Much Maligned

We need a new title for sales people. This title will need to differentiate what a sales professional does from what those others, the Herb Tarlek, Jr. types (venerable sales rep from the 1980's sitcom WRKP in Cincinnati) do when they come to work.

 A survey conducted by Harvard, the Gallup organization and HR Chally stated that 4% of the country's sales people are responsible for the sales of 94% of the goods and services. This may sound unbelievable to you but, based on what I see as an entrepreneur, it's pretty accurate. Calls come into my office almost daily from sales reps seeking an audience with me, the business owner. They know nothing about my business and have no idea how they might help my business. They want an appointment...they want it bad. Unfortunately however, they have decided to worry about if and how they might help me after they secure the appointment. We get at least three calls a week from sales people trying to get an appointment to discuss our "marketing needs." We are a marketing company for gosh sakes. That is what we do and had they taken just a moment to research our website they would have seen it right there on the first page.

Several times I have taken such pity on these poor people that the elusive appointment was granted. Those meetings always, always, always begin with the rep telling me what his company does and why they are good at it. Not one, to date, and we've been in business for almost 6 year now, has anyone asked us what we are trying to accomplish first.

In my next life I plan to write for the Office TV show and this story will be an episode. One copier company has visited us approximately 8 times over the last two years. The manager has been in and three sales reps. (Apparently there turnover is quite high...um...) At any rate, this company, who is trying to sell us a copier, is on their third proposal. Most egregious of all though, they don't seem to know about me, the owner. They have met the head of our design department eight times but have never asked who will make the decision or asked to meet with me. We have a running bet as to if and when they will figure this out.

This is not sales. I can't even call this customer service as we aren't customers. I don't know what it is, but I can tell you it is not what a professional sales rep does. A professional would research the company first and understand where possible fits exist. A professional would call only those businesses where a fit appeared to exist. This professional would engage the owner in a conversation using what he had learned from his research and try to uncover a specific goal that was unmet. An appointment would only be sought if the sales professional determined there was a fit between what was needed and what his firm did.  At the onset of the appointment expectations would be set, information would be gathered and credibility would be established. The sales professional would know what he needed to present a business case for his product or service.  He would ask us if we were willing to change if he was able to help us achieve our objectives and would uncover our process for evaluating that change.

The profession of sales is about solving someone's problem. There is nothing sleazy about it.  Sales people perform a valuable function - they put people with problems in touch with people who can fix those problems. An agreement takes place when the value received matches the price charged. It doesn't' sound so bad - doctors fix health problems, police fix crime problems, builders fix shelter problems. So what's wrong with fixing business problems?  Why are those who do so lumped in with those who do not? Perhaps it's because what passes for sales isn't really sales at all.

What should we rename a truly professional sales person?