I started my sales career in retail. Went from TVs to cell phones. Cell phones to websites and web advertising. Websites to in home sales. I’m 29 and started when I was 18. In home sales you can easily make $100k, many making $150k and beyond just selling HVAC, windows, remodeling, siding, roofing etc. A good company will give you 3 leads a day; great fucking gig.

My company for example will hire any great salesman regardless of previous industry - if you can sell you can sell anything. Most companies think like that also so don’t get to focused on selling any one thing. Take a entry level job that you feel will train you the best. Avoid ponzi schemes and be your own boss type of jobs, they are all a scam.

I’ve helped a few guys looking to get into sales from the sub, feel free to ask more questions or PM me.

I started a shit kicking sales role in super markets demonstrating different products. Since have sold -
Forklifts.
Spas/hot tubs
Construction PPE, equipment and signage
Housing insulation
In two week I’ll start my first official account manager role selling in the civil construction industry and will be on 6 figures with a company car and normal crap with it. I’m 24 and have NO qualifications, lucky for me I can sell ice to a Eskimo.

My advice is sell something you enjoy OR target people you enjoy working with. I enjoy working with builders, contractors Etc. I get along with them as that’s what my family are like. I just get to make the same money and do very little physical work.

EDIT - something that I have told people I have trained. Sales is a piss easy job. If you work harder/smarted and are more modivated you will ALWAYS out sell the gifted salesman who is lazy. You don’t NEED ‘the gift’ to be a great salesman, just the mind set.

Most of sales is about selling yourself. Companies do business with the rep they like the most almost over price.

That's to say: if you can't sell yourself to an employer, you're probably not going to be good at sales.

To start, find an entry level job and grind it out. Usually it'll be a job with a ton of cold calling and lots of rejection. Lucky to get 1 in 100 cold calls to even listen. These are usually entry level sales or business development jobs.

That or a few industries require little experience in sales, as long as you know the industry. Lots of bar backs become bar tenders, become bar managers, who get recruited to sales for the local alcohol distributor.

I have an engineering degree and an MBA. I'm in what many would consider the high end of sales, capital sales, with long lead times.

I had 15 years of experience in my degree field and engage in technical sales; I have to know what my customers are talking about. I have 11 years in sales now. There's probably 10-20 guys doing what I do in the US.

In my business there's usually 2 paths to where I am. The first I described, the second is taking more and more advanced sales positions.

I had a colleague who did that. Started as a painter, then sold paint pumps, then industrial pumps, until eventually he got to where he is now.

B2b sales are actually pretty easy to get into but that's because there's a high turn over rate. What field are you I now? Find a sales related position that deals with that. Office monkey? Go find a copier company. Go in and tell them, "I don't know a thing. I know I want to sell. I will do anything around here to learn how to sell." The first sale you get will be selling yourself.

90% of B2b sales are being the guy that called when a customer had a need. You need to spend a butt load of time calling people and introducing yourself. You'll work for stuff, and then the customer will go with some else. In my business a 10% close rate is good.

I think Trp guys do well in sales because they've internalized that it's not personal, failure is not a negative, it's just another data point. Plus a lot of sales can be approached like game. Initially it can be formulaic and as you advance you'll learn how to make it subtle and elegant.

[deleted]

Start by picking something you think you’d like to sell with the type of payment structure that works for you, then you’ll find the companies after. Apply anyways, tons of people get in with different ways when you use creative reasoning.