Who's in sales?

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trappd-in-859

trappd-in-859

New Member
I'm making this thread to find out how many of you are in sales, and if you like what you do or not. Right now I'm currently a sales associate for Sears, in the tool dept. I get a $6hr base plus 1-4% commision, so that averages out to around $10hr for a normal day. I have mixed feelings about this job really. One of the good things is that I like who I work with and the job atmosphere is pretty casual and laid back. The bad is obviously the pay and the fact that I'm currently part-time.

What I want to know is what do you sell? Do you get a base or are you just straight commision? What is your average hourly rate? Do you have to have over a year of sales experience and/or degree to do what you do? I would really like to know what my options are as far as sales goes, because the pay and hours I'm getting now suck balls. I'll be going back to college in the next year or so, so I don't expect to be a salesman my entire career but I would like to stay in the business.

TIA for all of your replies.
 
i worked as a financial advisor. it was pure commission. good months i could make 10k, bad months could be 0.

I had to sell financial planning, mutual funds, retirement, blah blah blah. it sucked. pure sales sucks.
 
I did sales for radio shack 6 years ago. It was fun as hell. I was on minimum + Commission, and I usually pulled $13-$16 an hour. Not bad for someone fresh out of high school.

But the boss was an ass hat, and I quit that job.
 
Yeah, I got a call from radio shack when I applied there. They told me I had to drive about 50 miles and sit through a 5hr long training video and then go for an interview. I obviously didn't go. WAY to far of a drive for a job like that.
 
I worked in sales for a long time. I became a manager then even went up to the corporate side and was doing admin work and training. I got paid crap, but they gave me flexibility that I needed, and ultimately, I think it helped me. But, as of now, I'm unemployed and looking to get out of the customer service/sales part and just become an assistant.
 
I work in Sales, it's a game of constant digging. Some days I feel like the race I'm running is on a tread mil, then I close a $7,500 sale at 15% and feel okay for awhile.

I've made $0 in a week and I've had days were I made $100/hr
 
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Who does/did everyone work for?

I've heard that working in cell phone sales pays pretty well. Is that a myth or truth?
 
It wasn't for orientation or a job. It was for an interview for a job where the pay wouldn't be that good, and I would have most likely gotten another job in less than a year. The rep for Radio Shack called me like 2hrs before I was supposed to be there, and I'm not driving 50 miles, in rush-hour traffic, for a job that I might not have even gotten.

I can def. relate to the big sales with crap commision. I sold a $1200 table saw and made 10 fuckin dollars. If you do the math that's less than 1% commision.

I'm doing a little above average right now, but I'm somewhat out of my element. Selling something like electronics would be a lot easier for me. I'm thinking about putting in for a dept. transfer whenever an open position becomes available.
 
It was a risk that I felt wasn't worth the reward. I do understand what you are saying though. The job I have now has plenty of opportunities for advancement, so it's not like I made a horrible decision by not going to the interview.
 
I'm in sales. :)

Sales are monthly, typically between $20 and $300 million. Private buyers only, both domestic and international. No commission, unfortunately, but the salary is decent.
 
For being 18 and just out of highschool its not a bad job. Depending what you are planning to do down the road it will look good on a resume. Try getting into a department that you have some interest in since you will do better at selling things that interest you. I worked sales for a long time and overall it was good. I sold home audio for 3 years in college. The time of year made a huge difference. I made a killing in the fall and especially around Christmas. Then in the spring and summer sales were somewhat low but sometimes I would pull in decent $$$. This experience helped me get my last job, along with my degree, and i was making good money there when I got my sales bonus. You will always need sales some how in a lot of stuff you do and you will have to sell yourself to future employers so its good experience.
 
Currently in sales and will probably continue to be here for the rest of my days.

This isn't a jab at your job, but its difficult to compare your retail sales working the counter or the floor at a retail chain in the same category of consultative or needs based sales.

I grew up the son of a successful salesman, so I'm a sales snob. I've always wanted to be in sales and I enjoy meeting new people and building relationships, the job just makes sense for me.

I wouldn't work for any company that used canned sales pitches and presentations.
 
get_nick said:
i worked as a financial advisor. it was pure commission. good months i could make 10k, bad months could be 0.

I had to sell financial planning, mutual funds, retirement, blah blah blah. it sucked. pure sales sucks.
Click to expand...

It all depends on your personality and your level of commitment.

I'm actually in the same industry that you're discussing, except I work for a company that has been #1 in the industry for 24years running and was ranked the #1 company to sell for by Selling Power magazine.

I work on pure commission and have been in this particular job for a few months. When you see the porsches in the parking lot or go to the home of the owner of the company, it makes you think twice about how much "pure sales suck".

If I worked for one of the other major companies that aren't ranked as highly and don't provide the autonomy that my job provides, I'm sure I might have a negative outlook as well but currently this job is lining me up for six figures within two or three years of graduating college.

http://www.nmfn.com/

I'm assuming you have your Life & Health Insurance License, Series 6, and Series 7 if you were in the financial industry?
 
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Jeef: That was kind of what I was saying in a previous post. My sales numbers could be a lot higher if I could sell things that actually interest me. Home electronics, car audio, and cars are my greatest interests. It's pretty hard for me to get a job as a car salesman when I'm so young, but I could always start out as a porter/lot tech and then move to sales later on. Working at a parts counter is something that has always interested me, but I'm not sure how to go about getting a job like that with limited experience. Oh, and I'm def. looking foward to christmas time :).

Thanks again to everyone that replied.
 
looking into being a car service writer/service adviser
you basically sell what the mechanic will be doing to the customers car
can make damn good money
but maybe not for someone so young
definately worth a shot though
 
What kind of education and/or experience would you need to do that? That sounds like something I would be very interested in.
 
When I worked at BMW, the service advisor's were young. All of them about 20. And they made bank, yet still drove Volkswagens. *shrug* Not a bad job at all...
 
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