Pet Product Sales Representative Career Profile
- Career Name - Pet Product Sales Representative
- Category - Business
- Skills Required - Life skills 40% - Career skills 60%
- Basic School Subjects - Language, Business Studies, Biology
- Minimum Required Education - High School
- Species Worked With - Cats, Dogs, Critters, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians, Insects, Arachnids
- Kind of Interaction with Animals - Indirect
Do you want to work as a pet product sales representative?
- Read about the most important info you need to decide on following this career.
- Follow the 7 points below and search for a tertiary institution near you for future studies. If you already are graduated, you may also search through our list of Jobs in the main menu.
- If you want to PLAN the way you need to prepare, then join our community in step 8 where you will learn everything, while chatting with other potential reps and experts from around the world. Prepare to be amazed!
CAREER MENTOR
UPDATED:
21 June 2023
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What is a pet product sales representative?
A sales representative is a person who helps a company sell its products (or services) to interested buyers, Buyers may be individual consumers, or large retail businesses that stock products, such as a supermarket, or pet store, and then sell it to their customers.
This means that a pet product sales representative sells products made specifically for pets, on behalf of the manufacturer.
What they are NOT:
This specific career does not include the sale of medical products, pet food or farm animal products, which are discussed as separate careers:
- Animal Food Sales Representative
- Veterinary Pharmaceutical Sales Representative
- Farm Products Sales Representative
Alternative Names
The career may also be known as:
- Sales Agent
Career Category
The Pet Product Sales Representative career can be found within the following OZT career categories:
- Business
Staggering growth?
The sale of pet products has grown by almost 500% in the last 20 years alone!
Best sellers?
The pet product with the highest annual global sales is pet beds.
What does a Pet Product Sales Representative do?
Groups of animals a Pet Product Sales Representative works with
What is the level of Interaction with the Animals?
- Directly - A person works directly with the animals with some form of physical contact at least once every few days
- Indirectly - The career doesn't require direct or physical contact at all.
Sales Reps rarely work directly with pets, but they must have significant knowledge of the animals to try and sell the pet products to potetial buyers.
What does a Pet Product Sales Representative focus on?
The primary focus of pet product sales representatives is to sell pet related products. They tend to travel from the manufacturer to potential buyers to find out whether the buyer would be interested in buying the products.
Sales Representatives usually, but not necessarily always, sell products to retailers. The retailers will then sell the products to the public.
With who does a Pet Product Sales Representative work?
Pet Product Sales Representatives will need to interact with other people while doing their daily tasks. The people might include fellow staff members or the public.
Fellow staff might include:
- Supervisors/Managers
- Operational staff, such as Human Resources, Finance and Maintenance
What are the daily tasks of a Pet Product Sales Representative?
- Discuss brief with manufacturers
- Develop a sales plan
- Prepare daily route to sell or re-stock
- Feedback to manufacturers
- Administration and filing
Work conditions of a Pet Product Sales Representative
Where does a Pet Product Sales Representative work?
Environment –
Pet product sales representatives work mostly indoors, driving to new prospects, or selling products. They will also do their daily administration within an office setup.
Places of Employment –
Pet product sales representatives may be employed by product manufacturers, whether they be large factories, or individuals producing handmade products. Some reps may work freelance, and sell per contract.
What is the average annual salary of a Pet Product Sales Representative
Sales reps may have monthly salaries, and in some cases also a percentage commission on the total sales for the month. On average the income per year is around $55,000. This will differ from country to country.
Can a Pet Product Sales Representative be promoted?
Promotion to senior levels is available in most animal careers. The levels of each promotion might differ from organization to organization, but generally are the following:
Intern -> Junior Sales Rep -> Senior Sales Rep -> Manager
What kind of difficulties can a Pet Product Sales Representative face?
The most difficult part is always to work with difficult customers. They may also work long hours and over weekends and holidays to reach targets. They may also need to travel extensively.
Future growth and Possibilities
As the pet product industry is growing significantly, so will the market for sales reps.
Which Skills are required by a Pet Product Sales Representative?
The skills required for a career as a pet product sales representative can be divided into two very important groups. The first is the group containing life skills, which are the core skills that are necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life. The second group is career skills, or the specific skills required to allow a person to enter and operate effectively within a specific career. Some or maybe even all of the life skills can assist in strengthening the career skills, and they might even be the same for specific careers.
Life Skills
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Effective communication
- Interpersonal relationship
Career Skills
- Good business knowledge
- Good customer service skills
- Good health and physical fitness
- Excellent computer literacy
Which Subjects must I have at School to help prepare for this career?
Business studies will be an excellent subject to have in High School to help you understand everything about a business, including sales.
Language will be extremely important, as selling products or services require excellent communication skills.
Although biology is not compulsory to enter this career, it will be useful as a way to understand the animals you will be working with.
The subjects you choose at school are important as they lay the foundation for further studies at college or university. While still at school, it’s also important to learn more about the animals you will work with, as well as gain some experience.
OZT has a list of various tertiary institutions where you can study further, after school. Each of these institutions also have their own Group page on OZT where you will find the exact subjects they require of you to have passed in school. Keep these requirements in mind, and discuss it with your school, guidance counselor and parents to ensure that you are prepared!
What will I need to Study to become a Pet Product Sales Representative?
Minimum Requirements
The minimum requirement to enter this career is a High School certificate, but most reps do study further towards a recognized College Diploma.
Study Focus
Major –
A good major in business, marketing or sales.
Short Courses –
There are thousands of good short courses in sales techniques.
Study Duration
The duration of a College and Diploma can be up to 3 years. Short Courses are usually between a few weeks and a year.
Possible Career Preparation Paths
If this is your dream career that you want to pursue, then it’s important to plan the way forward.
Why is planning important?
To ensure that you understand the requirements for your career, and that you are always prepared for the next step on the road towards your dream. A Preparation Path is like your road map to where you want to be.
Possible Paths:
Possible Combined Career Paths
It is possible to sometimes combine two or more related careers. This normally happens when you study and practice a specific main career, but the knowledge and experience gained also help you to have a paying hobby or secondary income career.
Possible Alternatives (there are a lot more):
Stepping Stone Career
Being a pet product sales representative can also be used as a stepping stone career. A stepping stone career is one which is used to help you get to another career, normally because the other career is too difficult to reach (sometimes due to things like high fees etc).
You can begin as an intern rep after basic short courses and expert guidance (maybe working under a mentor). The money made can then be used to pay for studies towards a promotion or another career, and the experience helps in gaining knowledge. One paying to help get to the other.
Some of the possible paths:
Training and apprenticeship
Even though it is important to study to get into some of the animal careers, most of the skills you will need as a sales rep will be acquired through practice. This means that you will learn how to perform some of the daily tasks by actually doing it a few times and learning the steps.
In some cases entry level positions require training sessions even before you are allowed to actually perform your job duties. These sessions are offered by the place of employment, after you have successfully applied.
Apprenticeship is also possible where you need to learn skills from a more senior rep or expert.
Join the Pet Product Sales Representatives Group in the OZT Community to learn more and even interact with the educational institutions that will help you secure your dream career!
Average level of education of all the people who enter the career
Licenses, Certificate, Registration and Professional Associations
Certain animal careers require some form of legal certification to prove that you can indeed do the work, and work with the necessary equipment.
Although not required by law, certifications may help workers establish their credentials and enhance their skills.
Learn more about requirements by joining OZT in the Community.
Professional Associations
None added yet
Where can I study further?
All of the above information will help you understand more about the Career, including the fact that there are different paths to take to reach it. But if you are almost done with High School (Grades 11 or 12), you also need to start thinking about further studies, and WHERE you will study.
See the List of Universities, Colleges and Online Training Academies who offer courses towards sales.
Do you want to Contribute?
Do you have information that you would like to contribute to this career?
Join the OZT community and chat Group
Join us as a special member and learn more about becoming a pet product sales representative.
Members of the Platform have special access to:
- Info on the best places where you can study (colleges, universities and online)
- Expertly designed advice to prepare you for the career, and links to places where you can gain valuable experience. For some career experience is necessary, otherwise you wont get the job!
- Top notch info on each of the different species you will work with
- Make friends around the world and share knowledge
- Compete and win points, badges, games, prizes and certificates. Be the best of the best, while you learn and prepare!
If you have decided on being a Pet Product Sales Representative, please click on the JOIN GROUP button. Members will be directed to the Group, while non-members will be assisted to register first.
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