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Pretty much everyone hates salespeople, right? It's practically a dirty word, a job you do if there isn't any other work and certainly one not approached with pride. Salespeople are pushy and annoying, call at inconvenient times, will say anything to make a sale and rarely follow through. Life would just be better without salespeople interrupting everyones day.
In the real world there are good and bad salespeople. For every fly-by-night salesperson squeezing out a deal there is another responsible individual who stands by his customers and product knowing that repeat business is much easier to come by than new business.
This post isn't about that though.
This post is about all the other people employed as a direct result of sales.
I work for a major equipment manufacturer and sell business to business. I require a car (Mechanics) and computer (IT Support) loaded with software (Software Designers) to carry out my job. When I make a sale I have to get it financed (Financial Analyst), the order goes to an Order Processor who passes it along for approval to a Supervisor who then sends it to an Oracle Database Manager(never mind all the people at Oracle who are employed because my company manages sales this way).
The order then goes to the warehouse where is it handled by Fulfillment, prepped by on site Engineers, and the shipping order sent to Dispatch. The equipment is then delivered by Truckers and installed onsite by Technicians and Systems Analysts. The Technicians service the equipment and are backed up by Customer Service and Billing as well as the Sales force (as the face of the company). Staffing in the company is handled by Human Resources.
The equipment itself was designed by Design Engineers, Electronics Engineers, Chemical Engineers and others, focus tested by Production Managers and Marketing, manufactured in a factory overseen by Environmental Engineers by Factory Workers. Parts are sourced by Buyers, tested by Quality Control and rules overseen by Lawyers and Managers.
All employed because of Sales.
A product may be the best thing in the universe - a real game changer - but in a world swimming with information nobody will ever know about it, let alone buy it if there isn't someone out there getting the word out.
Cool job in Advertising - someone has to sell the service to a customer. Radio DJ - Advertising Sales raises the money to run the station Nurse - Hospital is a business, someone is selling the advantages of that hospital over another. Non-Profit - Fundraising is another form of Sales. Without someone selling the non-profit to potential donors and soliciting them for funds, there won't be any money for good works. Preacher - is selling religion. Academia - No students, no money- education is heavily sold to prospective students and the Development and Business offices are Salespeople. Research - Research is carried out with a product in mind, which is sold.
Sounds like you had a rough day yesterday. I have no problem with sales people in the least. That being said, there are a couple caveats:
1. When I say "No, thank you" I mean "No, thank you."
2. Don't negotiate with me, in good faith, then come back with a contract that contradicts our agreed-to terms.
I don't think salespeople should be abused, but if I tell you "no thanks" you better damn well leave me alone. Pushy salespeople get no mercy from me and I have exactly zero problem dispatching them. Many sales people are morons who don't seem to get it. Furniture stores and car dealerships often do not like me.
The sheep of the world might respond to the "sales seminar squeeze" but I am not one of them. If I need your services, I will ask for them.
On the flip side... I have run into a bunch of really high quality and honorable salespeople in my life. Most enjoyable when you find one. They are out there.
No. I was driven to write this by some of the responses to another thread about a call center worker getting crank calls. Lots of posters were really abusive to him. It bears keeping in mind that most if not all of them are gainfully employed in far more "respectable" professions due to the efforts of salespeople.
Take a commissions only sales person...in order to receive a paycheck they've got to SELL. If you had no money you might be pushy too. While I do hate dealing with them also at least they have a job when so many in this country do not.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I agree with your premise, but salespeople do not have to be obnoxious as I have found about 8 of 10. Inside sales people are generally the easiest to tolerate, with those calli8ngt in person worse, and telephone solicitors the worst. Thank goodness for the no call list. having a business for 17 years I was plagued with calls and visits to the extent that it was hard to get the work done, and they did not take no for an answer until I started to say no thanks, say good by and just turn and go to the back of the shop and ignore them if they kept talking. As for my business, I survived with referrals and a website, and never used any sales people simply because I didn't want to
participate in something I didn't like.
The only question is do they actually add value. Last time I went car shopping, which is the general public's most frequent interaction with salesmen, most of them detracted value. They were not generally knowledgeable about the product line and/or pathological liars. Probably both. The value of the dealership is as a floor for me to "kick the tires", and most of the salesmen were just impediments to that. They clearly were a horrible source of information as I generally was not there more than a minute before they either lied intentionally or gave false information because of gross incompetence. On the other hand, I ended up buying the Mazda where I did because I liked the sales team, service department, and they had a car I wanted then rather than waiting some unknown amount of time for a dealer with a better price to locate a car. In that case, the salesman did his job well. Represented the product accurately, kept me comfortable while I test drove it, got me in to the finance guy's office promptly and had the car being detailed and pulled up front. Nothing mission critical, but he took care of the small stuff, and I appreciated that.
My experience with more professional level salesmen has been very different. The guys who I "have" to deal with in software and hardware sales aren't pathological liars, they know the product, and they take the time to listen to your needs and help you understand what their product can and more importantly cannot do. They're also the communication relay between the real world and the engineers. If you need some feature that isn't available, you talk to the salesman/account rep.
No. I was driven to write this by some of the responses to another thread about a call center worker getting crank calls. Lots of posters were really abusive to him. It bears keeping in mind that most if not all of them are gainfully employed in far more "respectable" professions due to the efforts of salespeople.
I work with a lot of really great sales people. What makes them great:
--they know the proper amount of contact. too little and I'll use another sales rep; too much and they are annoying and I'll use another sales rep.
--they know their product. I can call them with technical questions and they know the answer or can put me in touch with someone who does, right away
--they stand by their product and their sales. they don't reneg on warranties or guarantees. if a product shipment is going to be delayed, they let me know before it's late, instead of making excuses afterwards.
--they don't only contact me when they want a sale. they also contact me when they know of professional development opportunities that might help me in my career. they sometimes refer clients to me.
In other words, they put in the time and earn their sales commission. They don't just pick up the phone and call some random person and expect the money to start flying. Cold calling is rude no matter how you look at it. Stating that it is rude is not 'abuse'.
And when you consider whether or not the OP of the call center job is a victim, you should also read his/her other post here:
The only question is do they actually add value. Last time I went car shopping, which is the general public's most frequent interaction with salesmen, most of them detracted value. They were not generally knowledgeable about the product line and/or pathological liars. Probably both. The value of the dealership is as a floor for me to "kick the tires", and most of the salesmen were just impediments to that. They clearly were a horrible source of information as I generally was not there more than a minute before they either lied intentionally or gave false information because of gross incompetence. On the other hand, I ended up buying the Mazda where I did because I liked the sales team, service department, and they had a car I wanted then rather than waiting some unknown amount of time for a dealer with a better price to locate a car. In that case, the salesman did his job well. Represented the product accurately, kept me comfortable while I test drove it, got me in to the finance guy's office promptly and had the car being detailed and pulled up front. Nothing mission critical, but he took care of the small stuff, and I appreciated that.
My experience with more professional level salesmen has been very different. The guys who I "have" to deal with in software and hardware sales aren't pathological liars, they know the product, and they take the time to listen to your needs and help you understand what their product can and more importantly cannot do. They're also the communication relay between the real world and the engineers. If you need some feature that isn't available, you talk to the salesman/account rep.
Oh thankfully with the internet today I get to lessen my interactions with salespeople-- and I sympathize lightly-- I was a sales rep for a few years early on in my career.
Take my new car I bought earlier in the year. I researched prices of what people reported paying in my area and in states I would be willing to drive and commute-- I used both of my credit unions to see the best deal they could get me. USAA provided me a FANTASTIC price (not obligated to take it for any reason) for a car in Washington DC. Now, I could fly up there for free and drive back to my home, but I took that price emailed my local dealership and said I would like this car-- and I would prefer to have a relationship with my local dealer versus commuting to Washington DC.
Their car had a couple more options-- that I had not priced but I explained to them-- I do not really care about those options-- in the end I did throw them an extra 150.00 on the USAA price. I already had a check told them what i expected out of my trade-in (I knew the fair market for a deal for the car), and I told them I would be in on Saturday to close the deal (I was away on a business trip). WHen I got there it was a matter of signing the paperwork-- although the finance guy did ask could he try to get me a better interest rate-- I said certainly-- and they did by 2% less than USAA. So I know they made a little bit on the financing as well. The price was fair for all. I continue to have all of my maintenance and extra work done at the dealer because of all of this.
Done and Done. My 2 friends who just bought cars in the past 14 months did the same thing-- very little interaction with the sales reps in the dealer themselves.
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