Michael

sales camo

Oh you don't have a sales job?

There are a whole swathes of career paths that do not sound like sales, but are whilst having decorative/camouflaged titles. For example "investment banker", "public relations" and "lobbyist" could be renamed to "investment-ideas sales", "company-image sales" and "law sales".

Besides such direct names lacking subtly and prestige, some of these career paths are viewed negatively in the public eye. These professions persuade and sell you an idea, the salesman receives some rewards and bears no down-side risk to the future events that unfold.

They reap what they sow, but they do not garner, they do not pick up the pieces that are leftover from the harvest.

This lack of shared risk, lack of downside risk gives sales a bad reputation. The public is intuitively aware that salesmen have different incentives due to the reward structure, even if they have no idea what the profession really entails.

This missing risk is well known from the "second-hand car salesman" to The Code of Hammurabi law 232 from 1750 BC which attempts to address it:

  1. If he has destroyed possessions, he shall make recompense for whatever he destroyed. Moreover, since the house he had built collapsed because he had not made it strong enough, he shall rebuild the house which collapsed from his own resources.

Sell things you believe in. It's hard to believe in a house with unstable foundations, ensure to understand the product you are selling and its effects. If you're being honest and have some accountability of the risks and effects you can comfortably put on the sales camouflage and go to war.

Do not let the "sales is sleazy" fool you. Doing anything great includes sales. It is impossible to do great things in isolation, you need to persuade people, show cha(ris)ma, communicate well and much more.

Good salespersons will be excellent at converting potential customers. Great salespersons will be excellent at increasing the number of potential customers, conversion and retention.