Let's talk about sales

It seems IBD and trading gets a lot of interest on this site, but not many are interested in sales. I'm hoping to do a BB internship this summer, and am considering going for positions in sales or sales/trading or IBD.

A) What is sales like? What does the job involve? How are the hours? etc.

B) What is a typical career path in sales? Just stick around and try to build up a client book? Lateral over to HF?

C) Getting the job: What are the interviews like? How technical, for desks like cash equities, equity derivatives, FICC, etc. Would a lib arts major with basic finance/econ knowledge (enough for IBD, prob not enough for trading) be an appropriate fit for these roles?

 
Best Response

has similar hours to trading (something like 6:30am to 6:30 pm, give or a take a little depending on the desk). As an intern in S&T, you don't do anything. Mostly because, you aren't licensed to do anything. I spent most of my days, reading research, fetching coffee and 'sitting' with the senior ppl on the desks. You can only do that for so long.

Generally, i've seen a lot of ex-traders who moved into sales, especially after they've had families, etc. and didn't want to handle the stresses of trading anymore. Salespeople rarely move to trading, but it's happened before. For the first year or two, you learn all you can by sitting with research, and backing up all the other more senior people on your desk. Eventually if you are deemed competent enough, you will be given a small account from one of your mentors and then you will build from there. In the end, it seems as though it doesn't matter how big your client book is in terms of quantity, but if you have one or two clients who do huge trades every week/month/etc. that's all you really need.

Sales bonuses are generally 'commission' based.

Very easy for lib arts kids to get into the biz and through the interviews. I never had any super technical questions, but was definitely asked my thoughts on the market/the fed/currency issues/etc. Be prepared on current events and be able to talk about it. also be sure you know basic things about the yield curve and what not.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

HerSerendipity: How important would you say are social and communication skills? I interned on a sales desk this summer and found that a lot of the salespeople are incredibly good at coming up with trade ideas and providing research but lack social and communication skills. The buddy-type guys were the minority. Would you agree? It was definitely not what I expected.

 

the salespeople i worked with were definitely super outgoing and friendly. Maybe it depends on what desks you are on. I did a rotation through the summer, and found that some of the more intensive/stressful groups (like high yield) had people who were a little less friendly and a bit more pushy/abrasive than people say in FX or mortgages. Then again, some of the ex-traders I knew didn't win their business based on their shining personality, but rather were able to present succint, viable, and helpful information based on their vast knowledge of a product.

I say you'd definitely get a mix, but it doesn't hurt to be very good at both.

 

I am a salesmen on a Derivatives Desk for a bank in Toronto. I have been on the job for approx 1 year and had similar thoughts when applying as to the differences between sales and trading. I am def enjoying the sales side and learning much more technical aspects of the business than I had original thought. I have gained exposure to swaps, structured notes and various equity derivatives, and have had to model all trades along with the traders to ensure accuracy and a thorough understanding of the mechanics. I have found it to be very connected to the markets and enjoy the client side. Most of the salespeople on the desk get trade ideas from their clients, model them up and then tie off with a trader to ensure that they can handle the risk and are comfortable with the trade.

When you first start most of my day was spent listening on the phone and assisting the senior guys but as you prove yourself you are given as much responsibility as you can handle. There is a real mix of personalities ranging from the stereotypical talkative salesmen to the quiet technical type. Personality aside, real revenue generators seem to be the ones that understand their clients and the current market environment and can come up with timely trade ideas. At the end of the day the clients want to be treated well but they ultimately want to make/save money.

 

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