Working in sales of any kind can be a tough job. You have to be able to work under pressure, meet deadlines, sales goals and deal with getting turned down. On bad days, it can make a sales person wonder if it’s worth it.
Starting in sales is not for the faint of spirit or heart, but if you have the gift of persuasion and can make sales work for you, the sky is the limit for what you can achieve in your career. Don’t believe us? Take a look at a couple of other people who started in sales.
David Ogilvy
Have you heard of Ogilvy and Mather? They’re one of the largest advertising agencies in the world with 450 offices around the world and over 18,000 employees. Ogilvy and Mather was founded in 1949 by David Ogilvy. In 1962, Time called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry.”
But before he started one of the most successful advertising agencies in the world, David Ogilvy was selling cooking stoves door-to-door. He found he had a knack for selling. In fact, he was so successful that his employer asked him to write an instruction manual. They in turn gave that manual to all of their employees.
It was this manual that David’s older brother showed to the London ad agency Mather & Crowther, who hired David as an Account Executive. Later, David Ogilvy would move to the United States and, with the backing of Mather & Crowther, opened Ogilvy & Mather.
Michael Dell
It’s more than likely you or your family owned a Dell computer at one time or another. Michael Dell is a business magnate worth well over $20 Billion. From Forbes: “He founded the eponymous company in his Texas dorm room with $1,000 in 1984 when he was 19. Four years later, it went public with a market capitalization of $85 million. By the time Dell took it private again in 2013, the company was worth $24.9 billion.”
Not bad right? But Michael Dell found success before starting Dell Computers. During the summers in high school, Michael sold subscriptions to the Houston Post. By targeting families new to the area and looking to settle down, his summer job earned him $18,000. More than the annual salary of his history and economics teacher.
Sam Walton
Sam Walton came from a very poor family. He had a number of odd jobs growing up to support his family. One of those jobs? Selling magazine subscriptions. After collage Sam took those sales skills and opened up a small general store. His passion and excellence in the retail industry would eventually lead to the opening of the first Wal-Mart in 1962.
Starting in Sales can be tough. It can be a grind. But starting in sales can also give you the passion, skills and ambition to do amazing things. David Ogilvy, Michael Dell, and Sam Walton, to name a few, ended up with the world at their fingertips! If you have an interest in sales, and doing amazing things, you might want to learn more about Smart Circle. Click here to learn about who we are and what we do.
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