In the previous article, I introduced the notion of Sales as a Profession (SaaP) and some of the steps that have been cataloged toward professionalism (full-time occupation, training school, university programs, etc.). While many salesmen and saleswomen today are full-time and considered successful, it is also true that the vast majority of these started out as something else before “falling into” or “winding up in” sales.

One reason, and one that is now at least beginning to be addressed is that there were few academic institutions teaching sales. As noted, this is slowly changing and just under 100 universities now offer at least a few courses introducing and/or teaching sales. Another reason is negative impressions, or misperceptions, of sellers. We asked readers what misperceptions they felt were most frequent and received nearly 200 responses (see below).

Source: Sales as a Profession: Perceptions, Misconceptions, and the Way Forward 

Reps talking too much and listening too little was the clear front-runner; reps being time wasters was a distant second. So what are these reps so busily talking about?

Think Industry Trends, Not Products

Most often, the answer is: their product. Product knowledge was once considered a rep’s greatest weapon and these reps, in effect, became walking/talking product brochures. Everyone knows this is career limiting, certainly conversation limiting, and, yet, it persists. Further, with product information readily available on company websites, industry and customer reviews, and more, buyers typically have plenty, if not all, of the information they need for initial discovery. Whereas, sellers often still lack much of the information they need to advance a sale and/or assist in a purchase.

The easy answer to why this continues is, well, it’s easy. Talking about your product or service, once a rep has enough experience/familiarity to do so, takes little effort or preparation. Understanding an industry, its problems and challenges, and applying these to a specific prospect is a more complex undertaking. The data clearly and consistently show, providing buyers new information about innovative customer implementations, insights about newly emerging trends, and in some cases, challenging current thinking, have elevated reps to higher level relationships with their buyers and higher-level performance with their companies.

This lack of preparation has been exacerbated by new technologies and services. The popularity and proliferation of mobile apps/devices have seen pre-call planning go out the window. News flash: sitting in Starbucks 10 minutes before a sales call checking a prospect’s LinkedIn profile is not pre-call planning. It may be a small portion but does not answer the questions about what information you want to get and give, or what commitment is needed/desired as a result of this upcoming call.

You Still Gotta Do the Work

Similarly, with inside sales applying automatic/advanced dialing applications, inside sales reps jump on calls with little more information than the name and title of the individual answering the phone. Thoughtful list creation is needed (i.e., lead grouping) to avoid simply jumping into a conversation with nothing more than a practiced elevator pitch. Steve Richard of ExecVision coaches: 3X3. Take 3 minutes to identify 3 things that would be of interest to the person you’re about to call.

Many of the “Other” comments received suggested the misperception choices offered weren’t applicable; these didn’t comport with the individual’s own experience. So maybe sales is seen more as a profession today, not just a bunch of fast talkers. Let’s check that with this mental exercise.

You’re at a cocktail party and meet someone for the first time. You ask her profession and she says, “I’m a neuro surgeon.” No kidding, you’re a brain surgeon? How long have you been doing that? Her reply, “25 years.” Wow, you must be really good at it.

You move on to the next person and ask what he does. His reply, “I’m in sales.” Really, how long have you been doing that? “25 years.” So, you’re a sales manager or vice president? “No, I’m a salesman.” Do you have the same impression of someone who must be really accomplished? Or, do you wonder where this guy made a wrong turn in his career?

This to me speaks to the question of SaaP and what has to change. Really preparing for calls and listening more might be a good place to start. Setting out to become a professional seller and consciously considering what this means would also be helpful starting out. In response to the prior article Andy Rudin, Managing Principal of Contrary Domino, wrote to say a young person just starting out today should pick a career other than sales. He makes some good points about how sales used to be, then concludes with, “If money is what motivates interest in a job, I’d encourage a young person today to go into data science, software development, cyber-security, or finance.” You can read his blog here.

In fact, Andy concludes with “find something different” (than sales). What is interesting to me is that last year, I’d written a paper: “There’s Never Been a Better Time to Be In Sales.” Rather than debate these perspectives here, if interested, you should read them both and decide for yourself. You can access the paper here but let me share a couple relevant points. In a survey of 900 full-time sellers, 85% would recommend sales as a career to young people starting out today (15% agree with Andy).

Perhaps more interesting is why. Ranked in order of frequency the reasons named were:

1. Job varied and satisfying
2. Continuous learning and self-development
3. Career with a future
4. A great job for the right person
5. Earnings are commensurate with effort
6. Self-determination
7. Working in sales prepares you for other careers

While Andy, and many others, feel money is the main motivator, it actually was well down the list of what attracted full-time practitioners to sales. Sure money is important, and having it is better than not having it, but all the mythology of reps being “coin operated” and “only money motivated,” which you can see came in 4^th in last month’s survey (see graphic above), are simply that: myths.

Baby-boomers who came of age in the 60’s and 70’s wanted peace, love and understanding. Millennials today want work that’s purposeful, collaborative and has meaning. I would argue sales is the place to find these principled visions and SaaP is continuing to evolve in this direction.