When most people look for work abroad, they don’t usually think about getting sales jobs. Remote work has become the new norm because of Covid, whereas 10 years ago, the most sought-after jobs for foreigners were teaching English as a Second Language. Finding work quickly after moving abroad is not only important to help pay the bills, it is also an integral part of the cultural assimilation process. Having a career that you love will help build your self-esteem in your host country, and help you feel like you belong.
It’s important to note that opportunities for working in remote sales positions are HIGH, and not just for English natives. Speakers of most languages are in demand, and the pay (basic salary plus performance-based commission schemes) is good – certainly better than teaching in most cases.
Getting a sales job can even be possible if you have little to no experience, since on-the-job training is often offered. However, keeping a sales job will require you to up-level your skill-set, and that means working on building your cold calling expertise.
Learning how to get comfortable picking up the phone and talking to strangers is not what most people see themselves doing as they travel. And yet, getting good at cold calling is not only the gateway to creating a successful vocation, it will also radically improve your life abroad.
Here’s how.
An Opportunity for Growth
It is a fact that any time we feel uncomfortable doing something new, we are growing. Think about it; when you are pushing yourself to the limits of your current comfort zone, you expand. Your knowledge about that new topic increases, as does your ability to carry out new tasks. That’s growth!
Cold calling is different each time you dial out, which means you have to think on your feet and embrace the variety that comes your way. While most people are fearful because they cannot predict the outcome of each call, it can also be the source of excitement! Shifting your perspective around cold calling will enable you to build self-esteem; when you live in your calm center regardless of what happens on each call, you will be confidently rooted in your own sense of self-worth, and can handle anything that comes your way.
Jump-Start Your Career
Having a sales job is literally the best thing you can do to jump-start your career because, once you get good at it, you can do anything. In fact, many entrepreneurs start their careers by working in sales. For example, multi-billionaire entrepreneur, Sarah Blakely (the founder of Spanx), started out cold calling and selling fax machines door-to-door. When it came time for her product launch, she tapped into those skills when securing her first distributors.
Most company CEO’s have hands-on sales experience because it takes people skills to run a business. So, having a background in sales is a sure-fire way to put you on the fast-track to career success.
Meet New People Easily
Have you ever been to a party where you didn’t know anyone, and you felt terribly awkward? You will NEVER be afraid to approach people you don’t know if you get good at cold calling! It could even make you the life of the party! Cold calling will give you tons of stories to share with new friends, and will give you the self-assurance you need to engage people in conversations. You will never fear introducing yourself ever again.
Become a Great Listener
People believe that cold calling means doing all the talking, but nothing could be further from the truth. When you get really good at cold calling, in fact, you only need to prompt your prospect by asking a couple of pertinent open-ended questions, and then sit back and listen.
When you engage in active listening, you will be able to learn about your prospects and ask follow-up questions accordingly. Having a naturally flowing conversation (instead of reading a prepared script) will humanize the exchange, and give you a better outcome. This is a skill-set that you can then apply to all of your relationships.
When we live abroad, learn a new language, and immerse ourselves in a new culture, being the observer and listening to other people is essential in order to learn social codes and norms. And, most people are particularly bad at it!
Practicing this in any work context will enable you to become a great listener and will help you learn tons of new things about the people you are conversing with.
Be Authentic
Cold calling is a vulnerable act. Think about it: you are putting yourself out there to talk to people you don’t know, and you have no idea how they are going to react to you. That takes guts. Embracing that vulnerability is a strength, and each time we do it from the heart, it makes us more authentic.
Brené Brown, author of the bestselling book, Daring Greatly, says that it is when we allow our true, most authentic, best selves to shine, and we take off the mask we all hide behind, that is when we create true connections with other people, which is what we all live for.
The practice of cold calling, like meditation, helps you to get in touch with your authenticity over and over again. This repetition increases your resilience, which means you’ll have less resistance to it when it comes to your personal life.
New Experiences are Always Good
Living and working abroad aren’t always easy. There are ups and downs along the way, but having steady, stable work could make the process much easier. Exploring remote sales jobs may not have been something you thought was for you, but there’s no way to tell whether you like something before giving it a try.
It’s important to remember that cold calling is a skill-set and it can be learned. Just as it takes time to learn how to ride a bicycle, cold calling takes time to get good at. But once you get the skills you need to become great at sales, those skills will help you significantly improve the quality of your life by opening up the door to tons of new opportunities you didn’t even know existed before. Your life abroad will never be the same!
About Liz
Liz is the Chief Operating Officer of MediaDev, a global software marketing firm. She has over 25 years’ experience in B2B marketing for the tech industry, enabling her clients to create multi-million dollar sales pipelines and close business deals worth upwards of $80 Million USD.
She has taught Master’s degree level leadership and marketing courses at prominent French Universities, and has published hundreds of articles in industry publications. After creating an extensive Resource Library geared to support software marketers to learn lead generation best practices, she launched a podcast where she interviews other industry experts about marketing trends. She showcases her thought leadership in a complete online Masterclass to help as many people succeed as possible, and now she has self-published Tune in & Dial Out, a complete guide about how to win at B2B cold calling.
