The Salesman's manifesto:

[kranky]

Salespeople aren't all good and they aren't all bad. I have dealt with sales and marketing folks for many years at work. Just like any profession, some people are better than others.

Sales isn't just someone trying to sell a product to a consumer in a retail store. You'd like your doctor to have the best equipment, right? You want the best components to be used to build your electric company's distribution system, don't you?

A good salesperson is very useful. Last week I called one of our vendors, explained we were having static control problems with some large polyester sheets, and that we needed a cheap way to control it. He told me just which 3M product to buy and it cost $80. In ten minutes I had an answer. If I had to do all the research it would have cost a lot more than that, and I still wouldn't have been sure I picked the right thing.

The good ones try to understand your needs, know their products, tell you if a product or service can solve your problem, and also tell you if it won't.

There are some lousy ones, too, and I just don't deal with them.

Just remember that the world of sales is a lot bigger than Best Buy Dude trying to sell you an extended warranty.

 

[BD2003]

Oh give me a fvkcing break. :disgust:

You know why people hate salesmen? One simple reason.

Because we know they dont have OUR best interest in mind, but their own and their companies. Its a natural conflict of interest. We want to maximize value whereas they want to maximize commission and profit.

 

[GasX]

I think sales people serve an important and valuable role in our economy. I also think that a hell of a lot of car salesmen are scumbags. The problem with the OP's rant is that he took a slight against his profession's worst offenders and took it as a personal insult.

 

[JoeKing]

Sales is one big pyramid scheme. Think about it.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: JoeKing
Sales is one big pyramid scheme. Think about it.

You need to stop eating the lead paint

 

[JoeKing]

Originally posted by: Mwilding

Originally posted by: JoeKing
Sales is one big pyramid scheme. Think about it.

You need to stop eating the lead paint

floor sales earning comission, department manager earning % of sales profit, store manager earning % of store profit, district manager...

 

[purbeast0]

dude the OP takes the internet WWWAAAAYYYYYY too seriously.

 

[tami]

my husband and i actually had a very pleasant experience with our mazda salesperson. she beat all the prices of the competitors and we picked up our car probably 2 days after we first made contact with the rep (it initiated over email -- my husband sent an inquiry to a number of dealerships and she responded in an extremely timely manner -- we were getting initial responses from other car salespeople 3 months after we already had the car because some of these guys are morons and never check email).

i guess this is a rarity. still, some people can be on top of the bunch.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: Brazen
Society would come crumbling down if people only bought what they WANTED.

fixed myself

 

[Mo0o]

Let me ask you this:

Let's say you're selling car A for $20,000 dollars, a competing dealership is selling the same car for $18,000. Someone walks up to you and is interested in car A. Do you tell him about the other place or do you try to make a sale.

 

[BoberFett]

Those of you who say you do your own research and purchase the product online, do you realize that a salesman from the manufacturer was involved in getting that online retailer to sell their product?

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
Those of you who say you do your own research and purchase the product online, do you realize that a salesman from the manufacturer was involved in getting that online retailer to sell their product?

Of course, but I usually prefer to research the pros and cons of a product by looking at review sites and user reviews rather than listen to a salesman.

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: BoberFett
Those of you who say you do your own research and purchase the product online, do you realize that a salesman from the manufacturer was involved in getting that online retailer to sell their product?

Of course, but I usually prefer to research the pros and cons of a product by looking at review sites and user reviews rather than listen to a salesman.

What's your point? Without a salesperson somewhere in the life of that product, that product would not exist. The manufacturer was sold manufacturing products and raw goods by a salesman.

Think beyond retail.

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: BoberFett
Those of you who say you do your own research and purchase the product online, do you realize that a salesman from the manufacturer was involved in getting that online retailer to sell their product?

Of course, but I usually prefer to research the pros and cons of a product by looking at review sites and user reviews rather than listen to a salesman.

What's your point? Without a salesperson somewhere in the life of that product, that product would not exist. The manufacturer was sold manufacturing products and raw goods by a salesman.

Think beyond retail.

I'm not saying we should get rid of salesman all together, I'm just saying on the retail side, where I have some control, I prefer to make my own decisions rather than have a salesman tell/lie to me about which item to buy

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: BoberFett
Those of you who say you do your own research and purchase the product online, do you realize that a salesman from the manufacturer was involved in getting that online retailer to sell their product?

Of course, but I usually prefer to research the pros and cons of a product by looking at review sites and user reviews rather than listen to a salesman.

What's your point? Without a salesperson somewhere in the life of that product, that product would not exist. The manufacturer was sold manufacturing products and raw goods by a salesman.

Think beyond retail.

I'm not saying we should get rid of salesman all together, I'm just saying on the retail side, where I have some control, I prefer to make my own decisions rather than have a salesman tell/lie to me about which item to buy

Generally I'm with you. When I'm shopping at a b&m, the salesmans job is to point me to the correct aisle.

I bought two cars from one salesman that I really liked. Friendly guy, no pressure. The first car was a Saturn, so they had the no haggle thing which I kinda liked. I went back to that guy for a second used car because I liked working with him. When we bought ourlast car our salesman fvcked us over bigtime. I won't even get into details, but we got severely screwed. It's a crapshoot with car salesman.

There are also some awful realtors out there. I like to think I'm one of the good ones.