Telesale Executive

A telesales executive sells products or services over the phone (and increasingly by email, LinkedIn and video call) to businesses or consumers. You work from a list of prospects or inbound enquiries, explain what you're selling, handle objections and either close the sale yourself or book a meeting for a more senior salesperson. Most roles sit in a sales team with a monthly target, in sectors like recruitment, software, telecoms, insurance, media advertising, utilities and business supplies.

Starting salary: £22k–£28k
Live graduate jobs: Search all jobs
Main way in: Direct application is by far the most common route
They usually ask for: A degree is frequently not required at all

Approximate graduate salary

Basic salaries typically start somewhere around £22,000–£28,000, with on-target earnings (basic plus commission if you hit target) often quoted in the region of £28,000–£40,000. These are rough approximations and vary a great deal by sector, location and commission structure - business software and recruitment tend to pay more than consumer telesales, and London roles more than regional ones. Always check whether an advertised figure is basic or on-target earnings.

What you'd actually do

Making a high volume of outbound calls from a CRM system (customer relationship management software - the database that holds every contact, call note and deal) and logging the outcome of each one
Working through prospect lists: researching who the right person is to speak to, finding direct numbers, and getting past gatekeepers such as receptionists and PAs
Running short discovery conversations - asking what the customer currently uses, what it costs them and what's going wrong - before pitching anything
Handling objections on the spot ('we already have a supplier', 'send me an email', 'no budget') and either closing, booking a follow-up or passing a qualified lead to a field sales or account management colleague

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Sending follow-up emails, quotes and proposals, then chasing them until you get a yes or a no
Checking your numbers against target - calls made, conversations had, demos booked, revenue closed - usually on a daily or weekly dashboard
Attending a morning team meeting or 'stand-up', plus regular coaching sessions where a manager listens back to recorded calls with you

How graduates get in

Direct application is by far the most common route. Telesales roles are advertised constantly, hire year-round rather than in annual cycles, and often interview within days rather than months.
Graduate sales schemes at larger companies, particularly in software, telecoms and media. These usually badge the role as SDR or BDR (sales development representative / business development representative) rather than 'telesales', but the first six to twelve months are essentially the same work.
Moving across from retail, hospitality, call centre or customer service work - very common and often valued more by sales managers than a specific degree.
Recruitment agencies that specialise in sales placement, which fill a large share of these vacancies and will put you forward to multiple employers at once.

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Internal moves from a customer service or inbound enquiries team into the outbound sales team - a well-trodden path within the same employer.
Internships or placement years in sales, marketing or recruitment help but are not expected; most employers hire on attitude and a decent phone manner at interview.

What employers ask for

A degree is frequently not required at all - many telesales roles ask only for GCSEs or A-levels. Where graduates are specifically sought, the subject almost never matters; employers care about how you come across on a call.
No minimum degree classification in most cases. Structured graduate sales schemes at bigger firms may ask for a 2:2 or 2:1, but plenty of employers don't filter on grades.
Evidence that you can handle rejection and keep going - part-time jobs, charity fundraising, sports, anything competitive or target-driven is relevant and worth putting on your CV.
Clear, confident spoken English and comfort with being on the phone for most of the working day. Many employers test this with a phone interview or a role-play before anything else.

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Basic computer literacy - you'll live in a CRM and a mailbox. Prior experience of a specific CRM is a bonus, not a requirement.
In regulated sectors such as insurance, mortgages, pensions or energy, you may need to complete compliance training or an FCA-related qualification after you start, and employers will run background or credit checks. This applies to a minority of telesales roles, not most of them.

Skills that matter

Resilience to rejection

The large majority of calls end in a no, a hang-up or a voicemail, and you have to dial the next number with the same energy.

Questioning and listening

The salespeople who hit target ask what the customer's actual problem is rather than reciting a script, which means genuinely hearing the answer and adapting.

Objection handling

Most sales are lost at the first brush-off, so being able to respond to 'we're happy with our current supplier' without arguing or giving up is the core technical skill of the job.

Self-organisation and pipeline discipline

You may juggle dozens of live conversations at different stages, and deals die mostly because nobody followed up when they said they would.

Comfort with being measured

Your call volume, conversion and revenue are visible to your manager and often the whole team, and you need to treat that as information rather than a judgement.

Quick product learning

You have to explain a product or service accurately enough to answer unscripted questions from someone who knows their own industry far better than you do.

Putting these on a CV? We counted which skills 12,914 live graduate adverts ask for, and what to do with the answer — part of our application advice.

Where it leads

Telesales executive / SDR, typically for around six to eighteen months, where you're judged mainly on activity and on qualified leads or small deals.
Account executive or field sales - you own the full sales cycle including meetings, demos and negotiation, with larger deals and higher commission. Some people reach this in a year, others take longer; it depends heavily on performance and on whether the employer has openings.
Account manager or client relationship role, looking after existing customers, renewals and upselling rather than cold prospecting. This suits people who prefer depth over volume.
Team leader then sales manager, coaching a group of callers, setting targets and reporting on team performance. The step into management is the most common route to a meaningful pay rise beyond commission.
Longer term, routes branch into sales operations, revenue or commercial management, enablement and training, or a sideways move into recruitment, marketing or customer success. Telesales is also a frequent starting point for people who later run their own business, because you learn pricing, objection handling and pipeline management early. Timelines here vary enormously and depend far more on results than on years served.

What people get wrong

“It's all reading a script to random strangers.”

Consumer cold-calling is only one version. A large share of telesales is business-to-business, where you research a company first, speak to a named decision-maker and have a genuine commercial conversation. Scripts are usually a starting framework that you're expected to move beyond.

“It's a dead-end job you take if nothing else works out.”

It is one of the most reliable entry points into commercial careers in the UK. Senior salespeople, sales directors and a lot of founders started on a phone, and the skills - pipeline management, negotiation, handling a no - transfer widely.

“You need to be a loud, pushy extrovert.”

Pushiness tends to lose deals. The consistently strong performers are often methodical and quietly persistent: they prepare, they ask better questions and they follow up reliably. Being organised beats being charismatic over a full quarter.

“The commission means you'll earn a lot straight away.”

Commission is usually only earned above a threshold, can take a month or more to land after the sale, and may be clawed back if a customer cancels. In your first few months you should plan around the basic salary alone, and ask at interview exactly how the scheme works and what a typical person in the team actually earns.

Where this varies

The job differs sharply depending on who you're selling to. In business-to-business telesales (software, recruitment, media, business services) deal sizes are larger, you may make fewer but longer calls, and the role is often a deliberate training ground for a more senior sales job. In business-to-consumer telesales (energy, insurance, telecoms, charity) call volumes are higher, calls are shorter and more scripted, and regulatory rules on what you can say are tighter. Some roles are purely inbound - responding to enquiries from people who already want to buy - which is a very different experience from cold outbound. Culture varies too: some teams run leaderboards, bells and daily targets, others are quieter and more consultative. Hybrid and fully remote telesales exists but office-based is still common, because employers value the coaching and overhearing that happens on a sales floor.

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General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.