How to Start Your Career in Sales (The Right Way)

Losing your first job out of college isn't the end of your career. Sometimes it's the real start of it. Not saying it doesn't sting, or that anyone should go looking for it. But what you do the weekend after says a lot about whether sales is for you. Joe graduated from Alabama, took a sales job across the country with a $100K+ first-year number attached, signed a lease, and started a seven-week training program that began with 89 people and finished with 64. Midway through, he was moved to a different team. Two weeks later, the company decided it had been unfair to drop him into the middle of training and let him go. He found out on a Friday afternoon and had a flight home to Nashville an hour and a half later. Instead of sitting on it, he went back to the contact spreadsheet he'd been building since the summer, opened his LinkedIn up to recruiters, picked nine companies he actually wanted to work for, and asked people at each one for 10 to 15 minutes of their time. Within two and a half weeks he had all nine moving. Within a month he had an offer. Scott and Billy walk through the whole thing with him: what he'd do differently, the red flags he talked himself past, why the first job should be about learning and not the money, and how to handle the first 90 days. 00:00 Cold open 00:19 Meet Joe 02:21 Figuring out what's next in college 03:32 Landing a sales internship through a family friend 06:58 The contact spreadsheet 09:40 The $100K offer out west 10:58 89 started, 64 finished 12:26 Let go mid-training, still on the lease 13:46 Don't chase the money straight out of college 15:24 Find a company that invests in you 17:16 The red flags he ignored 19:13 Why staying home lowers the risk 20:57 Ground zero on a Friday afternoon 23:32 Nine companies in two and a half weeks 25:11 Where he landed and why 26:22 How many interviews it took 27:40 Follow up and ask for 15 minutes 32:16 The STAR interview format 33:22 The first 90 days 37:47 Pass it on #salescareer #firstjob #careeradvice #jobsearch #collegegrad