Considering an Industrial Sales Job?
When looking for an industrial sales job, there are three important things to consider helping ensure that you will find a good match:
How Will I Be Selling?
Not all sales are alike, and the type of selling can fall into a wide range from passive (inbound telemarketing and retail) to the active (door-to-door cold calling). Typically, the more active your role, the more money you can make. The person behind the counter at Macy's typically makes less than the person selling those same products to Macy's.
This is also true for industrial sales. The person at Home Depot selling fasteners will likely be making significantly less than the person who sells fasteners to Home Depot.
Take an honest look at yourself and try to identify the kind of salesperson you are. If you are an extrovert who mingles well at parties with strangers, and a leader at networking events, you will likely be comfortable in a sales role that requires a high level of assertiveness and outgoingness. If you are an introvert who shies away from people, you will likely enjoy a more passive role with a company such as in customer service or inside sales.
What Will I Be Selling?
I hear the phrase all the time, "he could sell ice to an Eskimo." My reaction is always the same. Why would he want to do that?
Another important ingredient in your success as a sales person will be your ability to sell something that is relevant to you. Sell something you feel good about and your chance of success will increase. If you do not care about blue widgets and have never used them, your indifference will show and your customers will be reluctant to buy. Have you ever gone to a restaurant and asked about the daily special only to receive a half-hearted description of the "grilled salmon?" You probably ended up ordering something else. In retrospect, that was a sales situation and the salesperson (waiter) was not passionate about the product. Search out products for which there is a positive emotional attachment.
This principle certainly holds true for the world of industrial sales. There are many different types of industrial sales opportunities. You might be fascinated by aerospace technology that has narrow and relatively specialized sales opportunities. Or, you might be the type of individual who enjoys more mundane and common types of supplies, tools and equipment that are associated with broad and diverse markets.
To Whom Will I be Selling?
Another component of sales is the environment. To whom you sell is an important factor. If you are too far out of your comfort zone selling to certain types of people, or in a setting that you find unappealing, it can spell disaster for your career. If you are comfortable selling in industrial settings, shops, manufacturing floors, distribution warehouses, and similar places, then search out opportunities that will allow you to sell in those environments. On the other hand, if you are more comfortable in a Brooks Brothers suit and spending time in the lobbies of high-rise office buildings, then look for sales that will lead you to those places.
One of the realities of life is that you will be more successful when you are confident, and a goodly measure of confidence comes as a result of being in familiar surroundings. Since people naturally gravitate to people whom they perceive to be like themselves, try to find an environment that is suits you, where you will find others who are comfortable with you as well.
Industial Supplies - Industrial Sales>
Every Hi-Line representative manages a territory, similar to a route sales position, where quality industrial supplies are delivered directly to the customer's bins.
If you enjoy the industrial community, working with people, and being your own boss, then contact Hi-Line at industrialsales@hi-line.com for a rewarding career in industrial sales.