Which is Better: Sales Jobs Or Management Jobs?
Are you starting a career and must decide whether to choose
between a sales job or a management job? Are you at a point in
your career where you have the option to get into a sales field
or a management field? Here are my reasons why sales jobs are
more rewarding, better paying, and more captivating and why I
would recommend them over management jobs:
1. With sales jobs your remuneration is higher and the potential
for higher pay is directly related to your performance. Sales
jobs typically pay commissions, bonuses, or a hybrid of salary
plus commission. So if you want to earn more you can and it's
totally up to you. Your work directly affects how much you get
paid so the motivation to work, and work hard, will always be
there. This is not so with management jobs. Managers tend to
earn a set salary so no matter what they do they will earn the
same. So there's no monetary motivation to do a better job.
2. Sales jobs are the most important jobs in any organization.
Sales drive a company's revenue and growth. Without a sales
department there would be no revenue. With no revenue there
would be no company and, hence, no managers.
3. Salespeople are the first point of contact for clients. So
they hear directly from them what they respond to and what's not
working for them. This also gives salespeople an advantage to
alter their pitch as opposed to Managers who advise of the big
picture administrative objectives . Sales jobs, naturally,
permit salespeople to perform market research through client
interactions allowing them to pass on that information to
management; managers end up relying on salespeople for
information. Your role is a salesperson is more powerful than
you think when it comes to your organization's ultimate
decisions and strategies.
4. Through sales prospecting, meeting with decision makers from
other companies, meeting customers, and traveling sales work,
especially outside sales jobs, deliver substantially more
variety in your day-to-day activities. Salespeople are always
doing something different, with different people, in different
places. Managers commute to the same place every day, do the
same things, with the same people. This tediousness often leads
to boredom and an unsatisfying work life.
5. If you ever plan to start your own business in the future,
sales experience will help you succeed more than would
management experience. If you can sell you will be successful
anywhere. You cannot learn to sell because that can only come
with experience. Nobody can pick up and read a sales book and
instantly become a top performer. Management is more about
administrative and diplomatic duties. While important, this does
not make or break how successful a business becomes and is more
easily learned than it is to learn how to sell.
So, I would just like to say, if you are starting a career or if
you find yourself at a crossroad and need to decide between a
sales job and a management job, choose the sales job, that is,
if you're looking for higher pay and a more rewarding work
experience.