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Why Sales People Stink

Written by Aaron Pinkston, Tue, Jan 05 2010

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Some of your mouths may still be open after reading that headline, but it is true that we all hate sales people. I am not going to defend the tactics that salespeople use to make a living – I am familiar enough to loath them.

My argument here is really more of a semantic one, so follow along before you get offended. I think the idea of a stereotypical salesperson is true in the mind of the public. We cannot change it. Other people who make a living by helping people the right way must be experts.

What’s the difference

To sell is to push junk onto people, usually using deceptive or unexpectedly influential tactics. Folks either do not want this junk or could not truly use it. Most salespeople have to use a deep form of justification to convince themselves they are doing the right thing. They go to training where they learn they are doing the right thing for the people they meet by pushing them into a decision that conflicts with their own interests. Sounds like a cult.

If you make money in some way, shape, or form from sales and have not considered the inescapable conflict of interest between the words coming out of your mouth and the money you make, I ask that you pause now.

To be an expert, on the other hand, means that you listen first. After listening, probably come questions and then more listening. Being an expert means that you have a deep enough knowledge about your topic and a large enough network that after listening, asking, and listening, you can probably help. Being an expert means that helping does not always involve making money.

Unfortunately for the experts, the salespeople out there ruin your reputation too. When you contact folks about problems they tell you about, they have learned (from constant bombarding of the sales people) to put up barriers and objections.

But an expert knows about false objections and is able to help you deal with the deeper issues. This is different than long-winded justifications and arm twisting. An expert is able to help you examine your own life to come to your own conclusions (instead of their conclusions). It doesn’t always matter if your conclusion makes the expert money because an expert doesn’t need every sale.

What to do about it

Now that the sales people broke the system, it is time to create a new way to get folks in contact with experts they can trust. Doing it the old way with new technology just creates the same problem faster. We need a new way.

When people are able to review custom quotes from multiple agents without any sales pressure, the experts rise to the top. And for once, salespeople have to become more like experts to succeed.

Call me crazy, but I think that is the way it should be. I am fighting for people, not the salespeople. I hope you are too.


Note: If you are offended by this post, go back and read it again. I also encourage you to evaluate your own obligations to other human beings before getting upset. I am not claiming to be more perfect than anyone else – only that we should strive for perfection every now and again.