READ TIME – 5 MINUTES
Typically, Universities donโt offer a degree in โSalesโ (๐๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ?!).ย
But thatโs not to say that whatever subject you studied wonโt set you up to be a sales superstar and actually, there are countless university skills you will acquire over the course of a degree that will prepare you for a successful career in sales.ย
So letโs take a look at some of these transferable skills…
Researchingโฆ will prepare you for a successful career in sales
University assignments come with a whole lot of researching.
Before you knuckled down writing an essay, you had to gather enough information to know exactly what you were going to talk about.ย
Likewise, before reaching out to a potential lead, salespeople must do sufficient homework on a prospect and their organisation.
Researching is one of the key steps when successfully acquiring new clients and luckily is something you should be familiar with thanks to your never-ending assignments, making it a pivotal university skill that will prepare you for a successful career in sales. ย
Problem-solving... will prepare you for a successful career in sales
These days, cold calling to simply sell your product or service is not enough to gain leads.
ย As we just covered, salespeople are now researching a client or business well, discovering their pain-points andย understanding how their offerings can provide a solution.ย
You may feel like you spent a lot of your time at university problem-solving, from juggling your workload to getting your head round a confusing module.ย
Overcoming these obstacles will have only made you more knowledgeable and you can take this problem-solving ability to provide a resolution to a particular issue an organisation faces,ย or even a gap in their business they didn’t even realise they had.
Problem-solving in this industry requires salespeople to be innovative and proactive, making it another great example of a university skill that will prepare you for a successful career in sales.ย
Networkingโฆ will prepare you for a successful career in sales
Networking is an essential skill in sales. Itโs required whenย Prospecting Proactivelyย and building long-lasting valuable relationships with clients.ย
You may be surprised when we say youโve already gained an abundance of networking skills at University – from connecting with your professors, meeting fellow classmates, to speaking to employees at job fairs.ย
๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต–๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต โ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ’๐ดโ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ !
Although, we canโt guarantee networking in the world of sales will get you access to exciting partiesโฆ this key university skill will set you up with some of your most valuable clients and open doors to an abundance of business opportunities.ย
Persuasionโฆ will prepare you for a successful career in sales
At University, you will write countless of essays trying to persuade your lecturers that your argument is right.ย
Similarly, in sales, you will spend your timeย persuading clientsย that your products or services are the right fit for their organisation, meaning this is another key university skill that will set you up for a successful career in sales!
The ability to convince a client that you can provide solutions to any pain-points they may have is pivotal to โ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆโ and closing those deals.
Who knew all those hours grafting away in the library were going to set you up to be a successful sales negotiator!ย
Self-motivationโฆ will prepare you for a successful career in sales
Not many of us managed to secure top grades in our first yearโฆ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ !ย
Having to write in a completely new style and not knowing how to reference properly, meant it wasn’t out of the ordinary for feedback to say our essay’s “didnโt fit the correct academic writing standard for University”.ย
As students with a desire to succeed, we had no choice but to go away, alter our approach, and get ready to crack on with the next assignment.ย
Unfortunately โnoโ is a very frequent word used in sales and salespeople are left with no choice but to accept the rejection and know that they need to follow-up with the prospect further down the line, with a new outlook and approach.ย
Self-motivation is an essential transferable skill that University will prepare you for a successful career in sales and set you up to be a driven self-motivated salesperson.
Presenting... will prepare you for a successful career in sales
No matter the degree, you will have had to present throughout your time at University.ย
Whether that was pitching your ideas in a seminar to your fellow classmates or if like us, you had to conduct a presentation as part of a group assignmentย (Oh the joys!),ย then you’re bound to already have a lot of the presentation skills needed to pitch, preparing you for a successful career in sales.
Pitching is an essential art to master as a salesperson as it’s your opportunity to introduce your product or service to the client and is what will set you a part from your competitors.ย
Gaining this presenting experience at University provides you with the fundamental skills to conduct successful pitches in your sales career… so they were useful after all!
We could go on, but weโre sure weโve demonstrated that there are countless University skills which can prepare you for a successful career in sales.ย
So don’t think you need specific sales experience to enter the world of sales, because as a graduate you already have more than enough!
Despite these transferable skills, it’s very common for new sales graduates to be trained by Sales Specialists (Something that we at AvA-V take pride in doing! ), to ensure that you have what it takes to become the organisations next sales superstar!
Ready to transfer these university skills into a career in sales?
As aย Sales Recruitment Specialistย we have a dedicated graduate team here to help you get your foot into the world of sales.ย