Many today dream of working with earnings that "depend only on you." Here is one of the most widespread examples of such employment in the modern world, where one can quickly secure high wages for oneself by diligence, personal qualities, and professionalism. This is a sales representative. Let's talk about the training of specialists, the pros and cons of work, job responsibilities and other important characteristics.
Who is it?
A sales representative is a specialist whose main goal is to organize the sale of goods (or a group of products) to his company, the conclusion of relevant agreements, contracts with partners. Accordingly, his "native" field of activity is marketing and sales.
According to surveys, about 70% of respondents consider such activities to be in demand and promising today. The profession is not rare today, on the contrary, it is very common in the labor market. But this does not prevent her from being in demand - experienced and talented "salespeople" will always be worth their weight in gold. There are open vacancies in almost every city, and by no means in a single quantity. High wages and at the same time always open jobs - what's the matter?
A sales representative at a point of sale is a kind of intermediary between a manufacturer and a distributor or between two intermediaries (and not a specific end-user, client). For example, between a manufacturer and a wholesale base, a manufacturer and a distributor, a manufacturer and a dealer, between a large wholesale and small wholesale warehouse, a dealer and a retail market, a distributor and a retailer. There are a lot of options.
Sales representative - this is mobile employment, constant movement from client to client, from one outlet to another. Therefore, a representative of the profession must have a driver’s license and, preferably, his own car. The main goal of his work for the employer is to maintain the level of wholesale sales, their increase. And the expansion of the customer base making purchases, in turn, is the basis of the remuneration of the employee himself.
Specialist Responsibilities
A classic example of a sales representative is the performance by an employee of the duties of several specialties at once. Such an employee acts as a salesman, and a negotiator, and a driver, and a merchandiser, and an accountant, and a cashier, and an auxiliary worker.
Its main functional responsibilities are as follows:
- Search for middle-level intermediaries (rather than the employing company), outlets for the sale of their products.
- Direct conclusion of contracts, contracts for the supply of products.
- Reception from partners, customers of applications for the supply of products. Enforcement of all customer requirements.
- Direct delivery of ordered products to retail outlets.
- Collection of revenue, its delivery - in the accounting department of the employing organization or to the bank.
- Full support of its customer base.
- Control over debt repayment of your client portfolio.
- Proper location of their products in retail outlets of partners, customers, intermediaries.
- Ensuring sales growth of the employing company.
- Advertising and successful promotion of new varieties of products.
Start of work
From functional responsibilities, one can judge that the activities of a sales representative are very similar to the work of salespeople of the century before last. Let us now consider the daily employment of specialists.
After the sales representative is approved for the position, the head assigns him a certain region, district - it all depends on the scale of the employing company. Sometimes a partially developed client base from a past specialist is offered, sometimes not.
After securing the location, the sales representative studies the trading companies on its territory. He outlines a list of those with whom productive cooperation is possible.
Next, work begins on direct involvement. I must say that his (attraction) methods are rapidly changing after the development of the sphere of marketing and promotion itself. Personal visits were once popular, then "cold calls", sending out emails - offers of cooperation. Today, the work goes to social networks. However, personal conversations, meetings with the leadership remain relevant.
Conclusion of contracts
If the negotiation phase was successful, the sales representative interested in the client's offer, then the second crucial part of the work comes in - the conclusion of a supply contract. Further, the specialist needs to establish contact with the employees of his client, responsible for the marketing and reception of products. These are sellers, warehouse workers. They discuss the timing and volume of supplies, as well as methods of payment for the goods.
Based on these data, the sales representative draws up applications for each of its customers. Then sends them to his company. Applications are processed by specialists, the goods are prepared for delivery to the client.
Product delivery
Transportation of the order to the client is carried out in two ways: either the sales representative himself does this, or the forwarding driver is under his control. The stage of receiving payment for the goods is responsible - both in cash and by "non-cash".
Banknotes are handed over by the sales representative to the bank or to the cash desk of his company. In the case of cashless payments, the specialist checks the success of the payment of the order by the client through the bank.
During all this activity, the sales representative does not stop monitoring the stocks of his share of the products in the warehouses of the company and his client. If necessary, orders new consignments. And in parallel, it is working to attract new customers.
Pros of work
The benefits of employment are as follows:
- Permanent vacancies in many cities.
- No special education, training.
- The amount of wages depends on the specialist.
- Flexible working hours.
- Rather fast career growth - successful representatives of the specialty quickly become supervisors, managers.
- The ability to establish business ties, develop a customer base with which you can go to a more promising company. The invaluable experience of direct sales helps those who want to go into their business.
Cons of work
As elsewhere, there are some disadvantages:
- Nervous, psychologically difficult activity.
- Having your own car, driver's license.
- Without work experience, it is difficult to get a large promising corporation.
- Liability for transported products and revenue.
- Irregular working hours.
- Earnings directly depend on personal sales, which are very difficult to immediately bring to the proper level for a beginner.
Salary
Knowing who this is - a sales representative, it will be correct to assume that the specialist does not have a fixed salary. The latter will be the minimum part of his income. The main profit - interest, remuneration, bonuses from transactions. As we have already said, a sales representative builds his earnings himself - it all depends on his skills, customer service skills, persuasion power, and professional literacy. And sometimes just from luck and personal charm.
However, the size of the wage is also affected by the location of the employing company, its specificity, and scale.Imagine the average size of remuneration for work as a sales representative:
- In Russia: 20-30 thousand rubles.
- In St. Petersburg: 30-40 thousand rubles.
- In Moscow: 40-50 thousand rubles.
Specialist training
Feedback from sales representatives indicates that this employment does not require any special training. Personal qualities, the desire to earn and develop in this area are more important here. The information is best absorbed here on the fly, while working, interacting with colleagues and clients.
Although theoretical and practical knowledge is more important for the sales representative, education for the direction “Management”, “Economics”, and “Trading” will be a plus for the applicant. Moreover, not necessarily higher. Successes are achieved by those with secondary vocational and sales representatives without specialized education.
Personal qualities of the employee
A sales representative is required. Who is waiting for the employer? As a rule, employment is equally suitable for both sexes - both men and women. At the same time, employers value the following personal qualities of an employee:
- Purposefulness. The desire to "work and earn."
- Sociability. Work is associated with the constant establishment of business contacts with a wide variety of people. Moreover, the interaction must be successful so that the client agrees to a long and productive cooperation.
- Stress resistance. Sales representative offers cooperation, products. Naturally, he will have to work with failures, competently and politely respond to them.
- A responsibility. The employer's profits and their business reputation depend on the actions and decisions of the employee.
- Organization. The ability to plan your own working time is very important for the sales representative, who himself builds his remuneration.
Related professions
If you have not found a job as a sales representative, then your skills will come in handy for finding yourself in a number of related professions:
- SMM specialist.
- Sales Manager.
- Commercial agent.
- Advertising agent.
- Broker.
- Marketer.
- Marketing director.
- Marketing Manager.
- Purchasing Manager
- Product Manager
- Sales Manager.
- Account Manager.
- Advertising Manager.
- Merchandiser.
- Seller.
- Supervisor
Career opportunities
The professional growth of a specialist lies in the accumulation of experience working with partners, building up their own client base, and building a business reputation. These factors affect the remuneration of labor, the demand for the employee, the attitude of direct management towards him.
The pinnacle of career growth is a supervisor of sales representatives, a sales manager. If the possibility of increasing wages depends on the zeal and success of the specialist himself, then the opportunities for advancement on the career ladder, as you see, are rather modest. Some specialists see their professional advancement in the transition to the educational level - they conduct seminars and trainings, publish books where they share their experience, secrets of success and interaction with clients.
Now the reader knows all the features of a sales representative. Like all other employment, it has its drawbacks and advantages.