It's all in your head....

Your attitude, that is. Not just your attitude, but those around you. Everyone of us is a salesperson. When I was a disc jockey, I was selling the song I was playing or the contest we were running. Your receptionist, your delivery driver, your (fill in the blank), what ever the title you and others have, you are a salesperson, as in a representative of your company and that can help or hurt the selling and buying process.

Despite the fact that you may not like "sales" and that's why your title doesn't say "sales", it is the buying and selling of goods and services that pays you and everyone around you. Sales is not bad, but there are some bad sales people. And my job and yours too is to rise above that and be one of the good guys and gals in the sales world.

The preceding was inspired by the following email I got today from Steve Clark:

Sales Jobs Still Seen With Contempt

December 16th, 2007 by Steve Clark

A recent study conducted by Development Dimensions International, a human resources company, found that 41 percent of consumers surveyed rated the sales profession below mediocre. And one in five consumers surveyed said they believe salespeople’s expertise is getting worse.

Not only do consumers see salespeople as incompetent they see sales as an undesirable profession. Survey results reported that 46 percent of those surveyed say they would be ashamed to call themselves a salesperson. (I wonder how many salespeople feel the same way)

The good news in all of this is that buyers still rank salespeople as their number two source of product information. Second to only the internet but ahead of family and friends. Says Bradford Thomas, the company’s sales practice team manager, “In a given week, people make dozens or hundreds of purchase decisions but see the process as a necessary evil. It’s something people have to do but they are not always that jazzed about it. They’re dealing with salespeople way more that they want to.”

How about you? Are you perceived in your marketplace as a welcomed guest or an unwanted pest?

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