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Find a Sales Management or Marketing Career
Learn about how to start a sales management career.
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What Do You Do in a Sales Management Career?
Sales and sales management are the basic building blocks of business. Every transaction a salesperson brokers has a crucial impact on a company's bottom line, regardless of industry.
While there are different types of sales careers—in an inside sales career the customer comes to you whereas outside salespeople seek out their customers—most sales management jobs rely on the combination of extensive product knowledge and excellent communication skills.
While the more negative sales stereotypes often involve a pushy salesperson attempting to convince someone to buy an unnecessary product, the truth is that salespeople essentially operate by working to match a company's product with a customer's needs.
Account managers, for example, work business-to-business sales, ensuring that their clients, or accounts, are getting everything they can out of their company's products and encouraging those clients to continue doing business with the company. When not engaged in active selling, salespeople prepare budgets and forecasts, process contracts and follow up on tasks from sales meetings.
Salespeople must be unflappable—problem-solving skills, the ability to brush off rejection and an optimistic outlook are crucial to both constantly dealing with people and reconciling the dual interests of clients and companies. The most successful people in sales have persuasive—though never pushy—social skills, an intimate knowledge of the company's products and services, ability to analyze the customer's needs and the follow-through needed to close a sale.
While sales jobs generally pay decent base salaries, it is the commission and bonuses that make sales careers truly lucrative. While the system can sometimes be stressful, these performance-based incentives can bump earnings up immeasurably for those who distinguish themselves, pushing salaries to well beyond $100,000. To begin working towards a sales management career, find a business administration bachelor's or MBA degree.
Sales Management Career Path
| Entry Level | Mid Level | Senior Level | |
| Types of Roles | Sales assistant, sales trainee, sales representative | Sales manager, account manager, sales engineer | Sales executive, sales director, vice president of sales |
| Experience | 0 - 3 years | 4 - 7 years | 10+ years |
| Getting There |
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| Salary* | $29,000 - $49,000 | $63,000 - $88,000 | $120,000 - $166,000 |
| Description |
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* Depends on company size, specific job and location
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Encyclopedia of Small Business Vol. 2 (J-Z), 2007, Salary.com, Monster.com
University of Phoenix
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Walden University - School of Management
Walden University has unique and flexible online delivery models, world-class faculty and customizable programs which are all geared to help adult learners achieve their career goals.
