You need to do research as part of the position of advertising sales agent. You do need to know the kinds of products each company sells and have a presentation ready to show them how advertising can help increase their sales. A thorough knowledge of the different mediums of advertising is essential so that you can develop a relationship with various types of businesses. For this reason, it is important to have excellent spoken communication skills and good interpersonal skills. In addition, you need to know how to prepare contracts and follow through with the sale by being the contact person mediating the negotiations between the business owner and your employer.
The majority of people working as advertising sales agents have a university degree, although this is not a requirement for obtaining such a position. The major portion of your training will take place on the job as you learn the ropes of the advertising industry. You will start off in such a position working with an experienced sales agent and observe how he/she works. Then you will start making sales of your own under the supervision of this person.
In addition to educational background you possess, employers will be looking for other qualities when you interview for a position of advertising sales agent. It is essential that you are neat in appearance, dressing in a professional manner. As you start working, your performance will be evaluated according to the number of sales you generate. Quite often the salary for this position is commission based, which means you get paid according to your sales. You will also be dealing with diverse groups in the population, so being fluent in another language, especially Spanish, would be an asset to you in this job. This will open more doors leading to potential sales when you can communicate with business owners in their first language.
There are opportunities for advancement in the field of advertising sales agent. You can take on large corporations as clients and of course, since the advertising budget of these businesses is larger, your salary will increase. When you demonstrate that you have leadership skills, you may be appointed to a supervisory or managerial position within the company. Also, as you gain more experience in this field, you can also apply for job openings with larger companies where there are more opportunities than you have in your resent position.
