Why sales people get lesser respect (and why it needs to change)?
In the realm of business, salespeople often find themselves occupying a peculiar position—a necessary force with an undervalued reputation.
Love them or loathe them, their presence is an inescapable reality.
My interactions with sales folks across industries, reveals that sales people are often treated as the "Necessary Devils".
My 6 years of experience in solution-selling and some more interesting conversations with Sales Leaders from SaaS / Digital Media companies helped me uncover the underlying reasons and prompted me to pen this note
A. Stereotypes - Unmasking the Wolves of Wall Street
Do you assume that every skilled salesperson is pushy, manipulative, and solely motivated by closing deals? These stereotypes persist, perpetuating a negative image of salespeople. Our brain loves creating patterns & dramatizing them.
Very few can uncover the individuality / diversity every sales person brings, that lies beneath the surface
B. Commission-Based Roles: Beyond the Pursuit of Profit
While monetary incentives play a role, isn't it erroneous to assume that salespeople prioritize their interests over customer needs?
This narrative oversimplifies their motivations and undermines the genuine desire to solve problems and fulfill customer requirements.
In fact even in non-commission based roles, I have seen the stereotype persist.
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C. Intrusive Sales Practices - Navigating the Fine Line
Cold calls, excessive follow-ups, and relentless emails can indeed be irksome. However, it's important to discern between intrusive tactics and effective communication.
Building strong relationships and ensuring exceptional brand recall requires robust support functions that amplify the efforts of the sales team.
D. Limited Subject Matter Expertise - Embracing the Role of Consultants
While some perceive salespeople as lacking in-depth knowledge, how often do you assess the quality of training and support they receive?
What if the sales team were empowered to become trusted advisors, equipped with comprehensive subject matter expertise?
.......this list can go on
By dispelling stereotypes, empowering salespeople as consultants, and reevaluating sales practices, we can pave the way for a new era of respect and appreciation.
It's also essential to ponder on how do we welcome new members into the sales domain.
Do we primarily focus on quotas and targets, or do we nurture an understanding of the "genuine problems" our business aims to solve?
The seeds we sow today will shape the future of the organization, transforming "necessary devils" into "revered change agents". The choice is for us to make
Great Manager Institute
1 年All successful people are sales people. They help people make the right choice.
Technical Program Manager
1 年I happen to read a book around biases and the fact that emerges from it is that our brains have 2 systems - system 1 which is fast and likes simple info and system 2 which is slow and calculative. The entire education phase that a human being undergoes is to empower him to use system 2 instead of system 1. To save energy of assessing and reassessing info people create types and try to navigate faster in the world. That's System 1 in action. What are we bombarded with everyday trains system 1. I checked a policy on insurance site and I end up getting 24 calls from agents. I called the refrigerator guy to give me demo of new machine which I ordered and he tried his best to sale me microwave oven. I purchased an online coding course and now my inbox is full of "Never ever" kind of deals from that platform. All this forces us to form an opinion. However, what an educated person should do is give every person an equal opportunity to present their point of view and hear them out (only for relevant services). And the person selling should build credibility by understanding who can be a customer and who cannot. This is what I think. I acknowledge that there's a lot that undergoes. Your post highlights some of these points brilliantly.
Saas Sales| HR Tech| HRMS
1 年Thank you Shivangi Shinari for penning this down. I think, while all the points were relevant, the last point got me thinking. How often do we train the sales team. Sales is beyond cold calling and outreach. It’s also about having a deep understanding about the industries, their pain areas and building strategies around it . Hence it is extremely important to nurture them, and empower the sales team as consultants with SME.