Once you have decided that a sales career is for you, it is important to develop a plan to make sure you are successful. Having a plan will help you to develop strengths,skills and abilities that will allow you to grow and prosper as a sales professional.

The sales profession is always growing. There are many opportunities in many different sales venues. You can be a sales professional in an in-house setting, an outside sales rep, a phone sales and, even work via the internet. No matter which avenue of sales you decide to pursue, there are 3 basic steps to developing a sales career.

Do A Personal Assessment

Determine your strengths and weaknesses. You will need to define your skills and, also, define your personal values and your personal interests. Outline areas where you need to make improvements. Think about what you like to do and what is important to you. Think about how well you do things that you enjoy versus doing things that are necessary but you don’t really like to do. Look at what kind of training you have had and your educational progress. Examine your personal assets and gifts. Continue to build on your strengths and address areas that may need to be improved upon. Ask yourself some questions:

• What kind of sales am I interested in?
• What product or service am I interested in selling?
• Do I have the necessary skills to sell?
• Do I need additional training?
• Am I willing to work on my areas that I need to improve?

Design A Career Plan

Decide what your career objectives are. Think about what you hope to accomplish in the next 6 months, 1 year and 5 years. With each objective write down what it will take to reach that objective. Develop a time line and a way to measure your results. Determine what your ultimate goal is. Turn that goal into an objective and build your plan from there by making smaller objectives that will eventually lead to your goal. Make sure to include a time frame for each objective. Once you have designed your plan and have begun to implement your ideas, it is very important to hold yourself accountable. Frequently refer back to you plan to make sure you are on track, and if necessary, make changes and adjustments to keep you focused.

Put Your Plan Into Action

Now it’s time to execute the plan that you have designed. As part of your sales career plan implementation, start identifying and pursuing opportunities. At this point you should be focused enough to know exactly what you want and how to get it. Use social media to increase your personal network and get involved in other networking activities. Take advantage of training and educational opportunities. Focus on the job that you want and go for it!

The sales profession continues to grow with new opportunities becoming available almost every day. This is an exciting time to be involved in a sales career. With a some self-reflection and motivation, and some personal objective and goal setting, you will have what it takes to put your sales career plan into action and achieve a great deal of success.