What the work is
A sales manager finds customers, learns what they need and offers the product or service that solves it. They take a deal from the first call to payment: presentations, quotes, negotiation on price and terms, the contract. In B2B sales, a large part of the job is looking after regular clients and keeping every agreement in the CRM.
A typical day
In the morning, the day’s plan of calls and meetings and a check of the pipeline in the CRM. Cold calls to new companies and follow-ups with those who asked for time to think. A client meeting and a quote to prepare. Negotiating a discount with a key account. Updating deal statuses and the monthly forecast.
How to start
- Build your ability to listen and ask questions — selling starts with understanding the customer.
- Learn the basics of sales: deal stages, handling objections, negotiation.
- Learn a CRM and business correspondence.
- A good start is a role as a sales assistant, a call-centre operator or a sales representative.
Related professions
Sales representative, customer service specialist, marketer, credit specialist.