Job Description of a Salesman

A salesperson is expected to assess the requirements of the customer, suggest suitable products and alternative options, and make a good sales pitch, thus ensuring that both, the consumer and the proprietor, feel satisfied with the resultant outcome.

The job description of a salesman/salesperson depends -- to a great extent -- on his/her line of work. The write-up discusses job details of Salespersons dealing in Insurance, Retail, Telecommunication, Door-to-door sales, and Four-wheeler sector.

An insurance salesperson has the job of assessing the requirements of the client and suggesting suitable insurance products. For instance, a person may be interested in availing life insurance, but may find it difficult to pay the costly premium.

In this case, the insurance salesperson should suggest term life insurance, rather than whole life insurance, provided the consumer is young and is in relatively good health. The insurance premium for term life insurance, is less than the premium required for availing permanent life insurance. 

However, a low premium comes at the cost of reduced coverage. A person, who has a mortgage on the house, may be advised to go for mortgage life insurance assuming that the family has limited resources and is interested in retaining the house at all costs. 

An insurance salesman should ensure that they markets a product based on the advantages that are likely to accrue to a consumer rather than commission that would accrue as a result of marketing a costly product. This will ensure that the salesman eventually builds a good client base that will serve as a syndicate for growing remuneration in the days to come.

A retail salesperson has the job of assessing the needs of the consumer and providing the latter with a suitable product. For instance, a salesperson working at a clothing store is required to have good taste and a friendly disposition, since the same will enable the salesperson to fulfill the requirements of the job. 

A car salesperson is required to market automobiles in a manner that ensures increased sales and revenue generation. A car salesperson should greet the customer courteously, and proactively determine the requirements of the buyer by asking the right kind of questions and seeking answers.

The car dealership can hope to make money, only if the salesperson has a good idea about the available inventory. It is never a good idea for a car salesman, or a retail salesman to rely heavily on the store supervisor for details regarding the available inventory. 

A car salesperson should also be courteous to people accompanying the customer. Many times, a salesperson makes the mistake of ignoring people accompanying the customer. Callous behavior should be avoided since the escort may have a say in the customer's decision to purchase the car.

This position requires the salesperson to dial up potential customers and deliver his sales pitch to encourage sales. There is a no face-to-face conversation at first in this form of communication. Thus, it depends on the executive to put his best foot forward and dice a sales proposition.

Besides, a sales position that involves major transactions to be carried out on the telephone, is far challenging than a sales executive in a store. The ability to optimize context with minimum dialog, delivering lasting impression is one factor that promises substantive returns.

As the name suggests, a door-to-door sales executive is constantly on the move to promote and sell the delegated product. He needs to visit potential clients, who are interested in availing his services and purchasing the product. This form of door-to-door selling is quite a dicey profile.

People do not like being disturbed, when they are at home and behave in an unwelcoming manner toward the executive. Nevertheless, if the sales executive has a convincing, sales-worthy tone and is able to put forth a pleasing repartee, a successful sales call is not a far-fetched possibility.

Sans passion for the product, you are not being honest to your sell. Passion does take you places. It is when the salesman wheels himself hard that he is successful at striking a sales call.

He ought to look at the product beyond its laundry list features. If meeting targets and minting money is your sole motto, the purpose of sales is defeated. To be a top brass executive, ample passion for the product you sell, winning customer confidence and retaining it, promises a better turnover.

A successful salesman listens to what the customer has to say. Try to understand, what the customer is looking out for. Sell a product he wants, rather than relaying a sales pitch of a product that you want to sell. In such situations, it is far better to optimally use your sense of hearing, take the call, and lead the way to a healthy sales transaction.

Half-baked knowledge about a product is to a salesperson what shooting in the dark is to an archer. You wouldn't know where all of your sales talk is heading. Are you aiming right? Well, knowledge, certainly, is important, but keeping up with the changes in the product -- even if that means digging into details -- is what is expected of you.

A sales executive is better known for his ability to convert his expertise into understandable dialog than the plethora of technical jargon he would spurt out unabashedly. For this, understanding the aorta of the product is a must. This serves to be a corollary of sorts to keeping yourself updated to a T.

This applies to when you are associating with a business entity and want to sell your product. Knowing your product inside out is good investment; however, what matters most is how far you know your client and his needs.

Excerpting a few whys and wherefores about the client -- his achievements or just his generic opinions -- may prove impressive. Talking about the one you are presently talking to and gradually complementing the product with his need is what a salesperson must know his way through. This, perhaps, helps the client get closer to the dotted line!

Hopefully, the information would have provided an insight on the job description of a salesman. The job description of a salesperson varies depending on the work environment and the realm of activity. However, the general rules for a successful sales pitch, typically, are the same.