Negative views of the sales profession cause damage to companies, economies and individuals.

“So, what do you do?”

“I’m in sales,” you reply.

“Ohh…” they say, looking slightly uncomfortable. “What is it you really want to do?”

We’ve all heard this before, or something very close to it. I wrote an article for the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management’s print magazine Winning Edge about this very subject. Here’s a cut down web version:

A Major Role

Sales has an image problem. James Hammersley, the CEO of sales consultancy Win recently told me that, when visiting his old university to give a speech on selling, he asked the audience to describe the defining traits of a salesperson. The responses included ‘sleazy’, ‘untrustworthy’, and even ‘alcoholic’!

Walter Friedman’s excellent history of selling, "Birth of a Salesman reveals a survey of mothers in the US put sales as the least desirable ‘white collar’ job for their sons and daughters. Another American study discussed in the book explains that only politicians are considered less trustworthy than salespeople.

So what?

Well, let’s face it, status and recognition are important to today’s professionals. Without them job dissatisfaction kicks in, leading to low morale, lower performance levels and higher staff turnover. Furthermore, as individuals opt for “cooler” careers the pool of new sales people is reduced and recruitment becomes even more difficult. Perhaps the most damaging outcomes of the low esteem in which sales is held occur when such attitudes pervade an organization and its management. Anyone who has ever witnessed an organization with such a mind set will know that this self fulfilling prophecy results in a demotivated sales force, high staff turnover and, ultimately, lower sales.