#8 Myths about Sales profession:

#8 Myths about Sales profession

Today, we all know that we are living in a global village, where we have tons of opportunities in various fields to earn money, name, fame, esteem. It is one side of the coin the other side is contradicting the above statement because we make our perception depending upon our experiences and that is too sometimes a single time experience. This makes people judgmental, suspicious and confused who confused others too. However, no one in the world can have all the information on all the subjects.

Likewise, it is with sales profession, people usually heard the word sales the stereotype image comes in their minds i.e. “Lair, person who want my money, educated thief, cunning, shrewd, commission agents, and unethical person, below standard person etc” this list may go on and on. It is a mistake done by people who involve in sales “I am not considering them as sales professionals because they created this negative reputation of a sales person in market, this are the people who don’t have ethics, moral values, self-respect and humanity”. In every profession you find a person who driven by ethics and moral values and others who involve in unethical means to meet their goals.

Because of such awful experiences with such type of people builds a common negative perception about sales profession. In this article, I am going to share with you all are the myths people have in their mind not only about sales persons but myths about sales profession.  Reason why people have so much of judgments about sales profession is because “Sales job is depending upon dealing with human beings and human behavior is unpredictable.”

I begin with the ideal statement you may have read this in various books written on sales and business i.e.  “Sales is an art and a science” this is altogether a different area of discussion, this thought based on two school of thoughts in management. We will discuss this in some other article; today we are going to discuss about the myths prevails in the market and society about sales professionals. If you talk to any single person on the planet today about sales everyone have their own interpretations and yes here is the situation of confusions and problems arises. So now, below are some of the very common rather I say basic myths people not only have about on sales person but also on sales profession.

1.       Sales people are liars:

The primary and very basic thought people think about sales guys is they have the in build quality to speak lie just to close the sales. But the truth here is ideally to do sales you don’t need to speak lie. The reason for this myth is sales people who are unable to build trust in the mind of customers pushes customers to think like this. “Selling is one of the proud profession in which you as a professional try to solve business problems of people with your products and services which is best suited for them.” As we all know lie can’t stand long enough in front of truth so is the case with liars too. So just trust the process and follow your gut instinct.

2.       Doing sales is a child’s play:

It is yet another myth people think that sales is just a byproduct if you have a very awesome product. This is not at all true; we are humans hence emotions and logic's flow inside us. It is not easy for any person to build a trust and if someone is building trust on you it’s your responsibility that you keep your words. It is common sense and an act of a dignified professional. A sale is not at all easy yet it’s not impossible too. The reason is again you have to deal with people here and consider them as people only then your sales will happen to start automatically with referrals, positive word of mouth publicity etc.

3.       Sales job is only for men:

It is one of the most popular myths in whole world that sales are the profession for men only. But the fact is that women are equally smart as men works in this profession. Today if we look at the corporate world the main authoritative positions are handled by women very successfully. So not only in sales but in all professions women are working with equal responsibilities along with managing responsibilities of families too.

4.       People who don’t get job anywhere do sales:

Let me be very clear on this fact that sales job is not meant for all first. You must require various skill sets without which you can’t survive in the profession. Ironically, people usually try their hands in education industry, food industry and in sales too because here in entry and exit are pretty easy as compared to any other profession like Engineering, Medical, CA etc. We are living in the era where irrespective of your education and profession everyone has to do sales now and then, directly or indirectly. Due to this every other person do have their opinion on the profession. As I said this is not the profession for everyone so people who can’t survive in the profession flourishes this myth about the profession.

On a contrary, yes I do agree that anyone can sale but again first they need to fulfill basic criteria which sales profession requires.

5.       Below standard job profile:

It is again people have this myth in their minds that sales people are below average people with below average IQ with no growth potential and hopeless creatures on the planet. But the fact is because of sales professionals companies sale their products and services to earn their desired profits. It is companies who build kinds of culture and philosophies which as a sales profession one need to adopt and deliver results. Sales profession has potential to earn huge amount of money. Yes we are having very big shortage of good sales professional in the industry today. The more you train the new entrants the more likely you can expand the business.

6.       Digital Marketing replace Sales people:

It is one of the very fresh myths which are prevailing in the market today. Human beings create new innovations and inventions do that means this innovations replace human beings. Digital Marketing is just an emerging branch of sales so fundamentally the classic forms of sales never replace or omits from the industry.

7.       Sales people never have a stable career :

This is again a myth prevails from such a long time and still lots of people have confusion on the fact. But the thing is that if a person is performing as per standards set by the organization and deliver desired results then no one want such a performer to loss. As we discussed above there is a shortage in skillful sales professional today that is the reason people switch very often. To keep sales people companies need to give them training and other necessary support to make sales happen. Doing sales is not a magic it is a planned process which need to perform and you will deliver the results.

8.       To do sales you need to smoke and drink:

It is one of my very personal experiences the myth I faced in my sales career.  There are professionals, business entrepreneurs who think like that sales professional has to do smoke and take drinks to close the deal. And it is very specifically prevails in Real Estate and Construction business. It is totally a misconception and immaturity about the way a person sees a profession. Again drinking and smoking is altogether a very personal choice of a person and if someone is relating it and generalize it with any profession, they are doing injustice with not only with the profession but with the person who is working with full dedication and devotion.

Hope I can able to cover up some very crucial myths which people have about sales profession which need to answer. One point I want to make to all sales professionals that it is very important that we as a sales professional need to understand the seriousness of the issues we discussed above and try to remove these myths by the way we act in our profession. Sales is all about trust, once you lost it you loss it forever.

If you have something to add along with these points or you want to share your own experience so please you can share in comment section.