Marketing is a challenging industry with relatively low entry barriers, and it is also an industry that produces many talents. However, if you take it for granted that marketing is an easy industry to succeed in just because of the low entry barrier, you are greatly mistaken. Although this industry has helped many people achieve their dreams, it also sees a large number of people fail every year. If you intend to enter this industry, you must have a clear understanding of the following eight issues and pay sufficient attention to them. Otherwise, starting your career with marketing as the starting point may lead to major setbacks at the very first step of your career, and may even cause you to lose confidence in your future career development. Especially for newcomers who want to enter the sales field, you must have a rational and clear understanding of these issues, and do not let wrong ideas cloud your judgment.
Mistake 1: Blindly Worshiping the 'Barrel Theory'
Among the clients I have encountered during my coaching-style career planning at First Career Network, this type of mistake is the most common. When asked why they chose sales, their unanimous reason was: sales is a good way to train oneself, and since they are introverted, they wanted to make up for their shortcomings by doing sales. Then I asked them: Did you make up for your shortcomings and achieve success through sales? The answer is often: After doing sales, I found that I really dislike interacting with people, and I feel very painful inside.
Many years ago, the 'barrel theory' was prevalent in China's training circles. Through the passionate speeches of those trainers, this theory has been deeply ingrained in people's minds until now. Although this theory has some merit in certain aspects (such as building comprehensive corporate competitiveness), when applied to career planning, I have to say: this theory is a harmful 'cancer'! If you still firmly believe in it and use it as a guiding principle for your career planning, then your failed life will begin from here!
What is the key to success? The answer is: leverage your strengths! Everyone has their own personality, and each personality has its own strengths and weaknesses (on this point, I recommend you take the free 'DISC Personality Test' on First Career Network to have a basic understanding of your personality, avoiding entering the wrong field and taking detours at the beginning of your career). Strengths refer to areas where you are naturally better than 80% of people; weaknesses refer to areas where you are worse than 80% of people. To succeed, you must leverage your strengths, because you are naturally better than 80% of people in that area, so you can defeat them effortlessly, and the effect is twice the result with half the effort. On the other hand, to make up for weaknesses and succeed, you need to defeat 80% of people who are stronger than you, and such efforts will definitely be half the result with twice the effort. Even if you work hard to make up for your shortcomings, you can at most reach the same level as those 80% of people, and it is unlikely that you will be better than them. In that case, how can you succeed?
Many people complain about their many shortcomings and want to change themselves, but this is a big mistake. I have always believed in the saying: there is no unusable person in the world; the key is whether you use them in the right place. The main criterion for measuring whether a person is used in the right place is whether the position can leverage their strengths. Using people's strengths is also the core essence of excellent talent management.
You might ask: 'I also have many weaknesses, and I have suffered because of them. If we change our mindset and leverage strengths to succeed, how should we treat these weaknesses?' Here I need to emphasize: leveraging strengths does not mean turning a blind eye to your weaknesses; it is just a matter of allocating energy. My view on this is: put 80% of your energy into your strengths, maximize them, and strive to build them into your core competitiveness; put 20% of your energy into your weaknesses, bring them up to a passing level, and do not let them become stumbling blocks on your path forward. Such an allocation of energy is reasonable.
Comparing your weaknesses with others' strengths is like an egg hitting a stone. The most fatal flaw of the barrel theory is that it teaches people to focus 100% of their attention on making up for their weaknesses, while turning a blind eye to their strengths! Such a theory is clearly untenable.
Mistake 2: Treating Sales as a Lifeline
In the cases I have handled during coaching-style career planning at First Career Network, this situation is also quite common. Many people do not have clear career development goals during college, do not know their interests or future career direction. They do not know what they want to do or what they are suitable for, so they spend the most important golden four years of their lives in confusion, bewilderment, and boredom. In this state, there is no need to mention the construction of core competitiveness in the workplace or the comprehensive improvement of their own quality. Therefore, graduating and being unemployed is a predetermined result. I once met a student who submitted 1200 resumes to various industries and positions, but did not even receive a single interview invitation.
Under such employment pressure, most people choose to aim for sales. I asked them: Obviously you do not like sales and are not suitable for it, why do you choose this industry? Their answer is: the sales industry has a low entry barrier, and the impact of your major is not significant. When we really cannot find a job, we have to choose sales. (At the same time, the irresponsible and widespread concept of 'get a job first, then choose a career' in universities has greatly promoted the spread of this wrong idea. This practice is extremely irresponsible to both students and companies, and I strongly oppose it.)
We once had a client who also chose sales when he had no other options. Because he was not suitable, it was very painful, and he could not hold on any longer, so he came to us and resolutely decided to change careers. But by then three years had passed, and he deeply felt the difficulties in changing careers: starting from scratch, no experience, many companies unwilling to provide job opportunities; even if there were opportunities, the pay was low, and he felt extremely unbalanced. But there was no way; reality is like this. The mistakes you made before will eventually have consequences.
In the consulting process, such examples are common. I do not know whether this result is laughable or pitiful, helpless or punishment. If you do not truly love it, then do not choose sales; it is not a job that can make you live comfortably. Without genuine passion, you cannot overcome the sense of frustration that comes with this job, nor can you have enough motivation to move forward after experiencing one setback after another. Do not choose sales when you are at a dead end. Do not treat such a choice as your lifeline. I know survival is important, and I fully understand your feelings, but in comparison, future career development opportunities are more important. Rather than choosing a wrong job and wasting time, it is better to invest more time in considering your future and invest more cost in building and improving corresponding abilities. Otherwise, you will definitely encounter problems on your path forward, and they will be more serious one after another. These problems will accumulate until a total outbreak, and you will no longer be able to cope!
Mistake 3: Being Impatient for Quick Success, Thinking Sales Can Make Big Money in the Short Term
Many people think that sales can make big money, but once they persist for a year or two, they find that it is not as beautiful as they imagined. Then the motivation to make money disappears, and their interest in sales also fades.
Once I met a client engaged in foreign trade. He said he liked foreign trade and his personality was suitable, but in the past two years he had not made much money in foreign trade and saw no prospects, so he decided to change careers. I asked him: Are there people around you who are successful in foreign trade? He said yes. I asked him again: Compare yourself with those foreign trade experts, what gaps do you see? He listed them one by one and suddenly realized: he originally thought that after two years of experience, he knew everything, but upon careful reflection, he found that he had many shortcomings. So he reorganized his direction, saw his shortcomings, and decided to continue developing deeply in the foreign trade direction.
There is an old Chinese saying: 'The layman watches the excitement, the expert watches the craft.' If you are always a 'layman' in a job, such a person will not be valuable. Becoming an 'insider' and 'professional' in a certain professional field, becoming an expert in the industry, is the direction you should pursue, and it is also the foundation for building your core competitiveness in the workplace.
Under normal circumstances, even without taking detours, it takes 3-5 years of deep accumulation to fully understand an industry and become an insider. Three years to enter the industry, five years to master it, ten years to become an expert—this is usually a stage that everyone must go through in their career. If you have only done it for a year or two, you have not even touched the 'door' of this industry, so how can you make big money?
If you do not believe what I say, then look at the sales experts around you, ask them how many years they have been in this industry, and listen to their experiences. If you do sales with an impatient and utilitarian attitude, you will never succeed.
Mistake 4: Having High Ambitions but Low Abilities, Not Wanting to Do Small Things, and Being Unable to Do Big Things
For new salespeople, it is impossible to reach the top in one step; you must start from the grassroots (this is true in any industry, unless you start your own business and become the boss). But for new graduates just out of school, being a grassroots salesperson seems to be a job they are very reluctant to do, because they feel that the abilities they learned in school are wasted on such non-technical tasks as visiting customers, vivid displays, promotional activities, etc., which is a waste of talent.
Although grassroots salespeople do basic work, they are in direct contact with the front-line market, and their role cannot be underestimated. Without the maintenance of these salespeople, the terminals would be in chaos, which is often fatal to the enterprise. A successful sales expert, if he does not know the situation of the front-line market, cannot make correct strategic decisions. At the same time, it is precisely these basic tasks that can reflect the comprehensive quality of an excellent salesperson.
Once I chatted with an excellent salesperson about his growth experience, and he told me something that left a deep impression on me. At that time, the company launched a new product and wanted to test the market reaction by distributing flyers in a small area. After two days, the effect was not good, because many people threw the flyers into the trash after receiving them. Later, he carefully observed, adjusted the content of the flyers for the target audience, and improved the printing format to make it a very practical pocket manual; at the same time, he investigated the places and routes where the target audience was likely to appear to ensure the accuracy of distribution; he also suggested that the flyer distributors should wear uniforms to enhance the professional image of the brand, etc. He wrote these ideas into a report and submitted it to his supervisor, who highly praised it and immediately promoted him to sales supervisor. At that time, he had only been working for one month.
I believe many people have experienced distributing flyers, and 99% of them would think this job has no technical content. But is that really the case? Not necessarily! As long as you put your heart into it, you can always do it differently and reflect your unique value.
Mistake 5: Frequent Job Hopping, Lacking Basic Loyalty
I once had a client who was a natural for sales, but he changed jobs several times, and after two years, he had not determined his development platform, and eventually he had to doubt whether his choice was right. When I asked him the reasons for changing jobs, he either felt the position was too low and he was 'overqualified,' or he did not like his supervisor's management style, or he felt the salary was too low and the work was too hard...
I asked him, 'Do you want to be a boss?' He said yes, very much. I continued, 'If you were the boss now and had to hire an employee like yourself, would you be willing?' He thought for a moment and said with some embarrassment, 'No.' I asked why. He said, 'Because I think such an employee is disobedient, not down-to-earth, and difficult to manage.' I said, 'Now do you know where the problem lies?' He nodded slightly.
All bosses like loyal employees. Loyalty to the company is the most basic professional quality. For newcomers to the workplace, in the first three years, the only important thing you must accomplish is the accumulation of professional knowledge and experience. As for other things, you are not qualified to care about them at least for now.
At the same time, some people will say, 'I have been at this company for several months, and they keep asking me to do miscellaneous things, and I have not been exposed to substantive work content. Should I continue to stay here?'
There is a deeper reason behind this question. First, as a newcomer, you need a transition period to transform from a student to a qualified professional. At the same time, every company has its own culture, management system, operating model, and work processes. To truly become a member of the company, it is not just about registering and signing a contract with the HR department; more importantly, you need to integrate into the company's culture, adapt to its management, quickly familiarize yourself with the company's strategy and business processes, and see what aspects you need to supplement in combination with your position. Although these things are basic, they are necessary for you to truly integrate into the company. This process usually takes six months to a year. This is not only an adaptation period, but also a period for the company to assess you. Those who are proactive and perform well will definitely be given important roles in the future; while those who are idle, do not know what to do when they enter the office, and even complain that the company does not give them opportunities and then frequently change jobs, will never be valued.
Do you know why companies are unwilling to recruit fresh graduates? One of the most important factors is that they lack basic loyalty, causing the company's human resource costs to be wasted! And those with good professional qualities will also be sought after by many companies. (Of course, for companies with obvious management loopholes, we do not deliberately emphasize blind loyalty, because such companies are not conducive to the growth of newcomers.)
Mistake 6: Clique Mentality, Openly Confronting the Company
Nowadays, college graduates just out of school have sharp personalities, strong self-awareness, and a strong sense of cliques, and they are not willing to be disciplined. If you say one thing to them, they can retort with nine things, which is called 'one word, nine retorts.' Many units recruit dozens or even hundreds of people from one school during campus recruitment. Then the problem arises: when they do not like a certain management practice or regulation of the company, they will band together and openly confront the company.
Once, when communicating with a grassroots sales supervisor of an enterprise, he mentioned such a problem. The company recruited more than ten college students who were dissatisfied with the company's assessment regulations, so they reported the problem to the supervisor. The supervisor told them that this was a legacy issue of the company, and others had reported it before, but it could not be solved. So the more than ten students jointly wrote a letter and directly reported the problem to the general manager, causing an extremely bad impact in the company.
It is reasonable for employees to raise issues in the company, but they must use the correct methods and follow the company's rules and work processes. The practice of banding together to openly confront the company will not be welcomed in any company.
Mistake 7: Being Arrogant, Too Showy, Only Knowing How to Do Things, Not How to Behave
Although many fresh graduates overall cannot satisfy employers, there are also some college students who are the cream of the crop among fresh graduates. They have rich internship, part-time, or club experience during school, and their overall abilities are also very good. But precisely because they have these assets, they appear 'standing out from the crowd' among the employees recruited in the same batch, and they begin to get carried away, being arrogant, pointing fingers at others' work, and looking down on everyone, even their immediate supervisor.
To do things, you must first learn to be a person. People who have ability but do not know how to behave are more harmful to the organization, and such people will definitely not be welcomed by the company or colleagues. Complacency brings loss, humility brings benefit. Humility allows a person to continuously absorb new knowledge and gain momentum in the workplace; complacency only makes you stay at your current level and stop moving forward. Only by learning to be humble, tolerant, and open-minded, and by having both virtue and talent, can you be invincible.
Mistake 8: Having No Long-Term Goals, Only Focusing on Immediate Interests
Many people, after working for two or three years, become proficient in their business and feel there is nothing more to learn, so their ambition disappears, they become 'old oil' in the workplace, unwilling to move forward, and job burnout follows.
Many people who have been in contact with the front-line market for too long often have this feeling. Among the clients we have consulted, this situation is also quite common. The reason is that they only focus on immediate interests and forget their long-term goals.
Once I met a salesperson who had been working for 4 years. He did well in his business and was promoted to manager, but he always felt that his career had reached its end, and he no longer had the same drive as before.
I asked him, 'When you chose sales, did you have a long-term goal?' He said yes, he wanted to become a sales expert and eventually a professional manager. I asked him again, 'How far are you from this goal now? Do you know how to bridge the gap?' A week later, he sent me an email saying that after careful consideration, he had found his goal again and made a specific implementation plan, and his motivation to move forward was suddenly back.
When you only focus on the present, you are easily satisfied and easily lost; when you have a more long-term goal, your direction forward becomes clearer, you know what you want and what you are pursuing, and thus you have more motivation to move forward.
So, when you are lost or lack motivation, you should stand at a higher angle and rethink: where exactly is my goal?
A successful career is definitely the result of multiple comprehensive factors. Being particularly outstanding in one aspect does not guarantee success. Only when you have other elements can the foundation of your career be more solid and your stamina more sufficient. Successful people see the future direction and keep moving forward around it, building their core competitiveness. At the same time, the opportunities for career development they face will also be endless (Why do some people submit 1200 resumes and not even get a reply, while others are dodging calls from headhunters every day? The gap between these two, the reason, everyone should think carefully). And those who fail often do not know how to improve themselves comprehensively, find various excuses to cover up their shortcomings, and constantly complain that society does not give them opportunities. (Author: Yang Yi, Chief Consultant of 'Coaching' Career Planning at First Career Network. Original article, all rights reserved. Please indicate the author's information when reprinting. Thank you for your support!)
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