Online Sales - Is It Right For You?

If you’re looking to change into a career that promises challenge and boasts some great rewards, then sales is for you. With careers in real estate, business sales and account management on offer, a sales course is the best way to unlock your full potential and open a world of opportunities.

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What Does the Sales Industry Involve?

Sales is a dynamic, broad, and exciting industry all about the transaction of goods or services from one individual or organisation to another. Covering a variety of industries; sales is a flexible and progressive career that despite having its ups and downs, is never dull. Service professionals regularly work with marketing and communication departments and sell everything there is to sell, from cars, business services to retail products and more!

Traditionally undertaken in face-to-face interactions, the industry is rapidly moving towards online, always-connected way of doing business. If there’s a product that anyone wants to buy, there’s someone who needs to sell it and if you dream of a sales career, you can be that someone! There are great rewards for anyone with the gift of persuasion, so if you think you have the ability to sell an ice cube to an Eskimo, this might just be the career for you.

Careers in Sales

Sales careers come in many forms with prospects in real estate sales, business to business sales, sales management, and consumer sales. With many professionals working in diverse roles, it’s common for sales and marketing to overlap, and to have a multi-skilled employee working in a dual role. This makes for an exciting and constantly shifting career choice. There is always going to be a need for sales professionals, as there will always be things to sell! Talented salesmen are expected to be in high demand, and the Australian sales industry is projected to experience strong growth. One such indicator is a forecast that estimates nearly 110,000 sales representatives will be working around the nation by the year 2020.

Some popular sales careers include:

Customer Contact Agent
Customer Service Representative
Telesales Representative
Contact Centre Team Leader
Quality Assurance Coordinator
Sales Account Assistant
Sales Management
Business Sales Manager
Real Estate Sales Agent
Sales and Marketing Manager

Two of the most common careers in Sales are:

Sales Assistants:

Over the five years to November 2019, it is expected that there will be a high number of job openings in this profession.
The median weekly earning for a full-time Sales Assistant is $800 and the average weekly hours worked in 37.2 hours.
6% of Sales Assistants have completed Year 12, which makes it the most common level of educational attainment.
Women account for 67.2% of people working in this occupation.
The 5 most important skills for a Sales Assistant are active listening, persuasion, speaking, service orientation and negotiation.

Sales Representatives:

It is expected that there will be over 50,000 new jobs over the five years to November 2019 in this profession.
The median weekly full-time earnings (before tax) for a Sales Representative is $1,197.
If you would like to work in this industry, you can expect to work on average 40 hours per week.
In contrast to a Sales Assistant, 65.1% of workers in this profession are male.
The two most common levels of educational attainment for this occupation are Year 12 (23.4%) and Certificate III/IV (23%).
The 5 most important skills for a Sales Representative are speaking, persuasion, active listening, social perceptiveness and negotiation.

Industry Outlook

As one of Australia’s largest and most influential markets, it remains one of the biggest employers in the Australia. With online sales alone exceeding $20 billion in 2016, and over 90,000 sales representatives working throughout the country, there are plenty of opportunities for a successful career. Currently, there are over 10,000 telemarketers and 34,000 customer service managers in Australia, which only proves how in demand they are.

The majority of these workers also work regular business hours and work in office environments or retail settings. The salary for Sales professionals varies by industry, role and experience. For example, sales assistants make $41,000 per year, customer service managers make $61,500 per year and a sales manager earns on average $102,600 per year.

Sales Courses

There’s a large variety of sales courses available, and with options such as sales representative training and online sales courses becoming increasingly accessible, it’s easy to find the right course for you. While some people choose to begin a sales career without a sales training course, most find themselves needing one as they move up the ladder and deal with more specialised clients. Whether you’re searching for a promising career change or a sales professional looking to learn more about sales, there is a course for you.

Certificate Course

Certificate courses are ideal if you are looking to learn the basics of sales, or if you wish to gain some more knowledge in a slightly more specialized area such as customer engagement, sales psychology, digital marketing, or business to business sales. With these short courses, you can become qualified within 6-12 months and are an ideal option for those who wish to apply for entry level positions and already be a step ahead of the pack. They can also be a pathway into further study.

Diploma Course

If you’re seeking an even greater leg up on the competition, you should consider enrolling in a Diploma course. These will teach you in an even greater level of depth about what is required for a management role and will hone your communication, decision making, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

Not only will this affect your understanding of sales, but you’ll also learn more about the broader aspects of business in areas like finance and personal branding. These courses also teach you about the way the internet is impacting sales and will train you to use things such as data mining, cloud computing, and The Internet of Things to help you achieve your sales goals. A typical Diploma can be completed within 12-18 months.

Bachelor Degree

If you want to take your skills even further, you should consider undertaking a Bachelor Degree. Options such as the Bachelor of Business (Marketing) is a common choice for prospective sales professionals and allows you to truly master the finer details that are required for the upper levels of a sales career. These courses will teach you all about planning and implementing sales strategies, managing a sales team, client relations and more. These are the more nuanced skills that will set you apart from less qualified applicants.

Necessary Skills and Responsibilities

You will need great listening, speaking, negotiation and persuasion skills as well as a high level of social and emotional intelligence to have a profitable career in the sales industry. It is an extremely high pressure and demanding career, but the most determined and confident individuals can make a highly respectable living for themselves. You must genuinely enjoy connecting and communicating with people on a daily basis, as well as possess exceptional networking skills.

If this sounds like you, or someone who you would like to be, stop thinking and start acting! Find your dream career now by searching our courses in sales to find the perfect fit for you.