Sales

The one job that rarely features in a list of sought-after careers is that of sales professional. Sadly it is something that many Service leavers will not even consider until they have been outside the Forces for a little while.

Historically, selling has been at the root of the development of civilised society. The subsistence farmer who traded his surplus stock for products he couldn’t make or grow for himself was a salesman. So too were the great sailors and explorers who established global trade links. As the UK’s largest private-sector employer, providing jobs for nearly 3 million people, retail has created more jobs than any other sector over the last five years. Some 291,000 businesses take around £236 billion per year, or 35 pence of every pound spent in the UK.

The main employment areas in retail are:

• customer service – resolving problems and working with people
• product experts – working with specific products or lines
• stock management – moving millions of goods daily into and out of stock
• sourcing – products and the prices at which they sell
• merchandising – deciding what products and lines should be stocked
• management – running the day-to-day operation of the organisation
• developing people – recruiting and training
• finance – managing the money that passes through the business
• operations – the core of every retail business dealing with customers.

Sales are at the very core of any successful organisation. In today’s dynamic and increasingly competitive business environment, the need for highly skilled, professional salespeople is greater than ever. Even organisations in the not-for-profit sector sell – sometimes quite aggressively.

A great emphasis is placed on the quality of a sales person’s relationship with their clients. By working in partnership with clients a professional sales person can ensure that the client–supplier relationship is more mutually beneficial.

In order to succeed in this partnership-centred sales environment, sales people need to understand far more about their customers’ business, particularly where a sale includes ongoing maintenance commitments. They need to be able to think creatively in order to provide their customers with business solutions that are going to make them more effective in their markets.

Selling in the Services

Apart from the Defence Export Services Organisation, people in the Services rarely become involved in selling; but they do a great deal of buying – from expensive machinery like aircraft and ships at one end of the spectrum to local contracts on operations and exercises abroad. The two functions have many things in common, and nowadays both will often be stakeholders in the other’s business; trying for the deal that satisfies both and will generate repeat business.

Service people also do a great deal of negotiating. Trade-off and compromise are part of such processes; each side starts from its best position and moves, quickly or slowly depending on culture and custom, towards the middle, which is where agreement is possible because there is something for everybody.

Recruiting involves selling, using modern and highly sophisticated sales techniques, and it is probably where the Services are closest to business. They are addressing potential recruits, while in competition with each other for their share of suitable youngsters. Presentation skills are highly practised in the Services, but the gut feeling against selling possessed by many Service people needs to be overcome.

Personal qualities

The list of personal qualities desirable for sales people will surprise nobody, but it is interesting to note that they are virtually the same qualities that people in the Services are supposed to have when they are recruited and that Service life aims to develop. They are:

• reliability
• determination
• self-discipline
• self-motivation
• resourcefulness
• commitment
• aptitude for teamwork
• a ‘can-do’ attitude.

Employment

There are a number of different areas of sales employment:

• advertising and media – persuading clients that an advertisement in a publication or on a radio or TV station, or website will be advantageous for them
• product sales – including medical, pharmaceutical, cars and financial services – selling directly to a customer, to a retailer, wholesaler or manufacturer
• exhibition sales – using a stand as a form of ‘mobile shop’, often selling to organisations in similar business areas and building relationships with clients
• retailing – the traditional high-street or corner shops with a general or specific product range
• door-to-door – a job that still employs people and can involve some excellent products.

Network marketing involves selling products to friends, family and other contacts. Individuals buy products, which may be of high quality, from the supplier and a proportion of the purchase money goes to the person who introduced them to the network. The individuals then form their own ‘downstream’ network by persuading their contacts to sell the products to their contacts, and they in turn receive a proportion of the resultant purchases. The more people each person in the network introduces, the greater the amount of money they will all get from purchases. It is most certainly legal, as opposed to pyramid selling with which it is often confused, and a number of people are very happy doing it; but it is not for everyone and people should understand what they are getting into before joining the network.

Sales functions include:

• telesales – on the phone all day every day, usually surrounded by others, working in-house or in a call centre where people might be selling insurance one day and cars the next
• field sales – getting out to meet customers, making visits and presentations, and often organising a schedule to meet individuals’ needs and those of their customers
• management – when people have earned promotion through their sales record; sales managers may well then take further qualifications to enter general management.

When looking for their first employer, people should ideally choose a company that will offer good training. They may need considerable training before being allowed out on their own – either into the field or on the phone. Early training may well be about sales techniques, the company and product knowledge.

Training and qualifications

Although several sector skills councils are involved with standards and qualifications for sales in their sector, Skillsmart Retail is the one that focuses most closely on the overall sales function. It is developing Skills Maps as a foundation for standards and qualifications in each of the nine major functions found in the retail industry:

1. store operations

2. human resources

3. finance

4. buying

5. customer care

6. marketing

7. logistics

8. information technology

9. administration.

There will be a new set of retail National and Scottish Vocational Qualifications from 1 September 2006, as follows:

• Retail Skills Level 1
• Retail Skills Level 2
• Retail Level 3 (Management)
• Retail Level 3 (Sales Professional)
• Retail Level 3 (Visual Merchandising).

These qualifications have been made more attractive and attainable by reducing and simplifying the process. There is also a Foundation Degree in Retail Management and Leadership that is available from several universities/colleges.

The Institute of Sales & Marketing Management (ISMM) has a range of professional qualifications:

• Level 2 Award in Basic Sales Skills
• Level 2 Certificate in Sales & Marketing
• Level 3 Award in Advanced Sales Skills
• Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Sales & Marketing
• Level 5 Diploma in Strategic Sales (Sales Management or Key Account Management).

These qualifications can be studied at colleges and through distance learning, as well as being offered by approved private training centres and company training departments. Members of the Institute come from all sectors of industry and commerce, and it offers membership at grades from Student to Companion, conferences and seminars, training services and a monthly magazine.

Salaries

Rewards vary enormously, probably more so in this industry than any other. It is relatively easy to measure performance and pay accordingly; and that is why many packages have a low basic pay, supported by commission, profit-related and/or bonus payments that reflect the individual’s success or otherwise. Someone starting out in their early twenties as a junior sales person with plenty of skills but few academic qualifications could earn about £18,000. At the other end of the scale, the managing director of a large chain of stores could earn upwards of £100,000. Typically, a sales manager would earn around £30,000 to £45,000 with commission, bonuses and other incentives on top.

Further information

Sales training and ISMM qualifications are available through the Career Transition Partnership. For more information, contact a resettlement consultant or visit the website at www.ctp.org.uk for dates of Marketing and Selling courses.

Useful contacts

The Institute of Sales and Marketing Management, Harrier Court, Lower Woodside, Bedfordshire LU1 4DQ Tel: 01582 840001 Website: www.ismm.co.uk

Skillsmart Retail Ltd, The Retail Sector Skills Council, 40 Duke Street, London W1A 1AB Tel: 020 7399 3450 Website: www.skillsmartretail.com