How long have you been in sales?

If there were a way that you could sell more books, quit your day job, and have even more time for writing and lecturing, you’d probably be interested in finding out how, wouldn’t you?

Our class met in one of the classrooms in the basement of Pleasant Hall on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.
There were forty of us.
It was February, 1984.
The instructor began with a question, “How many of you are in sales?”
About a half of the students raised a hand.
Several others raised their hand and then dropped them, then half-raised them again.
Were they in sales or not?
Actually, everyone in the room was in sales. We were taking the Dale Carnegie Sales Course.
Everyone in the class was involved in the profession of sales as their primary source of income.
Why can’t someone whose livelihood depends on their ability to sell a product or service admit that they are in sales?

Flash forward to the summer of 1998.
Between filling prescriptions, I received a cold call from a friendly lady who tried to sell me some original art. It was a piece by LeRoy Neiman. During the course of the conversation, I asked, “How long have you been in sales?”
She was offended. “I’m NOT in sales! I’m an investment advisor for art enthusiasts.”

Yeah, right.

Over the years I’ve heard many euphemisms for people in sales: account rep, consultant, advisor, broker, agent, customer service rep, and one of my favorites, vice president.

Over the years, I’ve crossed trails with many people who haven’t done as well as they would like to have had in their chosen field, simply because they couldn’t sell themselves or their products: accountants, bankers, bookkeepers, ministers, photographers, artists, painters, editors, doctors, lawyers, chiropractors, pharmacists, teachers, nurses, coaches, retail store managers, and the list is endless.

In fact, everyone is in sales.
Everyone is selling something and it’s usually themselves or their skills or services.

Sometimes, we blame our low self-esteem on others: the used car salesman in a plaid sports coat, the brush salesman in a polyester suit, the cosmetics sales lady in an old car.

Baloney.

Name a profession that hasn’t had it’s share of unprofessional perpetrators of perpetual sleaze.

Want to change the perception? Start with the person you see in the mirror. Convince him or her that sales is an honorable profession and then act like it.

SleazySalesman