History of Sales

Sales People are the Devil's Spawn?

Every industry has it's top performers and it's rotten apples in the barrel.  However, the perception of the Sales Industry is often very polarised - with CEO's adoring their sales people, whilst to the man in the street or the academic, the sales person is 'The Devil's Spawn'.

Perhaps the adverse perception of selling comes from the Bible, where Adam and Eve buy in to the Snake's pitch offering Free Knowledge with every Apple.  In the Bible this tempting offer leads to the downfall of the entire human race.  But is that really a fair perception of the entire sales industry?

From Adam's Apple to Bill's IT Empire

Certainly Bill Gates, probably the best salesman of the 20th Century has his critics; and does this tie-in nicely with Bill's Microsoft battle for knowledge sales V Apple?  Microsoft have been consistently slammed over the years for producing software full of bugs, and yet every day, billions of people around the world buy in to the Microsoft sales pitch.  So does this make Mr Gate's the Devil's Spawn or could it be that there is a great deal of envy here on the part of those who didn't make the bigtime?

Without delving too deeply into a debate about global socio-economics, it is a fact that the top sales people earn a lot more than many other honorable professions.  The MRSA outbreaks in hospitals from the 1990s certainly pointed out the lack of value placed upon the Cleaning Industry.  Surgeons and Exectutives were receiving six figure salaries, only to have their hard work undermined by lack of cleanliness in hospitals.  It is possible to attribute this poor hygiene to the lowly perception of the 'common cleaner' often being paid a pittance for a valuable role in society.

In truth, the Sales Industry has its high fliers and its also-rans the same as every other industry.  Famous sportspeople are often slammed for their huge salaries, but it is often forgotten that for every Superstar there are thousands or millions of people who never made it to the top.  The difference between sports and sales, is that people choose to view a sports event whilst sales sales people choose who they approach.  So whilst no one turns up for that parish football match full of awful amateur footballers, it's highly likely that an awful amateur sales person might end up knocking on your door.

Sales is a very interactive and personal industry, whether we are discussing the nasty snake in the Bible or the really nice person who helps you to buy just what you needed to help make your enterprise a success.

If you find this website useful, and you require more sales, why not contact the author directly:

Tel. 0870 042 1263
Email: stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk
www.sl-freelance.co.uk
or read my blog at www.freelancetelemarketing.org.uk