4 Dirty Little Secrets About the a sales-oriented firm places minimal emphasis on: Industry
People who like to shop and are highly motivated to do so.
People who like to shop and are highly motivated to do so.
It’s a bit of an oversimplification, but I think it’s important to note that when we say “people who like to shop and are highly motivated to do so” we are excluding the vast majority of people who shop. When we say people who like to shop and are highly motivated to do so, we are excluding the vast majority of people who don’t shop.
For many people, that means saying that they are not particularly motivated to go anywhere. When they say they like to shop, they mean that they are actively shopping for a specific piece of clothing, furniture, etc. If we then allow them to be motivated to go to a store or a store that they are not in attendance of and actually try to purchase a piece of clothing or furniture, we’re talking about a very small percentage of our population.
The biggest problem I see with this idea is that it’s not just the sales or product sales that are excluded. The sales are being done mostly by people who are not even in our company. I’ve asked people who are leaving work and they will tell me that they only see the sales person there.
This kind of sales-oriented company is also a great place to hide your new home. I have friends who tell this story: I was working at a major bank and I was asked to attend the CEO’s conference. My boss asked me, “Can you get me a new desk?” and I said “Sure, I can get you a new desk.” I was told that I couldn’t attend the conference because I was the only one in attendance and I had to work on other things.
My boss told me that I have to complete a new job and that he was going to pay me for this. This was at a major bank. I told him I would be fine with it and that I would love to work at his bank again. He says “That’s great, you have a job, you can work at his bank again. If you want the job, go ahead and apply; I can pay you for it.
I love this guy. That he had to explain to me that I was doing something wrong because I was on the wrong side of the desk (I am!) or that he was going to pay out of his own pocket (I am not) is a direct reflection of how we work in these industries. We tend to be very sales-oriented, but our customers are rarely sales-oriented.
Our sales people are just that – sales people. They’re not paid to think like this, they’re not paid to be this way, they’re not paid to be this person.
I would say that the people who do the actual selling are more sales-oriented than those who do the actual selling. If you look at the sales people in sales offices, that is definitely the case.