This headline caught my eye in yesterday’s Observer newspaper – unfortunately for the wrong reasons.

Whilst written about something completely different (the article is focused on the UK Prime Minister’s recent approach to Foreign Policy – an interesting topic in itself), what you will see immediately is how being a sales person is used in a sharply negative light.

When will the image of sales people become more positive?

I hate the  term ‘salesman’s patter‘.  It carries heavy negative connotations and sits alongside phrases such as ‘gift of the gab‘, ‘(he) could sell sand to the Arabs‘, ‘(he’d) sell his grandmother if he had to‘.  Blah, blah, blah.

When will the image of sales people become more positive?

I think the answer to that question lies with us sales professionals.  We have to focus on adding value to our customers, being professional at all times and acting with integrity and honesty.  I have a mantra that I teach whenever I work with sales people – ‘professional, humble, courteous‘.  To me this is rule #1.

If you carry these three words with you at all times, perhaps people like Nick Cohen will eventually think of other analogies to use when writing about politics.

Filed under: Miscellaneous