Negosentro.com | 3 Industries You Didn’t Know Rely on Sales | It’s not a secret that most industries rely on sales to get by. If you can’t make a sale, you don’t get revenue to push your products and services and stay in business. That being said, some businesses truly don’t rely on traditional sales methods in order to thrive and prosper.
Some established companies are so prevalent in an area, or have such a good track record, that they can exist purely on word-of-mouth or referrals from existing customers. Others get grants from the government or are typically the only option for residents/clients in a particular area. Companies that operate behind the scenes usually aren’t thought of as salesmen, however you might be surprised at how many of these companies in these industries actually do rely on sales in order to stay afloat.
Here are three industries that you may not have realized rely on sales in order to get by, rather than by traditional industry means.
Trucking and Transportation
The transportation industry is one that may not be thought of as a big player in the world of sales. You rarely see commercials on TV or hear ads on the radio for trucking companies looking for business. But just because the average consumer doesn’t hear about it, it doesn’t mean there’s a robust sales engine running in the background.
While trucking companies are more synonymous with impressive logistical tools like route planning software, inventory management and fleet vehicle management, they have a very cutthroat sales side to the industry. Salespeople are expected to understand the products and services their companies sell as well as the offerings put out by competitors. They’ll have to use tools like a CRM software to help them know what their daily routines are and where each customer is in the sales process. They’ll look at leads generated, leads that are converted to
opportunities and those that have been converted into actual clients. They’ll also be subject to monthly and yearly quotas in order to stay on the team. Sales people in the trucking industry that excel usually can make a fair amount of money. Those that can’t quite cut it will work themselves out of the sales rotation if they don’t hit their sales marks.
Pharmaceuticals
When people get sick, they go to the doctor, right? You wouldn’t need extra sales to convince people to get medical attention, would you? Since people do inevitably get sick or need surgery due to outside complications, there’s always a need for healthcare professionals. But within the healthcare industry there are other departments that rely almost wholly on sales, that you may not have been aware of in the past. With technological advances in both equipment and chemicals, two of the fastest growing sales segments are that of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. First, take a look at pharmaceuticals.
Pharmaceutical sales may not seem too foreign to you, since you’ve likely seen quite a few commercials during your favorite TV programming for allergy medicines or fever reducers. However, the growth in this department is exponential. From 2001 to 2016, sales in pharmaceuticals have gone from 390 billion dollars to 1.1 trillion. Nearly half of that has happened just in North America, so the market continues to grow at insane rates.
Medical Equipment
The other, less obvious, sales segment of healthcare is that of medical equipment. There is a lot of regulation in this industry, so even sales literature has to be approved in order to use it in the sales process. That being said, there is a lot of upside in medical equipment sales. Average compensation for a sales rep may run in the $150,000 range. Some reps even get cars, full benefits, matching 401k, etc. These reps are constantly forced to stay at the top of their game to be on top of rapid changes in healthcare and industry requirements, but there is definitely a large market for medical devices all across North America.
