ON A recent TV documentary, a young job seeker said she would not consider a sales job as she believed she would not learn anything from it.

A business cannot survive without sales. A company with staff, whether front end or back end, who do not have customers in mind will be in trouble.

The managing director of clothing giant Uniqlo has himself stood at the doors of its newly opened store in Tampines 1 to greet and apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused by the large crowd.

There are many things to learn in sales, especially the four Ps: product mix, pricing, promotion and place.

A sales assistant can choose to just stand at the cash register or use the time to learn the tricks of survival in the business.

Many successful retailers picked up their business acumen from work exposure in the front line.

Home-grown retailer Charles Wong of Charles & Keith picked up business skills when helping out at his parents' neighbourhood shop. From selecting raw materials to attending to shoppers, he learnt about the range of shoe designs in the market, as well as how to serve customers.

Do not forget the exposure of working with people from various backgrounds, such as co-workers, bosses, suppliers or customers. Meeting real people with

real-life struggles and concerns will allow you to be street smart and pick up people skills, especially empathy. If you aim to be at the top, you must be able to relate to people.

Depending on how you look at it, front-line training can make a lot of difference in your career.

Koh Chern Peng (Mdm)

This article was first published in The Straits Times.