Be Proud to be in Sales

Have you ever noticed how rare it is for salespeople to introduce themselves as “salesperson” when they first meet someone?
I have trained thousands of salespeople over the years and I notice that they never seem to describe themselves as such. What I hear are words like: “account executive” or “senior advisor” or “specialist consultant”. Of course once promoted they are all quite happy to be Sales Manager! I think we can lay some of the blame on popular books, movies and television with characters like Willy Loman and Herb Tarlek doing little to improve the image of salespeople or their careers. However we all need to look in the mirror from time to time to insure we are doing our part to maintain the professional image we deserve.

I remember being at a family gathering shortly after I graduated from university. My father was speaking to his brother about the careers of their children. When it came around to me I heard Dad say “well Donald is in sales but I’m sure he is looking for a real job”. I remember thinking that I was quite happy and making at least twice what Dad earned at the time. However the sentiment was still there and it was (and still is) a common one.

After more than 30 years in sales I decided that I would try to give my children a more rounded view of sales. So not long ago when my youngest boy, Alexander, asked me what I do for a living I proudly said “I am a Salesman”! He looked at me and said OK but what do you DO? I thought for a moment and asked him to go get his favorite toy. He returned shortly with a Transformer. I then asked him how he got the toy. He replied” Mommy and I went to the toy store and a lady found this one for me”. AHA. I said that lady was a salesperson. Ok he said still not sure. Encouraged that he was still listening I went on. The person who arranged for the toys to get from the factory to the toy store was a salesperson too. As was the person who helped the toy factory get the materials to make the toys. We went all the way back to the beginning of the process finding as many salespeople as we could. He thought for a moment and replied “so salespeople help you get things you want”? Exactly I said.

Earlier this fall we attended an open house at Alexander’s school. His grade 4 teacher remarked that each of the students had prepared a booklet describing things about themselves and their families. They were asked to talk about their siblings, pets, what they did over the summer, what they wanted to be when they grow up and why. Alex had proudly answered “I want to be a Salesman when I grow up because salespeople help everyone get all the things they need and want”. I was proud to read this after all these years in sales (and I think his grandfather would have been as well).

At my company we help salespeople and managers to do what they do better. We specialize in making “appointment making”, the bane of the professional salesperson’s life easier and less stressful. I hope we also instill a little pride in the Profession as well.

Be proud of what you do. Oh yes, make an old pro happy and try to stick “salesperson” somewhere on your business card!


Be Proud to be in Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Don Mersereau's Website.

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