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If I want to be a copywriter, should I get a sales job first?

by G12863
9 replies
I'm a creative writing major but with no sales or copywriting program. I'm interested in shifting from my current job to copywriting. I'm aware most people can do freelance and learn copywriting from books and practice. But I really want a new job, so I'm wondering if getting a sales job while learning copywriting on the side would be the best way to do it? If so, would any sales job do? Are there companies that provide better sales training than others? I heard of the Xerox sales training program from Robert Kiyosaki, but don't know if there are programs like that anymore. Any suggestions?
#copywriter #job #sales
  • Profile picture of the author Dantplayer
    Or you could test.

    I learned most of my copywriting by taking headlines, bullets and key phrases from other peoples' copy, repurposing them in my business and then split testing them.

    Once you find something that works, or a style that works you tend to stick with it and not want to change it. It's just a question of finding what works, and for that you need to test it in your business.

    But yeah, a sales job could help too... nice thing about writing copy is you don't have to deal with the rejection face to face
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
      You don't need a sales job to learn and become good at copywriting.

      Face-to-face selling is learned.

      Writing copy is learned.

      Either can be learned totally independent of the other. And excelled at.

      Alex
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  • Profile picture of the author G12863
    So when we say sales, can we be more specific? There are the sales associate at retail stores, telemarketing, canvassing, real estate, sales office job like Dunder Mifflin from The Office. I know these are all considered sales, but those examples above all depend on what you sell? Which kind would be the best for copywriting? Or if i dont want to work retail, i should scout the sales section in larger companies? Sorry if that sounds like a dumb question or doesn't make sense. I'd be happy to try and clarify.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by G12863 View Post

      So when we say sales, can we be more specific? There are the sales associate at retail stores, telemarketing, canvassing, real estate, sales office job like Dunder Mifflin from The Office. I know these are all considered sales, but those examples above all depend on what you sell? Which kind would be the best for copywriting? Or if i dont want to work retail, i should scout the sales section in larger companies? Sorry if that sounds like a dumb question or doesn't make sense. I'd be happy to try and clarify.
      My opinion is that phone sales is the closest you can come to copywriting, in the sales arena. If you need money until you can actually sell copywriting (or use it to sell your own products) , than I recommend phone sales.

      But like Alex said, you can learn copywriting without a sales job. You just need to study what works, and try to figure out why it works..

      Would you think you would need to learn copywriting before you got a sales job? See? the skills are complimentary, but not dependent on each other ...again, just an opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Cook
    Throw "If I want to do this, should I do that first?" out the window, forever.

    It's both at the same time, or only the one you want.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Mcalorum
    Its pretty easy actually.

    Start reading sales letters EVERY DAMN DAY.
    (in niches that you are interested in)

    Then, find the all time best of the best
    and write out those sales letters by hand.
    Do about a dozen of those, then start to
    test yourself. Start "mirroring" and see
    what you come up with.

    Either or, it will take some good effort
    but then you will be well on your way.

    Practice makes perfect
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  • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Farthing
    Like Alex said, copywriting and sales are different skills. Of course, they do overlap, so learning sales can help improve your copywriting.

    I studied writing in college, and worked a few retail sales job part time for pizza money. I learned a lot about how to get people's attention, and how to get the "yes."

    It worked great for me.

    On the other hand, I could have set up shop as a copywriter and focused on directly improving my copywriting skills.

    I'm not sure if you're still in college. But if you're already out and looking for work, I'd say dive right into what you want to do. If that's copywriting, go straight into it. Every lesson you learn from sales can be learned while actually copywriitng.
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  • Profile picture of the author jgrink
    Steps To Selling A Car

    1. Meet & Greet--build rapport, get them to like and (maybe) trust you.
    2. Qualify--What do you want? What's important to you? What problem do you want to solve?
    3. Presentation--Here are the features...these are the associated benefits.
    4. Demonstration--This is what it feels like to experience the product. Do you have questions or concerns about it? (Answer objections)
    5. Write-up--This is how much it costs for all these physical/emotional goodies.
    6. Close--Just sign here and it's yours.
    7 Delivery--Here's your product.

    I've heard this process described about 6 thousand times over a career as a car salesman, and it pretty much applies to selling anything in person. I'll let you decide how much of it applies to selling in print, and how much selling "stuff" can benefit your copywriting career.

    (There are certainly parallels; did you know that you share 90+ % of your DNA with a gorilla?)
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