I got into software sales 4 years ago, my first job out of college. I graduated with a marketing degree wanting to do something creative, such as make the programs and tools that sales people use to sell. I didn't want to do sales but all my elders said you should do sales first so you gain the experience and know how to sell. Problem is, I don't love my job, I'm comfortable with it but passion for it. The pay is good and I get commissions. If I go into marketing I lose commissions and my salary will probably be equal or less b/c I have no experience in the area. How can I one, either reinvent my attitude and take my sales skills to the next level so I can make the transition to marketing and do what I really want? Or two, how does one get re-inspired?

-- Trisha Weiland (tweiland26@homail.com), December 12, 2000

Answers

Trisha, before you read this, remember it is my viewpoint and rather than something caste in stone.

If the advice you got to step into sales was that this is the traditional route into marketing then I can see why you have reached a point of dissatisfaction travelling down this path. If the advice was meant you to learn new skills that would assist you with your marketing capabilities, then the question you would be asking is how you would transition between sales and marketing.

Marketing pays more than unsuccessful career in sales but a successful career in sales will only be matched at the senior level of the marketing career ladder. You appear from your comments to be successful at the sales function. What isn't apparent is what you were learning and are learning while you are doing the sales job. Sales basically (if seen as a form of upward mobility) is a huge course in human dynamics and a great introspection of the self. In order to sell well we have to beat personal demons like handling rejection, being disciplined and listening well. Successful selling also exposes you to the human character so much so that a successful salesperson can even sell a trained psychologist. The question is whether you sights were set on seeing sales as this great source of personal wisdom or merely saw it as a stepping stone to a marketing career. If it was the latter you may be in for a rude awakening.

There was a time in a less customer-focused time when marketing supported the sales process. Today because of a great push of the customer relationship management (also referred to as 1-to-1 by Peppers and Rodgers), marketing as a department is being replaced by a mindset that encompasses the organization. This is based around the idea of developing the customer relationship with every customer touchpoint to the organization. This approach requires an end to what I call the "Silo mentality", that we all work in silos such as marketing, finance or operations that disconnected with each other. If you "graduate" today from sales to a marketing department it is not enough unless you can get in touch with a perspective 360 degree of your organization. Those people who possess that 360 degree view are going to be better marketers. The whole concept of marketing today is under inspection and so if you have a successful sales career you have to consider what it takes to make the transition to that mindset. This mindset looks at marketing as just one cog of the overall relationship you are trying to create with a customer. What complicates this relationship is technology. While you do not have to be a technical genius, you have to be aware of the ways of using it to ask appropriate questions. That may include questions that the technology mines answers from patterns in data or seeing where technology assists and/or fails to deliver your marketing objectives.

A career in sales which transitions to marketing will help you in-so- far as it will give you the ability to sell concepts such as sales force automation to a sales force because you are more aware of ground issues in selling. This however doesn't necessarily give you a guaranteed foothold to becoming a great marketing strategist or customer relationship manager. Sales Management should not be discounted as a career avenue. Sales Management is an entirely different skill set to a sales person and perhaps your "marketing" skills may be suitable in that arena. My concern is the point you raised about rewards. You are not going to get the kind of returns you get with a successful sales pedigree that you are going to get at a marketing entry-point. First of all, there are so many different types of marketing that you have to be clear what type of marketing you want to do. A market researcher that deals with data maybe a hellhole, while Direct Marketing may be too repetitive and then there is Relationship Marketing which is basically a "sales person"! And the list of marketing avenues goes on and on.

First I think you should establish what it is that you are learning in your sales career. Then you should review the different types of marketing careers available. If you decide that you can live with lower compensation (and that has to be your decision not anyone else's) you have to determine what area of marketing you want to be in. Have goals and plan how you are going to progress in that field and what other skill sets you need to acquire in order to think like a marketer rather than as a sales person. The best way to do that is to chat with people in professions that you most would like to aspire to. You are a sales person, which means you probably get a chance to go into a wide variety of organizations. Next time instead of just building the sales relationship, find out who looks after the marketing area in those organizations and spend 10 or 15 minutes to get the chance to talk to them. Tell them that you are interested in what they do and would like to learn more for your own edification and knowledge. Don't blindside yourself or second guess yourself or come down hard on yourself, your job right now is to be the best salesperson you can be and to determine what that means. You have a stable job right now, don't destabilize it by unstable thinking. Let the picture of the marketing arena emerge and at some point where you see that you are going to be a passionate about a certain area of it and you can convince someone of that passion, that is when you have a personal decision to make. There will never be a shortage for "good salespeople" in our economy. The question is whether you are currently treating the idea of a marketing career as a sales opportunity to prospect, to build an idea about and to close when you are ready for it or are you trying to quickly close a deal with your emotions? The better occupation that teaches you more about life than sales is to join the Marines, but I am sure you don't want to do that, so use the opportunity to use your selling skills to buy the best opportunity that marketing has available. You know as a salesperson that opportunity only happens when you make it happen. My recommendation is the same one as the Eagles sing about which is to "Take it Easy" and create it one step at a time and not to follow that other song they wrote called "Desperado".

M.

M Profile at: http://www.fastcompany.com/fasttalk/replypost.html? p=9738

"To be or not to be that is the question" A quote by Willy Shakes. Mantra of M. "Life is about Private Relations not Public Relations"

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), December 12, 2000.

In terms of rekindling your inspiration and energy for your current work, check out http://www.fastcompany.com/online/10/one.html (idea generation), http://www.fastcompany.com/online/06/stress.html (combating burnout), http://www.fastcompany.com/online/16/recharge.html (staying energetic), and http://www.fastcompany.com/online/19/ radsab.html (taking radical sabbaticals).

But if you're really interested in shifting gears and taking the next step into marketing, you might want to dive into http:// www.fastcompany.com/online/29/reinvent.html (reinvent yourself), http:/ /www.fastcompany.com/online/39/futurist.html (ditching the career ladder), http://www.fastcompany.com/online/18/outofgas.html (knowing when to go), and http://www.fastcompany.com/online/01/career1.html (finding a career counselor).

Hope those resources help! Heath

-- Heath Row (heath@fastcompany.com), December 13, 2000.