Where Did the Great Sales Guys Go

Great sales people used to be everywhere. Others would describe them as natural born salesmen. They meant those professionals could talk to anybody, about anything, make friends with everybody and persuade Eskimos to buy freezers. You must remember some great sales guys and the ways everybody else wanted to be like them. I do.

But they don’t seem to exist anymore. Where did the great sales guys all go?

My theory is, like the DoDo and dinosaurs they died out, suffocated by changes in the environment.

First that book, Re-engineering the Corporation, persuaded bean counters they could design their business process in ways to make the really good guys redundant.

Second, the same book persuaded customers they could design their buying process to make the great sales guys redundant.

Third, the same book persuaded the great sales guys they were redundant. Like the dinosaurs nobody needed them anymore.

Now nobody will stand out, explaining the King isn’t wearing any clothes. Everybody is frightened to take on the bean counters – sales guys and customers alike.

And no customer will stand out, interested in new ideas which don’t fit with the bean counters plan to enforce mediocrity.

There aren’t any really good sales people these days because there aren’t any great customers.

All we’re left with is wankers following the rules and scam merchants taking advantage of the stupid.

But it can’t last. One day we’ll figure out accountants might be good at adding numbers but they’re crap at creating value.

We’ll persuade the bosses the secret to success lies in doing things differently, not following the strategy. That’s what everybody else is doing.

We’ll persuade them tomorrow’s answer comes in new ideas, not yesterday’s strategy, and that’s when we’ll see the great sales people appear, emerging from the ashes like the Phoenix.

Great sales guys didn’t die off. They’re just waiting for the beancounters to realize they don’t have all the answers after all.

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