "hard" then typically the "product" is "crap".

Tiggs

What nonsense - have you ever worked in sales?

Sales is more than ripping someone off with crap - I watch a footballer and part of me thinks their all a bunch of tools but I realise you dont get paid that for being a tool......you think people pay me £200k just because its the only way to shift a rubbish product?

Flogging a £5k motor on a forecourt may be simple enough but if your getting a client to invest millions or having a company fork out a small fortune on new software then theres a bit more to it than having a fast mouth and flash tie.

TopBanana

Or it's a very competitive sector... or your prospect is too stressed and snowed under to look at 'another bloody product'...

Products don't just sell themselves in the real world, unless it's commodity stuff like dishwashers and to some extent, cars.

TopBanana

You might be better off contacting software companies direct. Shows a bit of initiative, and they like that!

Tiggs

My experience at the time was that with either financial or software you could talk yourself into the bottom fairly easily - the only issue was that the bottom was pretty low compared to where you wanted to be.....however, it wasnt THAT low (i started on a £17k base and a car having just come from selling cars making £400 a month and a free saxo! - at the time i thought i was Bill Gates!) You then have to work hard and make money quick - and if you dont your out anyway so it's not like you'd be plodding along on £20k pa for years.

Bottom line - you can teach someone about software or money but you cant teach communication skills (well you can but if you're over 20 then you have already built up your foundation of skills in that area and its hard to add to crap......a poor communicator at 20 wont ever be a good salesman)

My interviews for software & financial sales didnt mention knowledge once - which was handy because i didnt have a clue.

so, as above, call direct - show you can communicate for what you want on your own (which is what they will hire you to do!)

PeteBrant

Quite simply - To be a salesman, you have to have gift of the gab, to be an Engineer or Designer, you need to have intelligence


It's the way of the world, Agents, Estate Agents, salesmen all earn commision for selling product, and often get bonuses.

Engineers and designers, and the people that actually come up with the product, design it, test it, refine it, produce it, don''t see any of that commision, nor do they typically get bonuses.

I don't begrudge salesmen their salaries and bonuses, but it would be nice to have some parity.

Put it this way, if salesmen all died in a plague tomorrow, you would still be able to produce new and exciting product, and you would be able to sell it, albeit with less skill and panache.

If all the Engineers died tomorrow, you would get **** all.

EddScott

The car dealership next door goes through salesman like sweets. Theres a new one in there every few months. Its a Skoda dealership.

I work in an IFA practice which is traditionally very sales orientated. We actually tend to avoid taking on IFAs who are the "salesman" type. The industry is so regulated and mistakes are punished mercilessly so we tend to opt for technical savy advisers rather than fast talking salesmen.

I'm not great at selling and prefer being behind the scenes. I put it together and get someone else to do the talking

Probably make less money but don't have to worry about what they are up to.

GC8

A commonly held misconception. Rubbish, in fact.

PeteBrant

Misconception my ****.

You don't get university graduates going on to be salesmen, it's the career path of the kids that get **** all exam results at school.

stilover

I take it you're in sales then?

sti-04!!

What about this misconception ? I have an BA Hons & i sold cars for while.

Exam results were good not brilliant but still a few credit passes & had the option of doing at least four highers but i chose the working route & i am a qualified HGV mechanic.

I dont sell cars now though Its only something i wanted to try when i was on a career break.

Ps the BA Hons stands me in good stead now

GC8

Rubbish Pete. Making an 'all salesmen are gobsh*tes' type of remark shows that you are ignorant. If you really think that people mithering you on the telephone and knocking your door about windows really sum up professional sales people, then that reflects very very poorly on you.

Are you another pslewis pseudonym? The reason that I ask is that you share a number of character traits, principally: confusing your own ill-informed opinion with fact .

PeteBrant

Course I don't. I'm being facetious - hence the winks.

I know plenty of salesmen that do a great job and work very hard. My own Father was a sales director for a big company.

I do think, however, that the balance needs to be restored between Engineering and selling in terms of reward and respect.

Neither can exist without the other.

As it stands, the salesman get all the reward, and the Engineer does poorly in relative terms, despite being euqlly as vital, if not more so, in the chain.