Public Speaking

• A field representative must have excellent public speaking skills. A large part of his job will likely involve making presentations to clients and prospective clients, often in front of large groups. He must be able to give a good sales pitch to his audience, to try to convince them to purchase his company's product.
  
  

Confidence

• In order to gain new clients, a field representative will likely need to cold call prospects to get them to listen to his sales pitch. He will have to believe in his sales skills in order to gain the confidence to do this. Some clients will not be easy to win over at first and will take some work. A confident field representative will keep trying until he can close the deal, while someone without confidence will give up before gaining the business of the client.
  
  

Handing Rejection Well

• Rejection is a large part of a field representative's job. In order to gain one client, he must talk to 10. It can be very daunting to constantly be rejected by clients, especially those that are not particularly nice about it. If a field representative doesn't handle rejection well, he may become discouraged and overly cautious about continuing to call on prospective clients.
  
  

Comfortable With Frequent Travel

• Most, if not all, of a field representative's job will take place away from his company's office. He will frequently need to travel to meet with clients and prospective clients. The sales territories of a field representative vary; some only have clients in their home areas, while others may cover territories across the country. As a result, a field representative may need to be away from home for days, or even weeks at a time. This is something he must be comfortable with, or he will quickly learn to resent his job.