Q&A

Success in the sales or marketing field depends more on your competence and experience than on qualifications. As you have some sales experience, you should be able to move into the sales department of other manufacturing organisations that have similar kind of products. Sales is often a good entry point into a future position in marketing while marketing jobs can lead to a career in general management. An enterprising salesman can become a sales officer within three years and an area sales manager within seven to eight years. The additional MBA qualification should make this easier too. Sales involve putting marketing strategy into action. The main responsibility here is finding and dealing with customers for a particular product or service. In most companies, this means contacting and selling to distributors and/or retailers. The main function of the marketing department is to identify a customer’s needs, and to relate it to the company’s ability to produce a product. It also includes devising strategies to enhance product sales. Most sales people, with some years of experience, move into marketing positions which require them to handle customer feedback regarding product quality, pricing, distribution, promotion and packaging, and even after-sales service to ensure customer satisfaction.Marketing assignments also include market research, study of consumer behaviour,advertising and strategic sales promotion although many companies appoint market research organisations, or separate divisions in the company to do such work. There are no formal study programmes for market research, but a background in quantitative fields like economics, statistics, maths or engineering, or management programmes can help you get into this field too. So, depending on your area of interest and expertise, you could move into the sales department of another product manufacturing company, or directly into a marketing or market research position. Usha Albuquerque