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If You Do these things, you have a potential fit
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If you do these things, you might not fit
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Do your due diligence. Learn. Check out the Professional Selling Program at UT Arlington….talk with students and faculty and sales professionals about it.
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Let the fear of rejection get in your way. Great basketball players miss half their shots…or more. Great baseball players make outs 7 out of 10 times they bat.
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Seek out employers (in sales or any other profession) who will tell you the truth about their careers and tell you the pros and cons of any profession. (Maybe provide a link to sales professional networking)
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Miss an opportunity by not investigating it. You may decide a career in sales is not for you, but you owe it to yourself to at least use factual information to make that decision.
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Make sure you know your next steps in all your endeavors. Ask for interviews. Tell prospective employers when you will contact them. Close interviews by asking for next steps.
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Underestimate your skills and aptitude. Skills are transferable. If you do not have experience in sales, what have you done that is sales-like? Have you made presentations? Have you asked for agreement? Have you persuaded a student group to do something? Have you coached a team? These are all skills that are used in the sales profession.
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Be persistent. Do not quit until you are told “no”. Go after opportunities. Try things.
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Be a negative person. Be optimistic about things. If you do not think things will get better for you, then why do anything to better yourself?
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Interact with professionals. You can do this formally in an internship. You can do this in less formal ways by talking with professionals who might speak in your classes.
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Ignore the value of networking. It is okay to have people help you as you pursue a career. Simply put, think letters of recommendation and then broaden your thinking to other ways that people with whom you interact can help you and also how you might help them.
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Act and look professional. Appearance and first impressions count. So does your ability to talk with folks in your first meeting with them.
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Act like you don’t want to be where you have to be.
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Find mentors. The Professional Selling Program at UT Arlington will connect you with many who can serve in this role.
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Think you know it all. No one is perfect and no one is an island.
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Work hard….as you pursue your education and then as you enter into your career. Hard work does pay off.
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Procrastinate. Use your education and your skills sets to build a foundation for growth and success for your lifetime.
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