Translating Sales Experience Between Industries

For many sales professionals, a time comes when a change of industry is necessary or desirable. Whether or not you are changing industries by choice, it can be difficult to determine how to apply your previous experience to a new position. In addition to seeking out sales management training, you need to learn to reframe past sales experience and hence enter your new arena with confidence and competence.

When you are seeking out a sales career in a new industry, it is easy to become overwhelmed. After spending years in one industry, you will have built up a professional network, a lexicon, and a wealth of insider knowledge. As you identify new industries that you might be interested in, it can be helpful to list your skills, expert knowledge areas, sales management training credentials, and unique experience. With this information, you can identify industries that require skill sets that overlap with your existing experience. In addition, you can spot any traits and skills that will help you stand out in a new position. If you have worked in the manufacturing industry, for example, your ground-level understanding of factory and shop operations would be a great asset in a technical sales position. According to one Forbes article, it can be especially helpful to look into growing areas, such as inside sales.

Many sales positions have similar core competency requirements. As a salesperson, you must be knowledgeable, persuasive, personable, and an excellent communicator. As you seek out new opportunities, look for ways that your previous job responsibilities overlap with the requirements of the open positions. If you worked with large equipment sales, for example, you may have experience with handling high-value clients and detailed sales processes; or, if you've participated in sales management training, consider how the general concepts could be applied to a position in a new industry. In addition, consider the other skills that are often required of sales staff: presentation skills, report writing, and software operation, for example. According to an article about hiring sales staff on Nexxt, modern companies are often looking for talent rather than industry-specific experience.

If you are looking to move to an industry that is completely unfamiliar, you may need to engage in personal marketing tactics to demonstrate your worth to potential employers. At a minimum, you will need to rewrite your resume using key words and phrases that will stand out to employers in a new industry. Instead of saying that you learned about managing employees in a product-specific group, for example, you might say you engaged in sales management training. Look through job postings and mimic the vocabulary that is used to describe specific skills. Become familiar with the lingo of the new industry and incorporate it into your resume and interview. By helping employers see that you have a strong knowledge of sales and some knowledge of the new industry, you will immediately have an edge over candidates who lack this information.

Once you switch to a new industry, you will need to come up to speed quickly. If possible, ask your new employer to provide you with sales management training materials or courses; the industry-specific information can be useful in the learning process. Other helpful resources are company workshops, industry publications, and other sales staff members.

Although it can be daunting to switch industries, the results can reinvigorate your career. With extensive research, sales management training, and careful personal marketing tactics, you can secure an exciting and rewarding new sales position.

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net