- customer service skills
- the ability to work well with others
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- sensitivity and understanding
- the ability to use your initiative
- excellent verbal communication skills
- the ability to sell products and services
- persuading and negotiating skills
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
Your day-to-day duties might include:
- serving customers – taking payment, giving advice, answering enquiries and ordering in books
- stock control – assessing the market and ordering new stock
- admin tasks – accounting, distributing orders, arranging deliveries and dealing with returns
You could work at a store.
Your working environment may be physically demanding.
With financial backing and a lot of experience, you could open your own bookshop.
You could also work from home as a book dealer, or set up an online bookshop.
You can find more advice about bookselling and setting up your own business through the Booksellers Association.
