You’ve always been excited by a challenge. When someone disagrees with you, it’s an opportunity to flash your charm, throw in a few well-made points and help someone come around to your point of view. A career in sales might be a good fit for your tenacity and confidence, and an opportunity to develop as negotiator and a shrewd business mind.
Sales is a dynamic and fast-paced field. To be a successful salesperson, you need to think creatively, work well with a diverse range of people, and have a thorough understanding of your product and market. For the right kind of worker, a career in sales promises to never be boring—so how do you get there?
One common first step is through building experience as a sales assistant. In this article we’ll talk about what sales assistants typically do and how this role can help set the stage for a sales career.
What is a sales assistant?
A sales assistant is an entry level position on a sales team. Often, a sales assistant works on the sales floor supporting other members of a sales team as they negotiate deals and manage customer questions and needs. This work can include answering phone calls and emails, providing additional logistical and administrative aid, facilitating the relationship between a sales and production department, assisting customers, and processing orders. The day to day work of a sales assistant is dependent on the needs of the sales team. A sales assistant must be flexible and responsive.
Even in an entry-level position, working as a sales assistant requires the same interpersonal skillset that allows sales professionals to meet their goals. Sales assistants often work closely with clients, drawing on critical thinking, active listening and social perceptiveness to provide good service.
“I loved meeting new people from all over the world and forming new relationships with clients and colleagues,” says Beverly Friedmann, whose experience as a sales assistant led to her current work as Content and Web Sales Manager for ReviewingThis. “It is a truly invaluable part of any sales role.”
Where do sales assistants work?
There are many settings that require sales assistants—this is particularly true for industries selling more complex or technical goods or services. Technology, pharmaceuticals, financial tech and consumer packaged goods are only a few of the industries that depend on sales workers to function. As a sales assistant, you have a unique opportunity to learn about your product from within the industry and pick up on habits of established sales professionals.
Francis Côté now works as the co-owner and sales manager at Ideal Fence. He began his career by installing fences during college before working his way into a sales role and beyond. Côté says he drew on the knowledge he built as a sales assistant and took a company that made less than $100,000 in contract sales to a business taking in more than $2.5 million in sales.
Working in sales offers unique opportunities for advancement. With a commitment to whatever product you work with, you have the opportunity to build a wide client base and a more influential company.
