LinkedIn content creator shares why sales is a career, not a job

VISHANNA PHAGOO

Antonio Prescott, a LinkedIn content creator, says there are many benefits to joining the entrepreneurial and sales sector, such as having the opportunity to help people spend wisely and even be able to earn more income for a comfortable life.

"You would have the opportunity to genuinely help people make the best buying decision, without feeling resentful of the purchases made and you get to make a lot of money to better your family, yourself, and the people around you."

He added, "Sales is a career and not a job opportunity. Great salespeople are high in demand so take your career seriously, be great and you will reap the rewards, without sales, a company can't sustain itself or grow to become a bigger organisation."

Prescott said he motivates people to get more involved in sales by incorporating people's love for money.

"For example, you work as an administrative clerk or an accountant, you have one salary at your disposal on a monthly basis. Most salespeople obtain a base salary, uncapped commission, and travelling allowance. In addition, sales professionals tend to grow the fastest in an organisation...moving up that sales career ladder, take into consideration you portray the right attitude and push to achieve more," he explained.

He said once people show interest, he advises them to pursue positions such as sales development representative (SDR), account executive (AE) and business development representatives (BDR).

SDRs are responsible for introducing new business opportunities in the sales department. They are tasked with finding clients, ensuring the proposals are genuine, and nurturing that relationship until the client wants to have a sales meeting with an AE. The AE now has to spend most of their time engaging potential customers. However, none of this would be possible without a BDR. BDRs are tasked with generating qualified prospects by using cold e-mail, cold calling, social selling and networking. They are the first point of contact for potential clients.

"The pandemic has brought on new sales titles and remote working is the new norm. It has companies that are recruiting worldwide. Don't be stuck in your local market, think global, technology should be your best friend," he added.

When recommending jobs like these, the qualifications are overlooked, but Prescott assured that the most necessary qualifications are five CSEC passes, a sales and marketing certificate and approximately three years experience in the field.

"However, for those who don't have any job experience, nothing is wrong with working at an organisation, that may not be your first choice, for at least six to 12 months and gaining some experience."

Most times, people are weary of applying for these positions after seeing that they must have a reliable car in order to carry out their duties, but he reiterated that because of the pandemic, there are more remote jobs which allows you to work from the comfort of your home. He urges people to check LinkedIn often as it always gives updates on job openings for any field.

"There are so much remote sales positions being offered on LinkedIn for anyone, anywhere in the world. The challenge is for you to get on LinkedIn and understand how to navigate the platform. I can surely help with that if you are seriously interested."

As a content creator, Prescott assesses all the new features that LinkedIn has to offer or are looking to launch on its platform. His responsibilities include giving feedback on how LinkedIn can improve the features and share insights to users such as showing them how to apply for the new features and give the release dates of them.

Prescott said, "I got that job by providing consistent content. Let me give you a short story, the content manager Mr Markovits whose been employed since last September, reached out to me and said, 'Antonio I have been watching your content a while now and love what you are doing, I will like to set up an interview with you.' On the third attempt of trying to conduct our interview I said to myself, 'This is not for me.' Then suddenly, to my surprise, the interview happened and I am utilising stuff that I never knew existed on LinkedIn."

He also offers LinkedIn training and content creation to international companies and individuals through his website, https://www.antonioprescott.com.