Commercial

The term "commercial" covers a wide range of professions, each with its own missions and responsibilities.

We can nevertheless identify several common titles that reflect the different facets of this field:

1. BtoB Salesperson (Business to Business): This type of salesperson specializes in selling products or services to other companies. They must have in-depth knowledge of the market and the needs of business customers, as well as strong negotiating skills.

These various titles are not exhaustive, and there are many other specializations within the sales profession. The diversity of missions and skills required makes this field a rich and stimulating career choice.

Main missions and objectives:

The commercial plays a crucial role in a company's success. He or she is the first point of contact for customers, and is responsible for building customer loyalty by offering products or services that meet their needs. His main missions are:

• Customer prospecting and retention: identify potential customers, contact and qualify them, meet with them to present the company's products or services, negotiate terms of sale and conclude contracts, ensure customer follow-up and respond to their requests.

• Sales intelligence: monitor market and competitive developments, identify new trends and opportunities, propose sales actions in line with market needs.

• Negotiation: negotiate prices, delivery times and payment terms with customers, finding win-win solutions for both parties.

• Reporting: draw up activity reports on sales results, analyze performance and identify areas for improvement.
  

Job profile: professional and personal skills required:

The commercial ideal is endowed with excellent interpersonal skills and a strong commercial spirit. They are also rigorous, organized and autonomous. They have solid negotiating and argumentation skills. He is able to adapt to different types of customers and understand their needs.

Professional skills:

• Sales and negotiation techniques

• Knowledge of the company's products or services

• Customer prospecting and loyalty

• Customer relationship management

• Reporting

• Negotiation

• Argumentation
  
  

Personal skills:

• Excellent interpersonal skills

• Business acumen

• Numbers culture

• Rigor

• Organization

• Autonomy

• Adaptability

• Listening ability

• Empathy
  
  
  

Training to become a salesperson:

There are several training courses to become a salesperson, from bac level to bac+5. The most common courses are BTS NDRC (Negotiation and Customer Relations), DUT GEA (Business and Administration Management) and professional licenses in Commerce, Sales and Marketing.

Career developments and prospects:

The commercial can progress to sales manager, sales director or sales manager. They can also specialize in a particular field, such as international trade or digital marketing.

Proposed remuneration:

The salary of a salesperson in France is made up of two main elements:

• The fixed salary: This is a basic monthly remuneration guaranteed to the salesperson, regardless of sales performance. The amount of the fixed salary varies according to the factors mentioned above (type of salesperson, experience, business sector, company size and location).
• The variable portion: This is made up of commissions on sales achieved by the salesperson. The amount of commission generally depends on the percentage of sales achieved by the salesperson and the company's profit margin. The variable portion can be very substantial, doubling or even tripling the fixed salary.

Average fixed salary by experience

• Junior (0 to 5 years' experience): Between 25,000 and 35,000 euros gross per year

• Confirmed (6 to 14 years' experience): Between 30,000 and 45,000 euros gross per year

• Senior (more than 20 years' experience): Between 40,000 and 60,000 euros gross per year

Examples of salaries with a fixed/variable split

Here are some examples of average annual gross salaries for a salesperson in France, with an approximate fixed/variable split:

• Junior sales representative: €28,000 gross (€16,800 fixed + €11,200 variable)

• Senior itinerant sales representative: €42,000 gross (€23,100 fixed + €18,900 variable)

• Senior sales engineer: €55,000 gross (€27,500 fixed + €27,500 variable)

• Experienced sales manager: €80,000 gross (€32,000 fixed + €48,000 variable)

It's important to note that these examples are averages and that the fixed/variable breakdown may vary from company to company. In addition, this information does not take into account fringe benefits that sales staff may receive, such as profit-sharing bonuses, performance bonuses, health insurance, transport vouchers, etc.

Trades related to the sales profession:

• Sales technician,

• Customer manager,

• Commercial negotiator,

• Sales manager,

• Sales engineer,