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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.
Often times, when I'm looking to buy something, I'm the one who initiates contact with a salesperson, not the salesperson initiating contact with me, usually unsolicited. Most salespeople I've dealt with that I initiate contact have been fairly professional and willing to work with finding what I really want while working with my budget.
It's actually this attitude -- and the fact that salespeople successfully sell it to management -- which ticks me off the most about salespeople. People who sell the product bring in money and are to be rewarded. People who make the product are a cost and are to be downsized. Compared to that, pushy telemarketers, crooked used car dealers, overpriced purveyors of home remodeling products, and even those annoying "can I ask you a question" bozos in the mall are only minor annoyances.
I work in retail and if we don't sell extended warranties and computer tech services, we get our hours cut and demoted to cashier duties. Trust us when we say we hate doing what we do BUT, we have no other choice.
I blame this on corporate which likes to squeeze the front-line employees but has no qualms about giving themselves multimillion dollar bonuses. On top of that, they set ridiculously unachievable sales goals which we have to meet. Plus, we always have mystery shoppers coming in so we have to assume that you the shopper is a mystery shopper and we CANNOT take a no for an answer.
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.
We "sales people" get it, really.
However, its part of our job contract to be "pushy". Salespeople are graded by sales, not enough sales in a time frame, out you go. Well, that's the nature of the job. I do telephone sales. Depending on the client, we are REQUIRED to offer a certain number of rebuttals. I know, it sounds ridiculous, especially to us. But if you don't at least attempt to read the rebuttals and upsells, you could be fired. The salesperson isn't trying to bully you, they are simply trying to keep their job. Its simpler, and less time-consuming, to simply let them read their scripted rebuttals, and just say No, Thank You. Try to understand, we are required to make so many sales attempts. Why don' II get a "better" job? With 2 BS and 2 master degrees, that's the best I can find in this economy. At least its a job!
I apologize if this is not the correct thread, please direct me. I dislike all sales people, particularly real estate agents, who work with large decisions and large amounts of cash. Next, worse, are investment brokers/counselors, who are crooks as well. I can put up with used cars salesman, and actually feel for them, as they have a tough job to rip people of as well! Most all sales people just want your money and to make a commission. I recently bought a house and know once the sales crooks got my contract signed and their money, I became just a number and that don't give a damn about me or any others.
As well, the sales people for AT&T and the other big telecommunications companies are more liked and tolerable. They actually sometimes agree with you, and even say they understand somebody has a better deal down the street.
I don't think people hate salespeople, but simply don't like dealing with the commission folks (who tend to be pushier). Yesterday my honey and I went to a home show. Every booth we looked at had salespeople trying to get us to sign our name, etc. When I asked questions about price, they say it depends or it varies or we can't tell you until we come to your home. A roofing salesperson tried to pin us down to letting a guy come to our home on a certain night (which is weird right there, how are you going to look at my roof at night?) and give us a pitch.
We need a new roof, but not from that guy. I don't like high pressure. I buy my cars at non-commission dealers to avoid high pressure. None of this means I hate salespeople though, that's just silly. The man has a job to do, I get that, more power to him.
I once had to threaten to call the police to get a Craftmatic salesperson to leave my house. I told her I had to discuss it with my grandmother (she was in a rehab at the time) since she was the person who would be buying it. She told me to just buy it for her since I have power of attorney, and went so far as to say if I loved my grandmother I'd want to buy it now since the "special deal" was only good for that day. No matter how many times I said no she wouldn't leave "Just let me call my manager one more time". NO, GET OUT!!! I can easily see how many old people just sign to get the person to leave.
On the other hand, I've dealt with other salespeople who were great and didn't want me to buy anything I wasn't ready to buy. We just bought a home, and our real estate salesperson was great, patient while we looked, and patient during the endless mortgage process and my many panicked phone calls, some as early as 7:30 am.
So maybe it's more accurate to say people don't like the strong-arm tactics some salespeople use, rather than saying "people hate salespeople".
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.
Car salesmen are the worst. I've come close to getting into shouting matches with them when buying a car. I've gotten the bullspit "you won't get a better deal somewhere else" line and "there's no way we can accept that offer" only for me to go even lower and finally get him to accept it. You just have to be ruthless with car salesmen. They aren't your friends.
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.
For all that people hate car salespeople and buying a car, especially a used one, why is that the way the industry is run? Why doesn't someone start a dealership and run it correctly? Be straightforward, no pressure, no hype, here's what we have, here's how much?
The answer is, because that's the way it works. That's how you actually sell cars, stay in business, and make money.
Same with a lot of other industries. It's sad, but that's what we, the customers, actually want. Sure, we say we want something else, but we don't actually buy another way.
I've just recently started a sales role. I'm an engineer, and am the technical side of the conversation, but I carry a number and have to advance the sales process. I can't just say, "OK, here's the technical specs, any questions? No? OK, call me when you want to." That... doesn't... work! My employer is spending a lot of time, money, and effort on training me to sell the way that sells. A lot of it feels artificial, phony, whatever. But it's the way that works. If I try to play "nice guy", I'll close few if any deals. Yes, some of the things I have to train myself to do, like overcoming objections, can seem like "pressure" to you, but if I don't do it, someone else will, and you'll give your money to them. My job is to make sure you make the correct decision to give your money to us, not someone else! That's how 12,000 people eat tomorrow.
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dislike all sales people
