Matt Ryder ranks ten industries for sales earnings, from retail (worst) to insurance (best). He names Ryan Serhant and Fredrik Eklund as top real-estate earners, and says insurance can generate $300-400k monthly for top performers because it's recession-proof and requires relatively low skill.
I'm gonna be breaking down the top 10 best industries to sell in. So the absolute worst thing to sell in is retail. Retail takes tons of time. It also doesn't teach you much. Number 9, door-to-door lower ticket stuff. The time that it takes you to build up the money is really long. Number 8, telco in-store consumer sales. It's sort of retail plus, but you can make a lot more money. Number 7 might be surprising. It's car sales. If someone's selling the same car for cheaper, like they're not gonna buy it off you. The next one is real estate leasing. You still have to do all of the same things as selling, but you get very few of the Now these are the last 5. These are what I consider to be the best opportunities for you to get into sales and are basically kind of bulletproof industries. So real estate sales. I don't think there's any salespeople that actually make more money than extremely successful top 0.1% real estate agents. Like you take someone like a Ryan Serhant or a Frederick Eklund. It is best for people who are great at networking and get their social energy from going out there. Now the next one is SaaS. It is not a skill-based position. It is a professionalism-based position and it is pure relentless outbound opportunity And so the best people in SaaS are people that are super organized and professional. Number 2 is high ticket. So I think that it's a fantastic option for people who want the high ceiling, don't mind the low floor, and it is the most transferable. If you are very, very good at high ticket, you can basically crush it in any industry. Now, the number 1, the best industry to get into is insurance. It is 100% recession-proof. Everybody needs insurance all the time. The skill required to do it is not very high. I know people personally who make $300,000, $400,000 a month selling insurance. Selling that kind of stuff. It's best for people who like working hard and who want to develop a long-term skill set. That's why I think going in 2026 is probably the best opportunity.
