New Challenges In A Changing Economy

You know what they say, “The only thing the stays the same is everything changes.” It’s so true, and today it’s obvious that things have changed in our economy and workforce as well. Gone are the days where you find a good job, work hard for them for 40 years of your life, and then retire with a gold watch and a pension. Likewise, changes are evident with entry-level sales positions as well.  There has been a large increase in the number of people starting out in entry-level sales positions who soon begin bouncing from company to company as they try to reach a substantial income that just isn’t available anymore, as there was in the traditional business model of years past.

You Want A $100k Per Year Sales Job?

1. Take Inventory On Yourself: Do you have the qualities and traits required to earn a six figure annual income as a salesperson? Have you kept yourself up-to-date on sales strategies and techniques?…or just taking it a day at a time? Successful salespeople know what they’re going to do before they go after it, and then also follow through with their plans.

2. Do you have a lead generation strategy? Cold calling is ancient, a relic of the past. Today’s successful salespeople don’t cold call. They spend a large share of their time meeting either face to face, or in person, with interested and qualified prospects. I have a friend who went into high end real estate sales; big money when it comes in, but deals are not easy to come by. Since he had a strategy, he was able to work basically part-time, and rake in over $20k per month, whereas some coworkers were working the phones all day long, working 50-60 hours per week, yet barely scraping by.

3. Create Your Action Plan. I’ve heard the saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going, anything will get you there.” And that’s very fitting in talking about your goals and strategies for getting you where you want to be in life. You must know exactly what you want to achieve and accomplish in your career, and how you plan on getting there, if you want any chance of success. You need to take into account in your plans such things as who are the decision makers for your product/service, they’re demographics, their interests, and how to actually reach them. You also need to have a step-by-step, written plan of where you’ll be at different milestones in your career.

4. Prepare yourself for your interview. A successful sale person can sell him/herself. Most managers will almost hire a person on the spot if they just come in confident, dressed for the part, and they’re prepared for the toughest of questions.

5. Plan to make certain you’re the person interviewed. Landing that great sales job is much like selling a product or service. You need to create a strategy for marketing yourself, then set appointments, do presentations, and lastly follow up. Just think of selling yourself like you’re selling a product, and you’ll fare well. Additionally, the more people you have interested in hiring you, the better a position you’ll be in when you’re ready to choose the right direction to go.

My Thoughts On The New World Economy And How It Affects You

As I mentioned earlier, times are changing…and changing drastically. You’re probably well aware that many American jobs have already been sent overseas; and most of those are blue collar manufacturing jobs. Companies have done it for multiple reasons; to avoid the high corporate taxes of the United States compared to other countries, and also for the much cheaper labor costs of overseas workers.

Check out this stat: Today there are more students in India in the top 1% of their class, also with an IQ higher than 120, than there are total students throughout the USA!

In many cases, companies are moving to taking advantage of these huge, cheap labor forces, but also despite what you may think, they have access to better technology, better resources, and employees that are faster and more reliable. So, not only will many blue collar manufacturing jobs be gone, but also many professional services!

The highest paid positions in the world have been and will continue to be sales, marketing, and distribution jobs!

Shifting Away From Corporate America

If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you know I proclaim the values of being self-employed and living life on your own terms. And if you’re here for the first time, let me tell you; there is nothing more rewarding, nor more challenging, than being your own boss, dictating what you’re going to do for the day, determining how much you’re worth instead of someone telling you what they’ll pay you…it’s the only way to go in today’s economy.

We’re in the middle of a massive shift away from Corporate America, where companies are figuring out that it’s better business, and more efficient to outsource their various jobs to specialists than it is to have on staff traditional W-2 employees. Likewise, people have caught on to the fact that employers no longer show loyalty like they did before, benefits have been slashed, incomes haven’t increased, and I could go on…

My Final Point On Landing A $100k Per Year Sales Job

Saying what I just did about the shift away from Corporate America leads me to what I think is your best way to earn over $100,000 annually.  Forget all the job hunting, become an independent contractor, and be the owner/president of your own corporation. Work on a commission only compensation plan that rewards you accordingly for what you produce. Learn the skills and strategies involved in direct response marketing, outsourcing, and direct sales.

By following these guidelines, you can find a company where you can earn a whole lot more profit for the same effort and work as someone trapped in the corporate America structure. How about an example?

After getting a degree from college, I worked as a landscape designer. After a few years I had worked my way up to 6% commission! So, in a year I had to sell $600,000 in landscaping projects to earn a $36,000 check…and I worked 50+ hours to do so…looking back that was just insane!

Now, I operate my business providing valuable content through my blog and videos, while promoting a luxury travel membership which pays nearly $2000 commissions…that is a $5000 lifetime travel membership that pays me a $2000 commission. It’s rewarding me for the little work I did recommending an excellent product that I use myself, and allowing me to build my business even bigger with those profits.

It’s truly a night and day difference looking at my before and after.

I just can’t stress enough how direly important it is for you to work for yourself if you want a long-lasting profitable sales career in your future.

The absolute BEST way to achieve your dreams in this line of work is to start by learning real marketing skills, and then applying that to building your business around you, your own brand, and what you have to offer people.

Now you may be resistant to the idea of starting your own business, with the challenges that come with it. But, from my experience, I can tell you that the success and freedom that I enjoy today is worth every single struggle I had to work my way through.