By MARVIN WALBERG
Scripps Howard News Service
Dear Mr. Walberg:
I'm interested in making a career change after 20 years in retail sales. It's not the economy because I can feel it turning around, but my company was bought out a couple of years ago and I simply don't like the direction of the new owners. I have been at the top of my field for years, selling upper-end women's clothing, and my income has been very good. Changes in merchandising and marketing are bringing in a different customer and my income is dropping.
I have considered pharmaceutical sales, but hiring managers want specific industry experience. The age-old question: how does one get experience without getting an opportunity? Do you have suggestions? -
M.S., Columbia, S.C.
Dear M.S.:
If you have been at the top of your field in upper-end retail clothing sales for 20 years, you have sales experience, but not outside pharmaceutical sales specifically. Perhaps you will benefit from describing your sales experience in a different way. You need to transfer your skills from retail to outside sales, and you can do that by focusing on how you have lead in your field of sales for many years, not just that you are a sales leader. Consider the following:
- Do you only wait for customers to come into your department, or do you go outside of your store to attract customers?
- Do you maintain an up-to-date customer, or client, data base with names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, sizes, preferences, birthdays and anniversary dates, etc.?
- Do you, on a regular basis, contact your customers for sales, promotions, new merchandise received that they may be interested in?
- Do you send birthday cards, holiday greetings, anniversary cards, etc.?
- Do you use a combination of telephone calls, direct mail, and e-mail notifications for promotions and sales?
If you do these things, and I'd bet you do, then you would be successful in any type of sales, inside or out. You think outside the box and are willing to do what others fail to do. What you should do is learn to communicate these attributes, coupled with specific accomplishments, to prospective employers. Don't just talk about retail sales, talk about sales, and specific accomplishments.
Talk in terms of a prospective employer's interests, just like you do for your customers.
(Marvin Walberg is a job search coach. Contact him at mwalberg(at)bellsouth.net, marvinwalberg.blogspot.com, or PO Box 43056, Birmingham, AL 35243.)
