“No two salespeople are the same; we all have unique attributes that make us successful.”
When you think of sales, you might think of sharply tailored suits and big presentations… or more grassroots gigs like selling knives door-to-door. Both of these stereotypes are true, but they’re not the only sales roles that exist. Salespeople are needed at Fortune 500 companies, at startups, at manufacturers and wholesalers, and yes, occasionally at your door because they're integral drivers of business and relationship-building.
Whether called Account Executives, Sales Reps or Associates, or Account Managers, Sales Professionals as a group sell certain products or services to the businesses, agencies, organizations, or people that need them. Their job is to understand what the customer wants and find a way to get it to them, all the while acting as a liaison with their own organization. In the process of doing that task, sales professionals send countless emails to and have meetings with prospective clients. It’s not uncommon for people in sales to have long-running, warm relationships with the people they cater to—such closeness makes selling easier and more fun.
As such, communication is a key skill among sales professionals. Other traits include being a self-starter, competitiveness, resilience, and fairly good organizational skills. Gumption doesn’t hurt, either.
We asked Brenda Adame, Manager, Training and Delivery in sales to share more about her career.
What does a Sales Professional do?
An in-bound sales professional provides quality service to prospective customers by providing them with the perfect fit for the customers needs.
What’s your professional background and why did you pursue your current career?
My background is in training and delivery, and I pursued this career because I love to teach employees how to be subject matter experts in their field. I enjoy seeing their knowledge grown by the day and eventually see them pursue their own career and advancement. There is a sense of pride and accomplishment knowing that I played a role in their success.
How do you help the company?
I help the company by keeping everyone up to date on policies and procedures and ensure that my training team begins to develop the new agents for the beginning of their career with Spectrum.
What does a typical workday look like?
A typical workday is never the same. Every day is something different with new challenges, successes, and learning experiences. Typically, however, my day consists of supporting my training team and peers by providing coaching’s, monitoring their delivery of new hire material and providing feedback for their continued growth.
What are the three most important parts of your job?
The most important aspects of my job are:
1. Making sure everyone is up to date on current policies/procedures since this industry is ever growing and constantly changing.
2. Setting up new and existing agents with tools and knowledge to be successful in their everyday role.
3. Developing my team to prepare them for their career path by setting them up to be successful leaders.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
The hardest part of my job is also the most rewarding. When I have a mentor show that they have truly outgrown their position and have to see them leave my team to pursue their career as a supervisor or facilitator, it’s hard to see them leave my team. However, it is also the most rewarding to see them move in their career path within the company.
What’s the best part of your job?
By far the best part of my job is seeing new hire agents put everything they learned together like a puzzle. When they have that moment of clarity and things fall into place and they fully understand everything that was taught is a moment of accomplishment. There is so much information to absorb that it’s considerably easy for someone to not fully comprehend what is being taught in that moment.
What’s one piece of advice you could give to someone interested in working in sales?
A piece of advice I would give is to enjoy the ride. At times this role feels like a rollercoaster. It’s a bit scary at times, but it is also very fun. Enjoy every minute of it.
