Salespeople with an identity crisis.

Salespeople have such a crummy reputation, even salespeople themselves don’t like to be called ‘a salesperson’. Selling seems to be a synonym for dishonesty, stretching the truth, misrepresentation and buyer’s remorse.

Salespeople have attracted many unpleasant names.

To many people,the term ‘salesperson’ means being a con-artist, crook, shonk, haggler, huckster, horse thief, pedlar, dealer, wheeler-dealer, fraudster, bunco boy, shark, cheat, scammer, or flimflammer.

Salespeople by any other name?

Here’s a list of what people have to call themselves to escape the evil stigma of the word ‘salesperson’, ‘sales rep’, ‘salesman’.

Networker = a poncy name for a Multi Level Marketing salesperson.
Account Manager = a toffy name for an advertising salesperson.
Company Representative = a prancing-horse of a name for a travelling salesperson.
Product Manager = a misdirected name for a salesperson who is supposed to know how something works.
Consultant = a dressed-up name for an employee-vacancy-filling salesperson.
Management Consultant = a over-rated name for a business advice salesperson who’s never been in business.
Lawyer = a terrifying-sounding title for a salesperson who charges a lot of money for stamps and faxes.
Financial Planner = a fancy name for an insurance salesperson.
Technical Sales Representative = a weird name for a salesperson who hated being a mechanic but also isn’t much good at sales.
Sales Executive = an inflated name for a worn-out Salesperson who spends her time in internal meetings.

Salespeople aren’t all that bad.

‘Jeffrey’s not much good at anything. He couldn’t get a real job so he got into sales going door to door with fertiliser’, says Auntie Joan proudly of her ill-dressed, mumbly, sniffing nephew with the personality of a postcode in Iceland and the IQ of a wombat.
He’s not typical. He just seems typical. As an example of the worst of the selling profession, the poor lad sticks out. Most sales people I’ve met over 40 years, however, dress well, speak well, know their stuff and mean well. Some make a bus load of money. Many of them, sadly, scrape by and are thankful their spouse or partner has a well-paid government job to keep the fridge full. There are many reasons for low sales which I will be writing about more.

The big complaint I have with salespeople is: T-H-E-Y T-A-L-K T-O-O M-U-C-H.

I’ll be hosting a free webinar about this soon. If you’d like to see a lift in your sales results, just send this automatically completed email to let me know I should advise you personally when it’s on.

Meanwhile, own up to your profession.

After all, sooner or later ALL the money in the world passes through the hands of salespeople. You’re pretty important.

Please scroll down a bit to tell me a story about some misdirected names you’ve seen applied to salespeople or tell me how you feel about introducing yourself as plainly as, ‘I’m a salesperson.’