Throughout my professional life, I have been in charge of, associated with, or familiar with salespeople. My favorite saying about salespeople is: “You wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for the salespeople”. I’ve said it over and over to every rank and file in business, and yet, I still hear people complain about or maligning salespeople as the “dreaded evil” in business or “they make too much money for what they do”. This isn’t just the HR sales community, the car sales community, or the big box store, but anywhere that you have sales, you will have a certain amount of resentment.

I heard, “Not fair. Sales has too much freedom, and they don’t have to work as many hours.” Wow. That one always got me. Most inside personnel have no idea how long a salesperson’s day really is. How many have to stop on their way home? How many get calls on their cell after hours? How many weekends did the salesperson follow-up on that installation or that client sign up?

My favorite: “They make more money than I do, and I do all the work.” Really?? How many contacts did you bring into the business? How many units of whatever is sold did you actually sell? And how many times did you have to accept a “commission” instead of your hourly or annual salary, knowing that if you didn’t make the next sale, that commission check might not be there?

Here’s your reality check. For every item or service sold in this country, there is a salesperson or salesforce behind it. If you so much as buy a stick of gum, somewhere, someplace there is at least one salesperson that made it possible for you to get that piece of gum.

Now it’s true that salespeople don’t do the manufacturing. They don’t, in fact, build the buildings, provide the cash to do it, or even hire the folks that make it happen, but somewhere down the line, before the building was started and the people were hired, someone did a “sales” job to make it happen.

I am often surprised by the attitudes of those in sales support, accounting, or management who are resentful of the price they pay or commissions assigned to salespeople/forces. There is sometimes such a disconnect between what sales does to bring clients to the table and the staff of the vendor that when it comes time to be paid, there is almost resentment that sales is “asking” for their money. The people who actually end up with the task of making the payments happen or even the ones who we negotiated with in the beginning become unhinged when it comes time to actually pay the price of the negotiation.

While some understand the process, we find that the disconnect comes after the contracts are signed, after the months of negotiation are over and the client has safely become a part of the day-to-day business that the time for paying up becomes “Wow, that’s a lot” or the word “greedy” becomes batted around a lot, or just getting the commission paid on time, every time, becomes a challenge.

So, why ARE salespeople essential?

• They make the initial contact and set up the process
  
• They spend hours, if not days or months, negotiating for the client to sign up with your business
  
• They use their expertise and experience to persuade clients that yours is the best possible solution
  
• They, in many cases, spend months going back and forth, working for many hours, that frankly they don’t get reimbursed for or make money on UNTIL everything is signed, sealed and delivered, because most of the time, their payment comes months after the actual first contact
  
• They will work with the client to make sure they are happy with your company
  
• They will maintain contact for as long as necessary or plausible ensuring that things are running smoothly
  
• They will report back to you when and if there are issues or just to let you know that the client is satisfied
  

So, why is it that salespeople are still the butt of bad jokes, must remind their vendors that commissions are due, and, in general, seem to have so little respect from the vendors who depend on their hard work?

Perhaps it is misconception? Perhaps it is “Okay that’s sold…let’s get on to the next one?” I’ve yet to come up with an answer.

What I would like to see is more respect not only for what we do as a firm and what our salespeople do, but also a reaffirmation in the entire country that without sales, we don’t have a capitalistic system. Sales are an essential, vital part of the entire fabric that makes this economy work. To all the salespeople out there-----I give you a big hand! I am not a salesperson, but I respect everything you do!

Angie Adams, President

PEO Brokers Group

www.peobrokersgroup.com