Reasons you hate the sales industry

1. "What can I do to get you to purchase <item> today?"

2. Sales industry is full of saddoes and glad-handers.

3. "Before you cancel, let me explain all of the perks you will lose..."

4. "But for you"

5. If you act now...

6. Quantities are limited, so...

7. Having trouble doing this perfectly normal thing? Let me take your money in exchange for this piece of shit that will not help you at all!

8. That looks sooooo good on you.

9. Know what? You have really good taste. Let me show you a few other things you might like...they're right over here, just a sec... (12-40 min are then spent not-buying those other things)

10. That metric is the wrong one to look at. Let me explain.

11. I work in it. And appear to be doomed to work in it forever :-(

12. "Don't worry, I'm not selling anything" (fake smile)

13. Over-chirpy over-familiar nonces making me cross to the other side of the street to avoid being accosted

I and my two best friends at uni swore to each other just before we graduated that we'd never, ever do a sales job (media sales looked like the most distressingly logical career option after our degrees), and we've all managed it. Meant we all earn piss-all money for the first five years out of university, but we're doing alright now pretty much.

I quite like sales, tbh. Selling something that you don't believe in or cold-calling for media sales might be pretty soul-destroying but if you're helping to spread the benefits of something that's actually quite useful, it's not so bad.

7. Having trouble doing this perfectly normal thing? Let me take your money in exchange for this piece of shit that will not help you at all!

loooooool! My fingers are made of agar I can't even lift the can opener!!

things are actual quite useful don't need sales pitch amirite

Your feet won't just clean themselves.

14. "No more bending over in the shower!" <-- who can even say this with a straight face?

xxp, most things needs a sales pitch if they're new to a market - it just makes it a lot easier and more pleasant when you don't have to make stuff up or mislead people.

i hate "persuasion" of any kind i guess

I think that's fair enough in most cases. If the product or service is unfamiliar or presents a challenge to customer expectations it's better to give them the information and let them make their own mind up than try to push them into buying something that isn't right for them. The problem is short term targets and the quick-bonus culture.

i hate "persuasion" of any kind i guess

― Nogood (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, January 4, 2012 8:57 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

super otm

this makes it very difficult to teach, unfortunately.

I work in marketing these days but it's for the organisation I've worked at for nearly ten years and care about a great deal; also, I'm the copywriter rather than the strategist or persuader.

this makes it very difficult to teach, unfortunately

yeah, kind of, tho mostly i just figure the kids i work amongst are unamenable to persuasion and hope that something they pick up will bear fruit down the line. i don't actually have to teach or be assessed by those results tho thank god.

i was talking about myself! so glad to know it's not just me :)

of course i was talking about myself
gah

i do think that being averse to persuasion makes me a little better at teaching it, tbh