5 Ways You Can Avoid Picking the Wrong Sales Job

We all want the dream job. Great pay, light hours, incredible culture, free lunches every day, fun-loving teammates, and awesome clients.

We also want to date Gisele and win Super Bowls, but that job has likewise already been filled.

Every sales professional dreams about landing the perfect sales job. Perhaps a better approach might be to avoid those sales jobs that will bring nothing but misery.

Here are five red flags to watch out for during your next sales job search:

1) Misalignment of Values

This list is not necessarily in order, but if it were this would be number one.

Here’s the problem: it is impossible to sell effectively when going against your own values. You need to sell well AND sleep at night. Selling in opposition to your core beliefs will rob you of that experience.

Do your homework and ask around. It is not difficult to determine the values of a company. You don’t want to get caught in moral, ethical or values-based conflicts. Life is far too short.

2) Misalignment of Product Appreciation

Speaking of a short life, it is far too short to spend pushing a product you cannot appreciate.

Let me be clear on this. Product appreciation is not about your sense of value, but rather about whether you believe the product represents something meaningful to your customer.

For example, you might not personally wish to live in a mobile home, but if you are selling mobile homes you had better appreciate that it is a wonderful opportunity for someone else.

3) Misalignment of Culture

Values and culture can exist as entirely different creatures. The culture is all about workplace experiences, atmosphere and joy (or a lack thereof). Work enjoyment is one of the key factors in our personal, internal motivation, and working in a negative environment will drain us of our desire to excel.

Talk to people in the company. Better yet, talk to people who have left the company. You’ll figure this one out pretty darn quick.

4) Misalignment of Career Expectations

If you are perfectly content selling for the rest of your days, good on ya. Skip this entry.

But if you are thinking of moving up to an advanced level you need to check on one thing: the company’s track record. It’s one thing to promise a promotion, but you’ll be better off with a “show me” approach in your own interviewing process when it comes to understanding the company’s career opportunities.

5) Misalignment of Success

Finally, you need arrive at a crystal clear mutual understanding of how to define “success.”

For some companies success is entirely about the sales pace. Others are looking for a much more rounded assessment that includes teamwork, customer care, profitability, etc. There is no right or wrong answer on this. There is only the question as to whether this is a good match.

Life really is too short – far too short, really – to spend at a job where you feel misaligned.

The interview process is not just about impressing those who make hiring decisions. It is also about ensuring the long-term success that comes from having the right people in the right organizations.

Get this concept right and you’ll be well on the way to changing your own world…