Even Salespeople Are Human (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Even Salespeople Are Human

[anglocon]

Hiya Steve and everyone else,

In European resorts timeshare touts use free gifts, tickets to local theme parks and other goodies to get you in. In London they use "free" holidays which you have to pay overpriced flights for and then get more timeshare bombarding while you are on holiday.

I normally mess with these people if I have the time and keep them on the phone before putting it down hoping that they might re-evaluate if they are wasting their time.

They know exactly what they are doing though and they make money for every sucker they deliver to the salesmen in sharp suits ... we can but try ...

good post. M.

[Mello]

When I was in Hong Kong and Thailand I had to deal with the same kind of people who sold (fake) watches, suits or tried to get you into a guesthouse (budget hotel).

A few lines that worked pretty well:

• (to somebody trying to sell me a watch) "No I don't need a watch, but do you want to buy a suit?"
• (to somebody who was saying: "suits? suits?") "Yes, I got a suit you want to buy it?"
• (when I was just arriving by boat on small island in Thailand and somebody asked me "where are you going?) "Bangkok!" You should've seen his eyes, so funny

So yes, humor works best I guess to break down somebody's shield

[elainevdw]

Duh, of course salespeople are human! That "shell" you refer to has a lot of purposes. One, it lets harsh people who give them crap bounce off of them. Two, it lets them kind of zone out until they can clock out because I doubt most casino workers want to be doing what they're doing -- they're just doing it to make ends meet. I certainly wouldn't want to face the overall implications of running around a dark, smoke-filled room in fishnets and high heels getting gamblers drunk so they can ogle them. Or fishing for tourists with timeshares and free show tickets.

I hope that I don't forget that when I've moved farther away from my high school and college self, working retail to fund my independence until I had the experience/education necessary to move on.

Despite the overall tone of this post, though, I must say that my experience working in retail was overwhelmingly positive. The vast majority of customers out there aren't out to get you, and many do take the time to connect with you as a human being, whether they're a regular or not. The only bad retail experiences I ever had were because of coworkers, not customers. Even my more recent dabbling in commission sales hasn't been all that bad. People are wary, yes, but not mean (unless they've got other issues going on), and some people are downright enthusiastic.

[nickr]

Steve, thanks for finding that "Free Hugs" video! It's a gem. If you guys haven't watched it yet, do it now!

[ScottS]

Speaking of selling time-shares in Las Vegas, I just came across this yesterday:

"David Faustino is currently working for Wynn Casino in Las Vegas selling time-shares"

[Thisisthesea]

totally agree with you

the truth is i didnt like the tone of the post either

though the intentions(of steve and erin)are good

[kota]

I don't think we should try to actively switch people to consciousness; Even finding this site and its community is the result of a path that more or less consciously we ran.
So in my opinion stopping people in the street and trying to wake up them is useless and even offensive.

Regards, kota.

[samjbrowne]

I am a salesman for a music magazine.

While I appreciate that people should not do anything they don't morally agree with, most of us would not choose to do so unless all other avenues were closed to us. I would imagine selling timeshares does not list highly on anyone's list of perfect career choices, and those that do it for a job would rather be doing something else, but circumstance does not permit them to do so at this point in time.

I know many salespeople and most of them live with some degree of personal development in their lives. Every day we are given more rejection than in pretty much any other job, and people frequently say to me that they could not do my job for that reason. For that reason, it pays to build strong belief in yourself, so you don't take those rejections of your product to be rejections of you yourself. Furthermore, without salespeople, most businesses (outside the net at least) could not survive. We are the people that get the product into the customer's hands, and the customer's money into our business's bank account.

Scripts are used by most salespeople to most easily facilitate what the customer wants, and to cover the unique selling points of the product. When selling without a script, you may deprive the customer of hearing about a key feature that he or she would be interested in and would consequently buy the product to benefit from. Scripts are good for everyone as they offer a consistent introduction to the product that gets the point across fairly to everyone the salesperson speaks to.

A salesperson's job is not to make you buy stuff you don't want. It's to consult with you and find the right product for the right person. If there is no product suited to the customer on offer from your business, the best thing to do is let them know that, and make recommendations of where they should go, where applicable.

I put most of my own sales success (yep, I've done ok) down to having read and applied sales technique from several excellent books. The two that I would apply most would be "The One Minute Salesman" and "How to win Friends and Influence People". Both of these books are primarily about genuinely caring about people, and "The One Minute Salesman" comes back again and again to the concept of selling on need - the need of the customer. Salespeople are there to serve the customer, not to push the customer into doing something they will regret. Like any job, you can learn to be a better salesperson, which will result in making more sales, or of a higher value, or both, but being pushy and aggressive is certainly not the way to achieve this.

I dislike the tone of Steve's post - the people he talks about are not doing a bad thing for being salespeople, rather they are doing a bad thing by misrepresenting the value of what they are selling (assumedly). Like anything in life, there are good people and bad people in sales. There are people who choose to try and increase their level of conscious, and people who do not.

Sales is a very profitable career if you are good, and some of the most successful people in the world have at some stage in their lives been salespeople, and have learnt skills in that role that have stood them in good stead throughout their lives. I would give you a very rude answer if you were to question me on whether I could be doing something better with my life than sales, as if you know better than me what I should be doing. Until you live perfectly, who are you to tell anyone how they should live, especially without knowing them at all?

You've made a straw man argument here - salespeople are not all fraudsters trying to get you to buy worthless crap at exorbitant prices, but the title is not "Even timeshare salespeople are human", and the tone of the post seems intended for all salespeople, not just the ones from your specific experience.

I'm pretty sure you did not mean to offend anyone with your post, but it comes across more than a little holier than thou. But I guess even bloggers are human.

[escapee]

I thought this thread is supposed to be about free hugs ?

Come on samjbrowne, by now, we should all know that you are the best and the most respected sales person in your company, but lets drop the corporate, racial, national identity for couple of mins and have a spiritual free hug together . . . .

[Michelle]

I rather enjoyed the "tone" of Steve's latest piece.

Normally after having practiced for a few hours, my brain needs some air. This is when I either go into the forest to connect with nature or into Berne's city center for a walk while getting a few things done.

Inevitabley, if I choose the latter variant, there are people stationed on every prominent street corner and square in the town. They either want to sell you something or convince you to support some worthy cause or join some cult. They approach you energetically and will talk for hours if you let them. If you refuse their offer, you are met with either a) the hurt puppy-dog look or b) the look which says you are a pleb who is not doing her part for society, and that the world will end because of people like you.

Good grief.

When I walk down the street or go shopping I do not want to be harassed or bothered. This is private time. If I am interested in supporting a worthy cause or subscribing to a new service, I will not be molested and pressured into doing so in town. I will sit down at home, and review different possibilities before making a decision.

I do appreciate the need for increasing awareness to various causes. However, this can be done without the annoying and energetic botherings on the street. It is fair enough to set up a stand, let interested people stop by for information. The other people - me! - should be left in peace!

[demk]

Weeeird...I was just thinking about this exact same thing yesterday.

A friend of mine is a salesperson and he was unhappy about having to manipulate people into buying things they dont want. I personally think its cool if you believe in your product. Also, sometimes people want to have someone "help" them decide on their purchase and if they feel like they have bought a good product at the end of it then you have provided value as a salesperson.

[daisychain]

I found the tone of this article quite patronising and was disappointed. Sure there are some sales people who see it as an art and don't have a problem with the hard sell etc, but most people are doing a job they hate because they have no options or are trying to get themselves through college etc.

and yes, maybe we could limit out awakening people's conciousnesses to those who actively seek that out, not everyone in the street we think we can mess with becuase they have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ job and are lower status than us.

Not impressed.

[Michelle]

We all make choices in life. There is no salesperson on this planet being forced to con people into buying overpriced garbage. It is a choice they make. And most reasons people give forth as to why they "have" to do a certain job are nothing more than excuses.

We all have a choice.

[TheColonel]

Although parts of this blog were mildly humorous, I found it a little mean-spirited in places. Even the title is an insult disguised as a joke.

Ironically, Steve, you just proved that 'Even Bloggers Are Human.'

I was in sales for years, and it's not an easy living unless you like rejection, insults and lies. But in the end, Sales is what forced me to begin Personal Development. PD gave me the tools to better cope with the daily abuse and disappointments.

There's an old adage in sales - "Nothing happens until somebody sells something."

My country, the USA, was founded on capitalism, and I'm proud of being part of that. Salesmen provide jobs for accountants, managers, shippers, designers, janitors, etc. by pushing commerce forward.

And whether you accept it or not, whatever you do, you're in sales.

If Steve didn't offer a product (his blog), he wouldn't be able to place Google ads and ask for donations, and we wouldn't be here discussing this. So Steve is actually in sales.

Granted, his approach is subtler than timeshare salesmen. But Google Ads and Donation requests may be equally offensive to some people.

I will view this blog entry as a John Kerry-style "joke that was botched." And poorly conceived.

[Greg Butler]

Believe it or not, that is what I was doing when I realized I was wasting my life. I quit the next day and came home and started building my website, which gives me a lot of inner satisfaction, especially when I hear someone tell me they found the writing inspirational.

In the timeshare business, I realized that even if I was making over $100K a year, that my life was meaningless, and that i had a lot more to offer to the universe than that. Steve's writing was a big part of my inspiration to quit.

Thanks,

Greg Butler

[rini17]

I think both things are too extreme - to call them "hostiles" and to decide to awaken them. For me is best to say "No, thanks" with large smile as directly from heart as it goes. But in my city is more likely that you meet beggar that will start talking to you than salesman. And beggars choose me to talk quite often, don't know why . It is intimidating for me, of course, but I usually just overcome it and listen to them. In the end it is interesting for me to think about whatever he said. But I don't try to "awake" him, I think it would be arrogant unless I really feel I have something to say him.