I sell phones and am looking to get out. Where to now?

In My Humble Opinion
1

The title says it all.

I’ve been selling wireless phones out of kiosk in a Costco for almost a year now, and I’m ready to move on for a variety of reasons. The work is beginning to bore me, I no longer feel challenged, and I never cared about wireless phones in the first place. In all actuality they, bore to to tears and more often than not I find them to be a source of annoyance. To make matters worse, all of our phones are beginning to sound exactly the same. Every new device we pick up has a 1.3 mega pixel camera, bluetooth compatibility, MP3 player, GPS/location, calculator, calender, speaker phone blah blah blah blah blah…I’m not even researching the new products we get, I just ask if its any different than what we already have.

Originally I picked up the job as part of my New Years resolution in 2006 to buck my social anxiety. Mission successful. I’m grateful for the experience and opportunity my company gave me considering what a spaz I was. I’ve learned a good bit about my strengths, weaknesses, and preferences.

I’m great with people. I’m well liked by my managers, coworkers, and customers. I have a good sense of humor and never lose my cool. One customer this week has even promised to buy me a bottle of wine since I had helped him resolve an issue no one else was willing to spend time with him on after I mentioned during some small talk that I wanted to expand my knowledge on the subject. I’ve subdued raging women who screamed at people I was making pitches to “DON’T BUY FROM THESE PEOPLE! THEY ARE HORRIBLE! THEY WILL GIVE YOU TERRIBLE SERVICE!” into mild a mannered person who left my place of business with a smile, laugh, and a wish that, I too, would have a very nice night.

And I enjoy that. I’m one of the few people in my business that really likes helping people.

Possibly more than myself. This was a picked bone with my manager who often said that I needed to put myself and my sales before my customers more often. I didn’t like that so much, even if it was my job. I hated selling services such as “V Cast” and “Power Vision” to people who really didn’t need it and probably wouldn’t use it. I would be happier spending an hour helping a customer out with a mail in rebate issue than try and sell someone something I know they didn’t need.

I like sales, but I don’t like pushing things people don’t need. It’s been suggested that I do consulting work, but I wouldn’t know where to begin looking for a job in that line of work. I liked my job the best when I felt like I was helping someone.

Currently I’m making $10-12 an hour on average and thirty hour weeks. Preferably, I’d like to keep the same hours since I’m still in school and would like to be paid a bit more.

So where to now? What’s a good job to upgrade to from this field for a college kid? I’m planning on getting out real soon. I’m falling into an Office Space funk really fast and would hate to lose my credibility as a solid worker while I still have it.

2

I’m curious as to what you’re studying in college, does that point you in any particular direction career-wise?

Based on how you talk about your strengths and what you like about your job, one thing that came to mind is training – working with a company to train employees. In some areas, your age might work against you, but with technology I think youth can be a plus. I’m thinking of something where you are training an office or department or entire business to use a new platform or service.

I know it’s not feeding orphans, but a good trainer really does help people. Many folks have anxieties about learning new things, especially technology, and have worries about their job security if they can’t master it. People always groan about going to the “mandatory training” sessions, but a good trainer makes the difference between torture or actually helpful.

You could work for a vendor, going on-site to train people who have purchased your product. Where I work, we also use a consultant for training in some areas, which we like because we know the consultant is not going to pressure us into buying more stuff. On the other hand, one advantage the vendor-supplied trainers have is immediate and inside access to additional information. So depending on the situation, we might go with one over the other. Large companies might also have people in-house who work with staff on an on-going basis.

3

Try Electronics, JoeSki. It’s related to phone sales (loosely), involves lots of shiny electronic gadgets, and there are some really good commissions, bonuses, and freebies available on top of your pay (depending where you are, of course).

I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s noticed almost all cellphones are the same now. They’re like point 'n shoot digital cameras- once they hit the 6 Megapixel mark, there wasn’t anywhere practically different for them to go… except to 7 Megapixels. The thing is, most people can’t seen an improvement between 6 and 7mp (unless they’re blowing their photos up to A4 size, and even then they’re going to look really good even at 6mp). So when people ask me “Which Digital Camera is the best?” it basically comes down to “Do you want one that runs on AA batteries or an internal Lithium Ion one?”

4

I’m one semester away from getting my AA, and then I’ll be majoring in psychology with a minor in…I don’t know what yet. I’ve taken some social science classes and have loved them all. So I’d say that’s relevant in regards to dealing with people in general.

Training doesn’t sound too bad. I’ll have to check on some manufacturer websites and see if they have any hiring positions. I’m sure I’ll be sticking with the technological stuff.

I think phones are getting overly complicated. Does a phone really have to be an all in one’s device? And when did a phone become a car? People are always describing these things as “hot” and “slick”. I can’t see the appeal at all. I love talking with customers, but this is the first job I’ve had where I can just barely stand talking shop with someone. Seriously now, who goes out of their way to talk and brag about their phone of all things to a sale guy for twenty minutes? It makes about as much sense to me as showing off a pencil sharpener or stapler.