Discussion
tters.Depends on the industry, but in general there are fantastic and terrible sales people in all companies.
I also like to remind folks that if you work in the private sector, you likely have sales people in your organization that drive the bookings revenue that keeps folks employed... so don't be too dismissive of them. Secondarily, they are likely to be the highest paid people in your company (Even more than the CEO if they are really good).
I also like to remind folks that if you work in the private sector, you likely have sales people in your organization that drive the bookings revenue that keeps folks employed... so don't be too dismissive of them. Secondarily, they are likely to be the highest paid people in your company (Even more than the CEO if they are really good).
InformationSuperHighway said:
I also like to remind folks that if you work in the private sector, you likely have sales people in your organization that drive the bookings revenue that keeps folks employed... so don't be too dismissive of them. Secondarily, they are likely to be the highest paid people in your company (Even more than the CEO if they are really good).
Absolutely this!Marketing is also ocassionaly seen with derision but like sales, without Marketing there is no business and no jobs - or less business and less jobs.
As mentioned, the issue is very industry specific and the spectrum of types of salespeople is exceptionally wide. In my experience, the best sales people appear to do the least amount of work, appear to be less clever than their clients (even if they're more clever in reality, which they often are), listen far more than they talk - but be able to talk the hind legs off a donkey if needed.
StevieBee said:
InformationSuperHighway said:
I also like to remind folks that if you work in the private sector, you likely have sales people in your organization that drive the bookings revenue that keeps folks employed... so don't be too dismissive of them. Secondarily, they are likely to be the highest paid people in your company (Even more than the CEO if they are really good).
Absolutely this!Marketing is also ocassionaly seen with derision but like sales, without Marketing there is no business and no jobs - or less business and less jobs.
As mentioned, the issue is very industry specific and the spectrum of types of salespeople is exceptionally wide. In my experience, the best sales people appear to do the least amount of work, appear to be less clever than their clients (even if they're more clever in reality, which they often are), listen far more than they talk - but be able to talk the hind legs off a donkey if needed.
Sale don’t get crayons to play with, unlike those in marketing.
Op sounds a little bitter about something
The only person I know in sales is a thoroughly decent chap; intelligent, hard working, personable, high educated (BSc, MPhys I believe) and a proper petrolhead, so make what you will of the fact that he hated it and has taken a massive pay cut to work in proper engineering within the same industry.
Sporky said:
Cwomble said:
The joy of being in sales is you’re paid for the results other people deliver
Fixed that for you.I'm design/tech sales, which means I have to try to solve the daft promises the sales people make, and do the bulk of the account management, while they get the commission.
Sporky said:
Cwomble said:
The joy of being in sales is you’re paid for the results other people deliver
Fixed that for you.I'm design/tech sales, which means I have to try to solve the daft promises the sales people make, and do the bulk of the account management, while they get the commission.
There is a an easy solution if only you were man enough
StevieBee said:
InformationSuperHighway said:
I also like to remind folks that if you work in the private sector, you likely have sales people in your organization that drive the bookings revenue that keeps folks employed... so don't be too dismissive of them. Secondarily, they are likely to be the highest paid people in your company (Even more than the CEO if they are really good).
Absolutely this!Marketing is also ocassionaly seen with derision but like sales, without Marketing there is no business and no jobs - or less business and less jobs.
As mentioned, the issue is very industry specific and the spectrum of types of salespeople is exceptionally wide. In my experience, the best sales people appear to do the least amount of work, appear to be less clever than their clients (even if they're more clever in reality, which they often are), listen far more than they talk - but be able to talk the hind legs off a donkey if needed.
The impact made by the best salespeople is enormous. It can easily be the difference between a business going bust and the same business being a huge success.
I used to work for a software house that sold trading systems to investment banks. To be of any use the sales staff needed to understand our product, understand the products produced by all our competitors, understand the state of investment banking as a whole, understand what the capital markets bit of an investment does and how it does it in real detail, know which banks have bought which systems, know what specific problems a particular bank is having with their existing systems, and know what budget individual banks have got to spend on new kit. Once you've drawn up your shortlist of potential clients from all of that, you start building more and deeper relationships with people in the target banks and refine your knowledge of what they're doing, what problems they're having, what budget they've got, what budget they've got and finally what budget they've got. And obviously that's just about getting your foot in the door.
It's also the type of work that would stress an awful lot of people out to the point where they'd turn to booze or throw themselves off a cliff. If anyone hasn't tried it, I recommend having a go at cold-calling.
I'm in sales in a technical industry.
From my perspective, the challenge for sales is about being a generalist. I need to be able to work with everyone in the the business and have enough understanding of contractual, commercial and technical aspects to navigate both internal and external stakeholders. I find some specialist roles can look down on sales because of the lack of specialist knowledge, but it's that's why the specialist roles exist.
From my perspective, the challenge for sales is about being a generalist. I need to be able to work with everyone in the the business and have enough understanding of contractual, commercial and technical aspects to navigate both internal and external stakeholders. I find some specialist roles can look down on sales because of the lack of specialist knowledge, but it's that's why the specialist roles exist.
of course you haveWork in tech, moved to sales from a tech role many years ago so i still speak to techies who were my office buddies years back.
- Had a tech support wonk in his 40s ask me why we (sales) existed. He was hugely clever and very capable at what he did, probably our best support person globally yet he truly believed as we were the industry leading product at the time there was no need for sales as our customers (other businesses) should be beating our door down to buy our SW. He couldnt fathom that other companies with slightly inferior products could actually beat us in sales cycles by telling a better story.
- Another techy chum finished on the nose at 4:30 every day and loved walking out as i was settling in for the evening to complete a tender knowing that it had to be in for 8am the next day and i still had 12 hours of creative writing ahead of me. I'm a mug for doing it.
- Depending what your company make your sales people are often some of your best problem solvers & creative thinkers and hence oftem
- No matter what you make - they are needed. Even Apple has sales people.
- Good sales people build relationships, care about their customers and the outcomes and realise the limitations of what they have without selling too far beyond whats on roadmap as otherwise the sale falls apart and they look like d*cks. Multiple of my customers in 20 years of sales have become friends, joined me in companies or continued to buy from me as i move from company to company.
- It is a good living but you have to be able to deal with pressure, egos, lack of support, pressure, techy wonks who question your existence, covering for gaps in your org and oh....pressure. I'd be bored out of my t*ts with a Mon-Fri 9-5. Its a very under appreciated role here in the UK.
- Had a tech support wonk in his 40s ask me why we (sales) existed. He was hugely clever and very capable at what he did, probably our best support person globally yet he truly believed as we were the industry leading product at the time there was no need for sales as our customers (other businesses) should be beating our door down to buy our SW. He couldnt fathom that other companies with slightly inferior products could actually beat us in sales cycles by telling a better story.
- Another techy chum finished on the nose at 4:30 every day and loved walking out as i was settling in for the evening to complete a tender knowing that it had to be in for 8am the next day and i still had 12 hours of creative writing ahead of me. I'm a mug for doing it.
- Depending what your company make your sales people are often some of your best problem solvers & creative thinkers and hence oftem
- No matter what you make - they are needed. Even Apple has sales people.
- Good sales people build relationships, care about their customers and the outcomes and realise the limitations of what they have without selling too far beyond whats on roadmap as otherwise the sale falls apart and they look like d*cks. Multiple of my customers in 20 years of sales have become friends, joined me in companies or continued to buy from me as i move from company to company.
- It is a good living but you have to be able to deal with pressure, egos, lack of support, pressure, techy wonks who question your existence, covering for gaps in your org and oh....pressure. I'd be bored out of my t*ts with a Mon-Fri 9-5. Its a very under appreciated role here in the UK.
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