Question

Topic: Career/Training

How Can I Break Into Brand Mgmt As A Sales Prof.?

Posted by Anonymous on 4/27/2008 at 2:17 AM ET 250 Points
How can I break into brand management as a sales professional?

I have been a successful real estate agent for the past 5 years and believe that I have branded my services effectively among my customers during this time. I have even trained new agents how to make money in the commission only atmosphere of real estate with success as well.

However, I feel that I have plateaued in my current career and have taken an interest in the brand management of consumer products...mainly cosmetics and beauty products. I have been submitting my resume through job search engines such as Monster.Com and Indeed.Com. I have also sent my resume as email submissions to companies directly for which I have an interest in working with for assistant brand manager positions, marketing assistant positions, even administrative assistant positions within brand management firms in my city (New York) with no response for months.

I'd like to know if it is possible to transition into brand management from a sales background that also includes experience in graphic art and fashion (real estate is not my first business) combined with a BA from an ivy league university. If so, how would you go about getting your foot in the door of brand management considering my briefly outlined qualifications?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 4/27/2008 at 2:43 PM Accepted
    I perked up when you mentioned your experience other than real estate.

    You are probably awre RE is associated with non-professionals and who often have a lack of ethics.

    You are selling a non-tangible product (you). Consumer sales is a different tangible animal.

    I would tweak your resume to highlight your other experiences and position yourself using appropriate key words (by the way, place key words in your resume from the employer's job description. Often a computer software program searches for a specific number of these words and this is why your resume ends up in the trash).
    I would deemphasie the RE sales portion. I would emphasize your RE branding portion etc.

    Get some experience in sales at a consumer goods company. Preferably Fortune 500. This is the most common avenue into Brand Management. Then use a headhunter.

    The other idea is to use your RE experience and work for a Real Estate related firm. There are numereous online RE websites, RE co's etc.
  • Posted by Susan Oakes on 4/28/2008 at 3:26 AM Accepted
    You may want to consider looking at companies that have career paths from sales into marketing. This may mean you start off in sales for a year or so but both you and the company would know the career you are wanting.

    Have you approached any recruiters who could assist you with your career path? This may be a little more difficult but there are probably some out there who could guide you. As a tip, look for an experienced recruiter in the industry who just doesn't use a database to fill jobs.

    Best of luck
    Susan
    M4B Marketing Software
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