Sales Representative
Sales representatives help customers choose and buy products or services. They develop relationships, follow up enquiries and find new business opportunities, working by telephone, online, in a showroom or through customer visits.
Day-to-day Tasks
- Contact potential customers and maintain relationships with existing clients.
- Ask questions to understand customers’ needs and budgets.
- Explain products or services and demonstrate how they could help.
- Prepare quotations and discuss prices and delivery arrangements.
- Follow up enquiries and keep customers informed.
- Record orders, conversations and agreed actions on sales systems.
- Provide after-sales support and help resolve problems.
- Work towards sales targets and keep up to date with products and competitors.
Skills and Knowledge
- Confident communication and active listening.
- The ability to build trust and understand customers’ needs.
- Persuasion and negotiation without putting customers under undue pressure.
- An interest in learning about the products or services being sold.
- Organisation and reliable follow-up.
- Persistence and a positive response to setbacks.
- Accuracy when preparing quotations, orders and customer records.
Industry Qualifications
The Institute of Sales Professionals offers qualifications in professional sales, including routes suitable for people starting their careers. These can help develop selling skills and support progression, although a formal sales qualification is not essential for every role.
For further information, visit the Institute of Sales Professionals.