Some Interesting Comments About Sales As A Profession

In the UK there are 766,000 sales people and 545,000 marketers, yet of Britain's 300 HND or degree level business courses only three have sales modules, whereas more than two hundred have marketing modules. Maybe this is why: "Sales is neither understood nor accepted by many" Two other facts: I did a scan of the curriculum of 15 MBA courses, and not one of them mentioned sales, lots on strategic marketing though: The only official recognition for the selling profession is "The Diploma in Sales" available through a number of specialist marketing bodies and a few business schools around the world. Here are a few more interesting thoughts. Pick up the business news of any news paper and find an article on sales. Page through a business magazine and find an article on sales. When did you last see a heading "Sales force drives Acme plc to 25% growth", or "Competitive sales wins give Acme plc increased market share"? The top and bottom of it is you don't! It seems that reported business success is down to strategy or cost control or new products. Of course there is truth in these but when did you last get a call from strategy trying to sell you something. Cost control is finite, there are still only 100p to a pound and those new products generally speaking don't sell them selves. As selling is the real wealth creator why is it not understood or publicised? I have a simple view of this. It is a view that reflects our British nature. Basically sales people are disliked. People do not like being sold to, the ultimate insult is likening someone to a double glazing sales person. Of all the white collar professions the easiest one to measure is sales. A sales person has a target, if they make it they are great and if they don't they are fired. A bit black and white but closer to the truth than many would care to admit. Have you ever wondered why the Jobs section of the Daily Telegraph (sorry to promote this broadsheet, but they do have a sales column) has so many sales director vacancies? Companies no longer recruit sales people rather they call them Account Managers or Business Development Managers. The truth of the matter is that most sales people are insecure, which is not surprising really, and that the profession is under recognised and undervalued. Addressing these two issues is fundamental to achieving a successful sales force and a successful company. Money and sales trips are only part of the answer, the real answer lies in saying "Thank You" when a big order comes in, or praising the sales force rather than beating it up when things are not going well. Achievement is a sales person's biggest motivator and that is what really needs to be understood. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Chiswick