This unit group includes workers who sell goods or services during home demonstrations or by telephone soliciting, retail exhibitions or street vending. They are employed by a wide range of retail and wholesale establishments, manufacturers, telemarketing companies and call centres, or they may be self-employed.
The following is a summary of main duties for some occupations in this unit group:
Telemarketers need the following skills and abilities:
Direct distributors, door-to-door salespersons, street vendors, telemarketers and demonstrators typically work both indoors and outdoors. Those selling door to door may walk long distances. Telemarketers work in an office or at home.
Other salespersons usually work irregular hours including evenings and weekends. Many are paid on a commission basis. Most work part-time (52%). Self-employment in these occupations is common (16%).
$18,800 per annum - starting
$25,100 per annum - average
$36,800 per annum - high
Earnings are reviewed annually or more frequently if new information becomes available.
Telemarketers may begin as part-time workers with little or no experience.
Progression to related supervisory jobs is possible with experience and training.
Telemarketers acquire sales skills which may be used in various other sales occupations.
Employment prospects for direct distributors, door-to-door salespersons, street vendors, telemarketers and demonstrators are expected to be good in the period 2010 2014 for casual and part time positions. Employment in Manitoba in 2010 is estimated at 1,765.
Telemarketers account for the largest proportion of this occupational group. Technology has made telephone marketing attractive as it is being used to study consumer patterns to identify high potential market segments for telemarketing initiatives. However, many call centres operate on a contract basis and cannot compete with operations off shore where the labour supply is more readily available and labour costs are lower.
Turnover in the elemental sales occupations is fairly high due to relatively low pay and the preponderance of shift and part time work, resulting in fairly frequent openings for new entrants. Individuals with previous sales experience, an area of technical expertise or bilingual language skills will have the best average employment prospects.
A proportionally larger share of jobs in this occupational group are located in Winnipeg. Across industries, employment for other elemental sales occupations is concentrated in Retail Trade (33%), Professional, follwed by Administrative and Support Services (32%) and Scientific and Technical Services (13%).
Employment by Region |
This Occupation | All Occupations |
| North | 0% | 5% |
| Parklands | 2% | 3% |
| Interlake | 7% | 8% |
| Winnipeg | 70% | 58% |
| North Central | 1% | 4% |
| Southwest | 11% | 9% |
| South Central | 3% | 5% |
| Southeast | 6% | 8% |
Employment by Gender |
This Occupation | All Occupations |
| Males | 34% | 53% |
| Females | 65% | 47% |
| This Occupation | All Occupations | |
Employment by Aboriginal Self-Identification |
7% | 10% |
| This Occupation | All Occupations | |
Employment by Visible Minority |
0% | 0% |
Please Note - The source for above charts is the 2006 Census.