How To Make More Than a Doctor’s Salary by Mastering the Art of Sales

Anyone can earn a salary higher than a doctor, lawyer, or executive by learning to master the art of sales.

In this post, I’m going to show you why sales is one of the best models for earning a high income.

We’ll explore how working in sales combines the benefits of entrepreneurship and employment, turning them into a single source of revenue.

I’ll also teach you how to develop sales skills and what industries offer high incomes—often with unlimited potential. 

If you’ve been wondering, how much do sales reps make, anyway? The truth is…

You can earn multi-six figures by mastering the art of sales

Most jobs have an income that is tied to the amount of hours you work. You have a set hourly rate or salary, and you can only increase your income by working more hours or requesting a raise. In that sense, you have a ceiling to the amount of income you can make in a typical job.

When it comes to sales, your income is tied to your performance. In most sales organizations, you’re given a percentage of all the revenue you generate from your sales. 

This means: If you acquire more leads than your coworkers and convert more of those leads into sales, you will make more money.

In many cases, you can earn a multi-six-figure (sometimes seven-figure) revenue if you go into the right sales vertical. Several industries offer exceptional earning potential:

• Enterprise account sales
• High-ticket real estate and commercial sales
• Medical device sales (think cosmetic surgery)

These industries have pools of potential prospects with:

• Deep pockets
• Willingness to pay substantial money to get problems solved
• Receptiveness to solutions that can help them

You get the sense of stability that comes with employment because you don’t personally have to fulfill the delivery of the product or service itself. 

This means you can focus all your time on selling and then be done with the transaction—you just collect the cash.

There are a number of high-income sales jobs; the table below will give you an idea of earning potential.

All salary data was sourced from Glassdoor. Additional pay includes cash bonuses, commissions, tips, and profit sharing.

The upside of entrepreneurship (with none of the downside)

If you own a business, you are directly responsible for the revenue. If the revenue goes down, you can be forced out of business, or you may have to cut staff. The risks, debt, and obligations (to staff, clients, etc.) is on your shoulders.

As a salesperson, if your company goes under, you can find a new role. 

One that is devoid of the risks and responsibilities of entrepreneurship but, at the same time, still reaps entrepreneurial rewards, such as:

• Earning money based on skill, not time
• High income potential
• Freedom, flexibility, and autonomy 
• Ability to drive massive profits (without business overhead)

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How to develop sales skills

The key to developing sales skills isn’t reading sales books, watching YouTube videos, or listening to podcasts—it’s selling products in the real world. 

Let’s break down the steps to becoming a skilled salesperson.

Step 1: Find a sales organization

Many sales organizations are looking for representatives:

How to find sales opportunities

1. Start searching on Google for sales positions
2. Look on social media platforms for people promoting sales jobs
3. Find websites of sales organizations looking for new hires
4. Apply to positions with performance-based compensation

When you’re newer and have less experience, companies have less trust in your ability to get results. 

Focus on roles that are mostly performance-based, where the incentives are aligned. 

You have to prove your competence to be compensated, which means there isn’t much risk to taking you on.

Step 2: Master your product knowledge and sales process

To excel in your sales role:

• Understand the product’s benefits and features
• Learn about cutting-edge technologies used
• Research what separates your product in the market
• Study competitors and market positioning
• Talk to current customers for feedback
• Review case studies and testimonials
• Understand before/after transformations
• Get feedback from the organization on client results

One of the best methods that sales trainers use is showing case studies, testimonials, and glowing reviews from current clients. 

This helps inspire conviction and belief in the product itself, which increases your ability to sell. 

When you have more conviction in the product than your prospect because you’ve seen how well it works, your close rate will spike like a graph for a stock market bubble.

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Step 3: Take massive action

The key to success is taking as many sales calls as possible. 

Alex Hormozi tells the story of a young guy on his team who was inexperienced and much younger than everyone else. He took him on a performance basis and taught him that everything is a win:

• When you close, it’s a win
• When you don’t close, it’s a win because you learn something new
• If you make a mistake, it’s a lesson for future calls
• If you experience setbacks, you develop your mentality and discipline

Hormozi himself did 4,000 closes, which means he took way more than 4,000 sales calls. 

He didn’t even read a sales book until after he had closed countless deals, learning mostly from direct experience, trial and error, and stepping into the arena with prospects.

How to master the art of sales as fast as possible

Combine in-the-field sales experience with continuous education:

In your spare time:

• Read books on sales techniques
• Study closing strategies
• Learn about persuasion and marketing
• Consume information through podcasts and audiobooks
• Review your call recordings
• Take notes on areas for improvement
• Track your metrics and progress

Optional Step 4: Use your sales skills to launch your own business

Sales prepares you for future business success if you want to pursue that path down the road. 

The skills you develop selling for others become your secret weapon if you decide to launch your venture.

You gain intimate knowledge of business metrics:

• Lifetime Value (LTV) of customers
• Cost to acquire customers
• Call-to-close ratio
• Cash collected per close
• Call booking rate
• Lead conversion metrics

Backend offer mechanics

When you’re selling for an organization, you begin to understand how backend offers work. This knowledge is crucial because it helps you:

• Understand the complete customer journey
• Recognize upsell opportunities
• Structure offers for maximum value
• Design sales funnels
• Create profitable business models

Team building and leadership

As you thrive in your sales role, you’ll get the chance to:

• Train new sales reps
• Lead sales teams
• Develop training programs
• Create sales scripts and processes
• Build and manage your own sales department

These experiences give you the tools to eventually build and train a sales team for your own business, allowing you to remove yourself from the direct selling process and build a business that’s built to scale.

Systems and processes

Working in sales teaches you how to:

• Create repeatable sales processes
• Develop a system for reliability acquiring leads
• Follow up with prospects
• Structure deals for higher cash collected in the front end
• Implement tracking and measurement systems that you can use in your own back-end offer

These systems-building skills will help you make the transition from contractor to owner.

Market research and customer understanding

Daily interaction with prospects and customers gives you insights into:

• Customer psychology
• Common objections and concerns
• Market demands and trends
• Competitor positioning
• Price sensitivity
• Decision-making factors

This deep market understanding becomes a competitive advantage whether you’re selling for others or eventually launching your product or services.