I started my sales career in 2002, was there a plan to become a sales guy? Nope!
I had completed my B.Sc degree, but didn’t wanted to pursue pure sciences as a career, i started looking at corporate roles. Most of the job options available were for sales and marketing, being a fresher, i really didn’t think i had much choices back then (i am talking of time where there was no google, smartphones, or internet to really explore what’s out there), i went with the flow, did about 3 interviews and i cracked the third one and that involved making sales!
I didn’t have any preconceived notion about building career in sales, or coming across as a salesman, i just grabbed the opportunity to hit the market and i did pretty good job at it, not sure if i was born a sales guy, but i was genuine and honest in my approach, i did my work sincerely and i looked at it not selling but helping clients choose a good product, also btw product that i was selling was really good, that also helped the cause, (i had joined a Adani group company, and they were testing a new flavour of their fortune brand.)
And, i became better with time at sales, while i started with simple product selling into consumers, but then i moved towards B2B sales, selling expensive and complex product and solutions to large corporates, where the deal value use to run into crores and millions, the stakes were high, and obviously the pay check also was much fatter.
Also, let me share, post that first role in sales, the second opportunity i got was a non sales role, it was just managing customer relations at HSBC, but then third role that i got good money to join was again a sales role for DELL, where i got double paycheque then my earlier role, and as i started overachieving my targets, i stared earning fat inventive cheques, and that was like tiger tasting the blood and there was no looking back, it just added more fuel to the fire, and to my hunger of earning good money.
Post which i never took non-sales roles, i just become Sales Professional, hungry to earn more incentives and do well.
As i navigated my sales career, and looking to do well, and obviously better pay packages, i moved from hardware to software sales, a master move i would say, because software companies were and are still make huge profits with their products, and the companies are making billions with high margins, its natural that they pay well to sell those products, the pay now runs into few crores for my profile.
Let me also tell you, selling software is not easy, there is good amount of competition there, plus its a product that you cannot touch or feel (yes you can view it to arrive at its value) its a concept sales, its a value sell, its a ROI driven sales, plus it takes good long sales cycle to convince multiple stakeholders in the business to select your product. And, my friend that’s the real test of the sales professional, how he/she manages the sales cycle, and i become good at it.
It took me a while to learn what it take to close the business in your favour, but once you do it for years, it comes naturally, you become good at sales process and you are able to cross the finishing line, do well for yourself and obviously do well for the companies you work for, they make good money from your efforts and you make decent money as well in the process.
This is a short story of me going from few thousands in my first job in 2002 to reaching few crores.
With SalesTiger.club and the sales community that i am building, i am looking to share the knowledge, insights and skills, where more sales professionals can replicate this success and achieve better roles, better pay packages, and do really well for themselves. SalesTiger is my sincere attempt to convert good sales professionals into great ones, into SalesTigers.
Feel free to reach me, if you would like to explore becoming a SalesTiger!