There’s money to be made in sales. Just trawl through the vacancies on s1jobs and you’ll find senior roles offering large salaries as well as entry-level positions promising lucrative commissions.
And this is one area of the jobs market where you really can start at the bottom and work your way up to the top position by your own efforts without the need for extensive qualifications.
Yes, a business degree may well prove to be an asset but it is no substitute for experience and some of today’s most famous entrepreneurs have first learned the basics by gaining early sales experience in market forces – no, not as analysts but as market traders.
Steve Smith, who launched Poundland in 1990 and sold it a decade later for not a pound shy of £50 million, started on his parents’ market stall in the West Midlands.
Sisters Christy Foster and Cheryl Blayds, who have made millions from online4baby.com, started out as market traders.
Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway built a fashion empire from a single stall in London’s Camden Lock.
One of Alan Sugar’s earliest ventures was selling shampoo on a market stall and the boss of The Apprentice has said the sales skills he learned there are the same ones that took him right to the top of the business world.
Not everyone can set up shop in the local market – and, let’s face it, not everyone wants to – but the market stall lessons can be still be learned.
So let’s look at the key to running a successful stall and find out what we can learn from it that will boost a career in Sales.
The first point to note is punctuality and the ability to ‘get in there first’: experienced traders always get to the market early and set up near the cafe to guarantee good footfall.
Being in the right place at the right time is important to remember, especially if you’re starting out as a Sales Agent or Executive, where drive and determination to sell the product must be matched by a talent for being in situ to grab opportunities.
Next up: undercutting competitors is always a winner, unless your USP is all about quality, in which case your products must really deliver – if you want the sort of word-of-mouth sales and repeat business on which market stalls depend, your products have got to live up to their hype.
This knowledge will help you in your role as Account Manager, supporting the history and reputation for high quality products and services.
Perhaps most important of all for the stallholder, however, is having the right attitude. It’s no use lurking in the shadows at the back, expecting customers to seek you out with miners’ headlamps.
No, you’ve got to be up front, greeting customers with a cheery smile, a smart demonstration or a tasty sample of the goods on sale.
You don’t have to be Del Boy Trotter, shouting the odds while flashing a tray of knock-off cutlery.
Be yourself: just larger and louder!
Today the most successful market traders are the ones who treat their stall as a shop window, using it to drive business also on to their online store – that way they can keep on selling even when the market’s closed.
This is equally important in the role of Business Development Executive where cross-platform fertilisation is vital.
And, of course, it is only common sense to make sure your stock is season-proof. If you make your money selling sandals in summer, then you’re going to have to switch to wellies when winter comes.
Similarly good planning will be fundamental to success in your role as Sales Director, where being able to read the market trends and plan accordingly is a must.
All said and done, there’s simply nowhere like a successful stall for teaching the basics and fine nuances of sales and the importance of listening to customers.
If any final proof were needed, just look to Tesco, Matalan and Marks & Spencer – all businesses that started out in markets, yet testament to high far you can climb if you have the fundamentals.
Okay, you lovely lot, roll up, roll up, don’t be shy, and what do we have on sale here today?
For all the latest exciting Sales opportunities check out s1jobs.com