By Invitation: Mr Subramanian U, Regional Sales Manager - India & SAARC, CISCO India

“What do you want to become when you grow up?” “I want to become a salesperson” How often do you hear that? Well, seldom.

Selling as an occupation hasn’t got its due respect from a society that looks at it as unglamorous, stressful, and unrewarding. Often our experience of facing salespeople from the unorganised sector who go door to door seems to prejudice our judgement, particularly in B-schools. Taking nothing away from the work of these gritty men, we don’t believe that their work paints an accurate picture of this field of work.

Like how each of these sectors, such as Manufacturing, Automotive, FMCG/D, IT industry, has unique characteristics, the sales function within each of these also has different features. For instance, a paint salesperson and a Boeing salesperson are not the same. An FMCG salesperson and a salesperson representing IBM or Cisco, or Microsoft are not the same. B-to-C and B-to-B sales are different, and even within those, selling luxury brands differs from selling mass-market products. Take the case of selling a luxury Swiss watch and compare it to that of a locally made one or sales of an auto component or that of a luxury car. Each of these has its peculiar charm and nous in the trade.

Sales Management as a subject is not part of a core curriculum in B-schools, while its big brother Marketing finds a place. It is notoriously difficult to teach Sales in a classroom. Sales is a way of life – regardless of the profession you choose, you still need to be good at sales to succeed in life. Whether you are selling your goals/motives to your team or your value to your bosses for promotion or selling your ideas to VC investors as a CEO, you need to be an effective salesperson. While we can teach the principles, it leaves enough room for each person to bring their personality or touch and figure out what works. One can maintain one’s individuality and create a unique identity.

IT Sales is a sophisticated field with opportunities to work across the spectrum from being ‘on field’ to ‘on call’ to ‘being technical sales’ to ‘hands-on’ to ‘writing scripts’ to ‘managing relationships’. It is a field in which you are an advisor to the customer more often than a salesperson, though you must earn that status. It is a fast-paced, fast-changing field that offers many opportunities to grow and expand one’s horizon. While one would typically start one’s career in a smaller organisation, it provides a chance to grow and work for the famed ‘FAANGM’ – the world’s best companies, eventually.

Selling as a profession pays better than most other professions, contrary to popular belief, and IT Sales does significantly better in that aspect. Salespeople see better growth within an organisation than their counterparts from other departments. With better performance comes the chance to increase your pay through accelerators and multipliers – you could potentially double your income, and it is in your hands, something that no other profession could offer.

IT Sales offers equal opportunities to both genders and boasts of many women in the profession across various roles, from leading organisations, countries, and teams to be individual contributors.

<aside> 🙋🏽 When it comes to sales, people are worried about target attainment, pressure, and performance – all of which exist in all professions, including being a CEO. A CEO must report to her board and investors periodically, meet quarterly targets, and constantly race the clock. People that are associated with routine/repetitive jobs are more at risk of depression than salespeople. Salespeople are generally quick on the uptake, sharp thinkers, have a good sense of humour, better at handling people, situations, and pressure.

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<aside> 🛫 So, if you want to own a start-up or become a CXO, then having experience in Sales wouldn’t hurt and would only help. Hop on in for the ride of a lifetime!

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Happy Selling!