Wow... this is a much MUCH bigger question than you think it is. My answer will be obviously extremely incomplete. Sales was my first profession. I was good at

Wow... this is a much MUCH bigger question than you think it is. My answer will be obviously extremely incomplete. Sales was my first profession. I was good at my work. After a decade, I decided I wanted a change of pace and moved into programming. I very much miss selling and will probably go back someday. I got my start as a concert promoter selling concert tickets for my friends bands. I eventually tried most of the major categories of sales: SMB, Enterprise, Retail, Door to door, Patent sales, etc but ended up preferring mostly retail and SMB because the sales cycles were quicker and it made the job a little more fun. Enterprise tends to be the best paid, but much slower and often feels more like project management than a sales gig. --- To answer your question"sales" isn't just sales. There are many different types, approaches, techniques, skills, cultures, etc. If you are inclusive of any job performed by a "compliance professional" (Cialdini) or where there is a transaction involving two or more people, sales is the largest profession in the United States. If you are just looking to get started I'd recommend 1) To actually sell something 2) get reading the literature. As far as actually selling something: try reselling something at the farmers market, or go door to door and sell basic manual labor... those two things have high demand which you should be able to land a sale or two right away to get a vibe on a basic process. As far as literature here are a couple of classics: - Influence - the little red book of selling - SPIN selling - Secrets of closing the sale - The challenger sale - The presentation secrets of steve jobs (for presentation skills) - The rules of the game (neil strauss) - Nudge Once you get your feet under you go find a strong team with a great product and good leadership, or hang out with sales people and have them tell you stories. (sorry for the terrible and short answer)