December 18th, 2007
What Are Your Thoughts On Salespeople?
I am a salesperson, I admire salespeople, and most of my close friends are sales people, so I took an interest in a survey by Development Dimensions International. The headline that caught my eye said something to the effect; sales people are a necessary evil. Comments used to describe sales people include; snake oil salesman, arrogant, pushy, won’t take no for an answer,( wait it gets better) below mediocre, leeches and rashes, ouch!!
I remember when I first entered sales, my mother said maybe someday you will be able to teach school and use your degree. Some people felt sorry for me because I was just a salesman.
I was under the mistaken impression that sales had become a respected profession among society. My friends and associate are hard working and professional. We are proud to be called salesman. We treat out customers with honor and respect and focus our efforts on total customer satisfaction.
The survey said, 46% of people would be ashamed to call themselves salesmen there is a documented mistrust for salesman in this society. Wow, what does that say for black salesmen? We have the stereotype of negativity as am image reinforced by media’s bias in reporting about black issues. Now add to it the mistrust of sales people and you will soon understand this is a dilemma for black sales professionals.
With all that as a back drop; please consider these questions and request as follows.
Why all the negativity towards salespeople? Can’t we just all get along?
What make a salesman of value?
How do you describe a bad salesman?
Do you have a time when a salesman went the extra mile to help you? Please describe.
How about a time when you felt a salesman misleads you or caused you problems.
This one is for salesmen, why are you in sales? Do you care about your clients?
At the end of the day aren’t we all salesman? Does the survey apply to all of us?
December 18th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
I think salespeople will always get a bad rap like lawyers. All you can do is practice your work in such a way that people begin to think that maybe “they all aren’t so bad”.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:17 am
I think the problem is we’ve all had a bad experience with a slick salesperson. Because that person lived up to the stereotype, we continue to lump all salespersons into that category.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:03 am
It sounds bad to you as you are in sales but having more than half of the people
not being ashamed if they had to call themselves a salesman is not that bad. How many professions do you think really get a good rating in this day of cynicism?
i like sales people to know about what they are selling, and to be willing to answer questions without an attitude.
Someone who tells you things which are not true in order to sell you something or acts like you are annoying them with your questions is not a good salesman. Someone who arms you with the facts a bout the product and also give you alternatives is a good salesman.
December 19th, 2007 at 5:15 am
Salesman are not a problem if they tell you correct features of any products or services.
But many salesman say 70% or so provide incorrect, false features of products just to sell the product and make few bucks. This is why people don’t like salesman.
Due to few all have to suffer.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
I am in sales myself, and I have gone from pursuing customers to having them pursue me by ADDING VALUE to their lives. By that I dont mean just selling your product and showing the customer how it could improve their lives, but by sharing with them your connections to help them accomplish things that could be unrelated to the transaction (i.e. while you were establishing rapport with your customer, you found out that s/he golfs but has a bad slice. You just sold widgets to a gold instructor. Hook em up!)
December 19th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Ebony, thanks for the comment.I agree with your logic to be our best. I wanted sales people and businessowners to thinks about what can we do to have customers see us as a valued team member and not someone to be avoided. If I was still leading a sales team,I would have my team discuss these findings as a method to have more insight to the customer.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Cooper,what you want are manners and value. I agree, it is no wonder that low level sales people can ruin the image of a profession. Often times they are not committed to sales, have little training and are not up to the task of building a brand value. In essence most of the so called sales people are order takers not sales people but there is still no excuse to be rude.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Demitriusrex, you have the sales approach of the times down. Care about your cilients and bring value. The lines are blurred between business and freetime, so why not make friends with your customers?
December 19th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
George, thanks for the shout out, the facts support your statement. A happy or satisfied customer may tell 3 people of their satisfaction. A unhappy or disatisfied tells 18. My numbers may be slighty off but you get the point
December 19th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Shayari, I agree,a salesman must understand their product as well as the needs of the customer
December 19th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
If you’re in sales you can’t care what people think. Sales is about learning how to handle rejection and peoples low opinion of sales people is a part of that. You go into sales to make money and because you enjoy talking to people. As for the 46% of the people who look down on sales, they only do so because they don’t realize how much money you can make doing it, and the invaluable skill you gain from it.
December 20th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Brandon, it is a high paying profession because of the value brought and the fact that most people can not succeed in sales.However many people think they can, thanks for commening
December 20th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
“We treat out customers with honor and respect and focus our efforts on total customer satisfaction.”
Umm, where are THESE salespeople?? heh
There’s a reason I came up with my #1 Rule: Never trust a commissioned salseman. And it ain’t becuase of any of the qualities you attribute to salespeople. It’s from decades of being “upsold”, lied to, scammed, promised gold and receiving tin, and generally being fed into the Great American Consumer Machine. From cable companies, to clothing, to cell phones, to medicine, there is no place you can turn these days without someone wanting to sell you something you don’t need. These salespeople are far less concerned with “total customer satisfaction” than they are with financing the next set of shiny rims for their sports cars or SUVs.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:36 am
I am working as a salesman too for a part-time job. It’s a stigma in my country that sales people is a low-paying job, and thats why people look at us differently instead.
December 26th, 2007 at 12:39 am
I find it hard to explain. But i classify salespeople into different categories. First there are the car salesman, who are willing to sell anything for the highest price for good commission so they are cunning. But then high up salespeople tend to be more honest. So its hard to say. My first explanation is cunning, but thats harsh on those sales people that are honest and successful at what they do.
December 28th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
kev John, I would rather trust a commisioned sales person than one on a fixed income. A commisioned sales person, has a vested interest in your satisfaction. I spent my career in sales and managing sales people,of complex medical equipment, even phd’s and md’s had to trust a commisioned salesperson so they would be an asset rather than a neccesary evil, and help the institution make a prudent purchase. I understand why you may become weary of being over sold. A true professional and successful salesman will be sure to provide you with a ROI, projection to prove the value. Rule number 1 should be to hold accountable a trust worthy salesman.Thans for the comment
December 28th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Altace, thanks for your insight, what country are you from, Sales can be the lowest paying easy or the highest paying hard job there is
December 28th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Andrew, I think you are correct if your comment means there are good and bad sales people and not all car salesmen are dishonest
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:26 am
I think all people are salesmen because they do sell. Doctors sell, lawyers sell, entrepreneur sell, clerics sell too! If you are a clerk or just a worker you are a salesman too: the time you negotiated your salary, the times you fight for your rights and for better working conditions you are selling! Even your kids are salesmen: when they demand you buy them a new toy (or something) they act like a pushy salesman and in the end, you purchase! People have to understand all these and not “attack” sales and salespeople (after all, they are salesman too even though they may not admit it).
January 4th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Kastas,your point is very valid.Thanks for the contribution
January 12th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I have seen may salesman coming to my office who don’t even have sufficient knowledge neither about the product nor about their company.
That is the reason i don’t meet every next salesman that comes to meet me.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Having worked in sales my self, I can understand why some people do not feel a lot of love towards salespeople. I believe it comes down the the salesperson but more on a greater and I believe more valid scale the organization. For example, working in sales was one of the worst work situations I have been in, this was because most of the people I worked with satisfy the characteristics that where described in the article. I felt a lot of malice towards my fellow colleagues because they just seemed like they will deceive their own mothers just to get a commission I didn’t stay long because to be honest I could not handle it. However I realized later that this really has little to do with the people but the organization. The company in question was the type that did not care what their employees did as long as they got the sales numbers and it could not be proven to be illegal. If you where the top sales person, you could get away with murder, literally. So the salespeople took this pressure and became selling machines, not really caring about customer satisfaction but more about getting that signature. I remember being reprimanded for spending too much time with a customer that had an issue with a product I had sold to him. That was my experience and I really did not want to go into sales again. However later on I now have a few good friends that are in sales and have actually interacted with a few people in the occupation and my views have changed. However, I still believe one needs to be weary and cautious when interacting with people that want to make money of you
February 8th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Delaice,it is a shame your experience with a sales job involved such a poor envirnorment. If you ever look at another sales position, check out the companies sales training and ethics. The sales people only concern about making a sale,may not care how they go about it. My concern, when I was a sales person, was to build a career and a reputation.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Aeron, your comment is one that I have encountered from order takers, you are wise to not spent time with sales people of no value
July 6th, 2008 at 12:29 am
One of my better friends is a very successful sales person for a Nationwide company.
I think that there are good (read:natural) and bad (read:unnatural and spammy) sales approaches, and with them come the particular sales people.
The sales people that are most natural, know when and how to close a sale, but do it without pressure, and make YOU create the choices and options are very succesful.