´╗┐Since the Do Not Call List launched nation-wide in 2008, over 10.8 million phone numbers have been registered in an effort to avoid those pesky telemarketers. But the fact of the matter remains: it  can be an awfully lucrative business. 

Being in the hard-selling business, however, doesn't necessarily mean being a pest to a curmudgeonly population eating their dinners. Contrary to the stereotype, inside and outside sales can be a rewarding and flexible field. For one, it's a highly penetrable job market: you can pursue sales at an entry level and receive valuable sales training applicable in many fields. Your stint as the voice of a company will arm you with the very useful art of rhetoric that you can use long after you've retired the office receiver. 

And, of course, there's the money. On top of the base pay, a sales person can really control their worth by earning a hefty of commission, competing for the famed monthly company prizes that many businesses like Xerox give to top performers, and advancing their position through meritocracy. 

How to sell yourself 

If this misunderstood field is sounding better and better to you, there is a catch: a candidate has to fit the bill.

I truly feel that [sales] is the right job for the right person and not the right job for some, says Natasha Marcetic, a sourcing specialist for Xerox Canada. She explains that while any business background is an asset in sales, non-traditional qualifications are seriously considered. 

While entry-level sales job requirements are lax on experience and looks more into one's flair for persuasion, there are more advanced positions in niche companies that require a specialized skill or a university degree in a certain field. 

Compensation for inside and outside sales jobs is results-driven. In fact, if you don't show results, you don't get to keep your job. To excel in sales, especially in inside sales where you don't have the luxury to market something visual or tactile, you'll need to be strategic and masterful in your sales pitch and closing. 

The key to an effective sales pitch

Yevgeny Chertov, the judges' choice winner of Ideas 2 Entrepreneurship pitch contest at the University of Waterloo last July, swears by the two most important things in pitching: asking questions and asking for the ÔÇÿyes.' 

Every single time that I sell my FollowUp (Blackberry) application, I ask ÔÇÿHow would you like to buy it for two dollars and I'll install it in your phone right now.' It's a strange thing to say, but the fact is if you don't ask for the ÔÇÿyes,' you're not going to get it, says Chertov.  

From his short but successful stint at Vox Data, an outsourcing call centre service, Chertov rose from a telemarketer position to the role of supervisor then on to a management. He explains that the key to a successful inside sales pitch is the obvious: not getting hung up on. 

But I'm not interested

People with very, very short talk time'clients just hang up on them continuously'they're the people who need to work on their introduction, their conversation skills, says Chertov.  One way to do this is to build up a company's credibility in your introduction, then immediately getting the target customer talking. 

By asking a lot of questions, one can recognize a customer's needs'both the glaring and the unrecognized. A telemarketer can then tailor his pitch so that his product will appeal to reason, convenience, or a better lifestyle for the consumer. 

To avoid the dreaded but-I'm-not-interested response, Chertov assumes the yes, explains the terms of the sale, and lets the client take the initiative to interrupt him and decline. This is the aggressive approach in telemarketing, and it's an effective way of selling because the consumer is not given a window to say no. 

Keeping the conversation fresh

Even if you believe in your product, keeping the conversation fresh can still be a challenge. You're going to have the same conversation 70 to 80 times. Oftentimes, you'll wind up sounding monotonic, says Chertov. 

This is where creativity comes into play in sales: brainstorming ways on how your diverse potential clients will need or want your product and gauging how you will appeal to their unique personality. Sometimes, he says, it's as simple as letting loose and having fun with your clients. 

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