Career Transition - Finance to Sales

[ASAP]

Has anyone done a transition of this sort? I work in Finance but am slowly getting tired of the desk job and ready to move on. I make solid money but I am ok with taking a pay cut if it pays off in the end. I want to be out and about and establish relationships and grown revenue for a company... Commission and qouta bearing jobs are expected... and as always there are good and bad sales jobs... any recommendations or tips? I know its a grind but its a different grind. Also, many years in, I realize my personality fit is much better for sales.

[BMW F22]

I am in the same boat. Did sales for 4-5 years (not corporate). Been in project/financial management for the last 4 or so years and looking to go back toward sales. I talked to people I know who are either VPs of sales or are account executives and most of them told me you have to start at the bottom being a Sales Development Rep or Inside Sales Rep.

Up until a week ago I thought of that as the gospel until I spoke with more people that are in charge of sales teams. They said there's no reason why one can't start out as an Account Manager or Executive. One of then reminded me that a guy I work with (28 YO) worked here in finance for a few years and just transitioned over to corp sales earlier this year. So far he's been doing pretty well from what I heard.

I interviewed for some sales jobs and when they told me that since I don't have direct corp sales experience that I'd have to start from the bottom, I just walked away. I don't care what anyone says, sales is sales and it's all about the people and products. I refuse to accept the thought that one must ALWAYS start at the bottom when starting something new (case in point above). Hell, I didn't get an MBA to be someone's bitch and only pick up the phone and set appointments (sales development rep).

Find people and talk to everyone you know. And refuse to accept anything that values you less than what you KNOW you're worth. That's what I have been doing. There's a position available at my company, starts at $150-160k base. It's on the East Coast and I don't want to move. Otherwise, I'd be all over it like flies on shit.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by BMW F22

I am in the same boat. Did sales for 4-5 years (not corporate). Been in project/financial management for the last 4 or so years and looking to go back toward sales. I talked to people I know who are either VPs of sales or are account executives and most of them told me you have to start at the bottom being a Sales Development Rep or Inside Sales Rep.

Up until a week ago I thought of that as the gospel until I spoke with more people that are in charge of sales teams. They said there's no reason why one can't start out as an Account Manager or Executive. One of then reminded me that a guy I work with (28 YO) worked here in finance for a few years and just transitioned over to corp sales earlier this year. So far he's been doing pretty well from what I heard.

I interviewed for some sales jobs and when they told me that since I don't have direct corp sales experience that I'd have to start from the bottom, I just walked away. I don't care what anyone says, sales is sales and it's all about the people and products. I refuse to accept the thought that one must ALWAYS start at the bottom when starting something new (case in point above). Hell, I didn't get an MBA to be someone's bitch and only pick up the phone and set appointments (sales development rep).

Find people and talk to everyone you know. And refuse to accept anything that values you less than what you KNOW you're worth. That's what I have been doing. There's a position available at my company, starts at $150-160k base. It's on the East Coast and I don't want to move. Otherwise, I'd be all over it like flies on shit.

Thanks for your help man, this is great info.

[blau iii]

You may want to look into headhunting. I worked for Robert Half Int'l placing accounting and finance professionals for 5 years. It was a great job if you can put the effort into it. The best news, if you find you don't like it you can use your client base to land a gig back into finance. Having worked on the other side will help to give you instant credibility with clients. The base pay is a joke but it's not impossible to clear well into the 100's if not higher depending on how large of a metro area you work in and what the local economy is like.

I ended up heading into corporate HR and run the T/A function for a large bank. Never looked back at my accounting/finance degree. More-so, I have a leg up on most HR paper pushers because I have the finance background and can't talk with c-suite on their level.

[sirdaft1]

What line of work are you currently in? And do you want to stay in that same line if you pursue sales?