I tried sales for a while and was terrible. I think (in my experience, anyway), you have to be truly behind your product 100%, or good at stretching the truth. I never found that combo.
My brief stint selling consumer electronics was a blast. If you love and believe in what you’re selling and people are coming to you to be sold to and educated on the product it’s easy. I sold home theater set-ups and it was great.
Once the pressure started to sell stuff I didn’t really believe in, extended warranties and over priced cables, I really lost interest. Corporate board members are never happy making an honest buck on an honest product. They are never satisfied until you’re gouging the customer for their last nickel.
I have a sales component to my job. But I am selling mostly to people who buy this anyway. I am doing some upselling. Then I look for new customers, but only ones in this industry who have some connection and are possibly interested. No cold calling. Some cold emailing through LinkedIn.
Yes, I think to be successful in sales it is a lot of hard work. Of course there are all kinds of “salespersons” as the responses already have shown. From selling consumer electronics at say a big box store, to telemarketing/sales, to real-estate sales, to car sales, etc. Although I am not a salesperson by title, my role is to partner closely with salespeople in my organization and help them drive sales with our clients. Our clients are financial institutions and we sell products/services that range anywhere from 100’s of thousands of dollars to millions, even +$100M on occasion. Our sales cycles can last anywhere from 6months to 2 years before the deal is closed. Compensation for a sales executive in this role starts at a minimum of low 6-figures and with commissions and on-target performance they’re easily mid-6 figures and sometimes much, much higher. Is it hard, absolutely - only the best sales people can perform in this environment and the “sales skills” are not the same for selling an LCD TV or a new Honda minivan. To try and compare this sales role to some of the examples given is night and day. Introverts will not succeed.