During my decade at Google, I spent most of my time in sales or working alongside salespeople. Yet whenever someone asked what I did, I’d emphasise the “strategic partnerships” or “consultant” parts of my title. Sales felt... less impressive somehow.
That was stupid of me.
After working with hundreds of salespeople across every level from fresh SDRs to VP of Sales, I’ve learnt something important: sales is one of the most underrated career paths. Today I’m going to dissect the most common misconceptions about sales most people think, by sharing my insider experience.
1. Sales roles are just entry-level stepping stones
It’s true that many sales roles have lower entry barriers which attracts junior workers. But that certainly doesn’t mean that sales is for juniors only. In fact, sales has one of the clearest progression paths in business. The junior account executive role actually leads directly to senior AE, then team lead, then regional manager, and eventually VP of Sales. And you know what? Unlike a lot of functions where tenure is the most critical, sales can enable progression at lightning speed, as long as you can deliver.
When I first got into a sales role, I was assigned a portfolio of hundreds of customers which I needed to do a lot of cold-calling and group training content. Within a year I was progressed to managing a smaller portfolio of corporations & Fortune 500 companies but with a higher revenue size. A lot of my colleagues staying in the sales function eventually became people managers whose key responsibilities then became sales coaching and overseeing revenue on a team or market level, instead of direct customer interaction.
2. Sales means you’re stuck in sales forever
A lot of my friends are resistant to being in sales because they “don’t want to be stuck in sales forever”, when indeed this is quite a false impression. Sales roles are among one of the most transferable functions in business. Being in sales has actually given me a solid foundation to prepare me for future career pivots. Understanding customer pain points, managing complex stakeholder relationships, and navigating organisational politics? Those are universal business skills that sales teaches better than almost any other function.
Over my time at Google, I have moved from account management to business development, program management, strategic partnerships; and my other sales colleagues have transitioned into product management, product marketing, strategy operations, and especially entrepreneurship. The customer insights and business acumen you develop in sales give you a massive advantage in other roles.
3. Sales requires 24/7 hustle culture
Yes and no, and it really depends on how you manage your time. Most sales roles operate on quarterly targets and other KPIs, and it’s up to the salesperson to decide what they are gonna do to achieve the goals. Hit your numbers, and nobody cares whether you worked Tuesday through Thursday or took Friday afternoon off.
I see myself as a proactive and self-disciplined person, and I really appreciate the autonomy in sales roles. If I wanted to work intensively for two weeks to close deals, then take a lighter schedule later in the quarter, that was fine. As long as the results were there, I controlled my time in ways that most corporate roles don’t allow.
Of course, if you are new to sales, the learning curve is steep initially. You’re building industry knowledge, developing your network, and figuring out what works. But once you understand your market and have a solid process, the work becomes much more predictable.
4. Sales roles are poorly paid
This is so wrong. Sales is probably the best-paid function in most companies. While roles like communications or partnerships struggle to measure tangible impact, sales performance is crystal clear. Your contribution to the business is obvious, which translates directly to compensation.
Most sales compensation includes commission structures with multipliers from 2X onwards, which means if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, there are opportunities where you can overachieve your target and get a massive payout end of quarter. Or you can also pace yourself to warm leads and close deals in the manner that is aligned with your payout structure.
Don’t get me started on the sales-related benefits beyond salaries. Sponsored business trips, travel budgets, meals reimbursements, fancy industry events etc, if you are a person that loves travelling and events, a sales role actually comes with a lot of perks.
I’ve had colleagues who moved to non-sales functions which then shifted back to sales because they missed to be compensated based on their efforts and performance. Your ability to drive results determines your pay cheque, not office politics or subjective performance reviews.
5. Sales doesn’t develop real expertise
I would strongly disagree with that: the exposure of a sales role is massive.
First off, salespeople know the product, the business and the industry inside-out because they’re constantly interacting from customers. Salespeople are getting real-time market feedback, competitive intelligence, and industry insights that other functions only hear about secondhand. Our product teams are reliant on our sales teams and customers to give direct product feedback.
And depending on the product you sell, you’ll also learn about different industries from your customers. Through my customers, I learnt about ecommerce logistics, pharmaceutical marketing, gaming monetisation, fintech compliance and a lot more. Want to learn about different industries without being able to go deep into every single one of them? Go for a sales role.
And to be honest, if you have worked long enough, you will probably agree that there’s no assets more valuable than connections. And sales is probably the single function that can exponentially grow your professional network. Within 3 years, I have connected with almost 70% of the C-levels in the largest companies in the local market. These connections enable me to access new business leads, job opportunities and even entrepreneurship.
6. AI will replace sales jobs
You might have seen new platforms such as 11x or Atla AI which are trying to automate the sales-development process such as lead qualification, initial outreach, data entry. If anything, AI makes good salespeople more valuable by eliminating routine tasks and letting them focus on relationship-building and strategic thinking.
The core value of sales is reading people, navigating complex organisations, handling objections, and building trust. These are deeply human skills that often requires face-to-face interactions. In uncertain economic times, companies actually increase their focus on sales because revenue generation becomes the priority. And what companies need now, are salespeople who are good at closing deals, and can utilise AI tools to get their job done.
During so many years of the tech layoffs, sales are actually the functions which are the least impacted comparing to human resources, marketing, partnerships, or even product managers.
7. Sales means being “salesy”
If there’s only one takeaway from the article make it this one: you don’t need to be salesy to be good at sales.
I’m an introverted person that hate pushy tactics, and I will do everything to avoid interacting with boutique sales, insurance sales, software sales, whichever type you can think of. This natural resistance actually kept me from considering sales for years.
When I got my first sales job, my negative experience with sales actually prompted me to think outside of the box. I was not able to convince myself to be one of those salesy people, but how do I then hit my target?
Be myself.
I genuinely love helping people, and I was lucky to be selling an amazing product (Google Ads) that can empower small businesses and entrepreneurs to grow their audience and get sales. And what I did was simply to empathise with my customers and try to be helpful within my scope of control. I talked to customers and understand their pain points, and provide the relevant insights for them: industry trends, customer insights, product troubleshooting, etc.
And just like that, I overachieved my target and succeeded as a sales by being genuinely helpful. And I gained recommendations from unicorns, earned job opportunities, and even life-long friendships with my job.
A lot of people think that sales are simply smooth-talking extroverts, but I would argue that the most successful sales are those that are obsessed with customers. They prioritise customer success over their own KPIs. They succeeded because they understood customer challenges and matched them with appropriate solutions. When you build trust and value, results will follow.
At the end of the day, there’s no one-size-fits-all sales style. I’ve seen successful salespeople who were consultative advisers, others who were data-driven analysts, and some who were relationship-focused connectors. Find the approach that fits your personality.
So it seems like all rainbows and sunshine…
Okay so you are sold (I hope), but before you go ahead to apply for your dream sales job, here’s what you need to bear in mind.
First, all sales have their stressful moments. Starting as a salesperson means you need to pay extra efforts in understanding the product, the industry, and slowly build your connections. That takes time. Along the way, every salesperson encounters stretched targets, difficult customers, and quarterly pressure. Also, your sales life is also highly dependent on the product and the company culture.
And at the end of the day, just like any other job functions, what you make of a career depends on your proactiveness and work ability. I’ve seen colleagues who are struggling to hit target every quarter and have to transfer out of sales, I’ve seen colleagues who haven’t developed any professional relationships at all even though they have been in the industry for years; and I have also seen people becoming notorious in the industry instead because of their poor performance.
Sales may not be for everyone. But if you are a person that is self-motivated, values impact, learning and connections, or if you are thinking about entrepreneurship in the long run, sales could be an amazing opportunity for you.
About me
Thank you for reading until the end :) I’m Loretta, and I’ve spent the past decade at Google working with thousands of customers all over the world. My work spans digital marketing, business transformation, strategic partnerships, program management, and app development.
I believe AI will empower individuals more than ever, and I’m here to translate my decade of experience into simple, actionable advice to help you achieve your goals. I post bi-weekly about digital marketing tips, industry updates and best practices.
Want more tips like these? I offer 45-minute strategy sessions to help founders scale their businesses, or cover specific challenges such as career development, getting into tech etc. Book a free introductory call.
