How to Get a Media Sales Job

Media sales jobs often have the allure of being fun, exciting and high income producing. While these are all true, there are many required skills that are required if you are interested in landing a media sales job.

The most important thing for job seekers to understand is to be hired for a media sales job, is how difficult the job can actually be once hired. Always ask for a job profile and learn by going on informational interviews. Going in un-prepared both for the actual job interview and, if hired, to do the actual job will result in frustration, panic and probably loss of your new job.

Study the job profile for any media sales job and you will find that there are certain traits and skills that hiring managers are looking for in new hires:

• Ability to cold call & get to decision makers
• Ability to create strategic and innovative solutions to address customer needs
• Hard working – someone who is able to commit to put in the time to develop business
• Strong negotiation skills – not afraid to ask for the order

In many media sales jobs, one is selling an intangible – something that a client can not actually touch or feel, but can see or hear. Often that can be a daunting task for someone who does not believe in the product. Candidates for some media sales jobs don’t want to work for or sell a product that they do not use, i.e. sell for a country music radio station when you don’t like country music.

However, in a media sales job you are not selling the station, or the sound, but the audience it reaches. If the country music station has a huge, loyal audience that supports their advertisers, what difference is it if you don’t like the music?

With a media sales job, you have to be able to take a lot of rejection, it used to be a rule of thumb that you don’t give up on a potential target until you get 20 ‘no’s’ – lots of persistence.

Don’t get me wrong, a life with a media sales job CAN be fun, rewarding and challenging, so go for it!