Outdoor and indoor sales work are the two types of marketing sales methods used by marketing professionals. While indoor sales involves being approached by clients and customers who are interested in a product, outdoor sales is its opposite. In outdoor sales work, sales representatives have to travel to outdoor locations such as client offices and organizations in order to carry out sales work for various products and services.
Telemarketing is also considered to be a form of outdoor sales work as it involves contacting the customer and making a sales pitch for a particular product. Outside sales professionals are employed by organizations, small firms or may be self-employed in some cases. Different types of industries such as technical, hospitality, entertainment and manufacturing seek the help of outside sales in order to run their business in an efficient manner.
Description
Outside sales work representatives mainly carry out external marketing tasks and travel to various places in order to promote goods and services of the company they represent. Identification of potential leads is one of the first things an outside sales work representative needs to carry out while marketing a product. They need to have good contacts and connections within the industry in order to secure new clients. Once a deal is finalized, they also provide after sales support in order to maintain good customer relations with an aim of securing future business with the same client.
Skills
Owing to the fact that the chief job function of an outside sales representative is to convince a client to buy a particular product, it is essential for him/her to have great communication and interpersonal skills. They should sound confident while making the sales pitch and informing the potential customer about the features and benefits of the product. Having good analytical and organizational skill is also necessary as they have to interact with different departments in an organization on a regular basis. Often, they may have to conduct presentation slides for a particular product. For this reason, it is necessary to have good computing skills in software applications such as MS Power Point, Word and Excel.
Requirements
A bachelor's degree in marketing, sales, communications or any other related subject is considered essential for any person looking to work in the field of outside sales. In some cases, candidates who only have a high school diploma, but have prior experience in the field or a good flair for marketing products and approaching potential clients are also considered for the job. However, for good future prospects and career advancement, possessing a college degree is necessary. Most professionals in this field are trained on the job and receive special training on the specifications of the goods and services that they have to deal with.
Work Environment
Outside sales work representatives spend most of their day outside the main office and may have to travel several miles in a single day while commuting to different client locations. Continuous daily traveling may lead to health problems in the long run. Occasionally, they may work in their offices while preparing and submitting periodic reports. They generally work in an environment where meeting deadlines and achieving targets is an essential part of their overall performance. Professionals in this field work for over 40 hours in a week with occasional overtime as per the requirements of the organization.
Career Advancement, Salary and Benefits
Sales representatives generally advance to supervisory and managerial roles on the basis of exceptional performance, experience and qualifications. Some of them experience lateral growth in which an individual receives a salary hike while performing the same job duties.
Average salary of a person working in outdoor sales work is around $65,000. This figure is dependent on a number of factors such as skills, experience and the specific industry a person is working in. Most of them also receive extra incentives upon achieving or going past their set targets. They also receive additional benefits in the form of paid vacations, sick leaves and pension plans.
Outside sales work is an excellent career choice for those who are interested in securing a job in this field. It has a number of career advancement opportunities and good monetary compensation.