Millennium Marketing Research®

Tom Schori DBA Millennium Marketing Research®, 808 Ironwood, Normal IL 61761, 309-532-8466

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Direct sales: Does it really deserve to be the 'Rodney Dangerfield' of professions?

By Thomas R. Schori, Ph.D., and Michael L. Garee, Principals,  Millennium Marketing Research, 808 E. Ironwood, Normal, IL 61761-5239. Tel. 309-532-8466 -

Did you ever notice that most people use the term "salesperson" more as a pejorative than as a way to describe a person’s job type? "Oh, it was just some salesman (or saleswoman)," we often hear members of our staff say, when asked who just called on the telephone. And, certainly, we’ve all heard the numerous "salesman" jokes, both clean and not so clean, that have become an integral part of the American fabric. Arguably, "sales" has become the "Rodney Dangerfield" of professions¾it gets no respect! And, that’s unfortunate because, regardless of what we do for a living, we all are selling something.

Consider, for example, what you do for a living. Whether you are employed as an entry level clerk, a top executive, self-employed, a member of a trade or profession, or whatever, you still are selling something. And that "something" may be your skills, expertise, experience, or, at the very least, your time. Tends to put the whole idea of "sales" in a somewhat different perspective, doesn’t it?

In our office we have a prominently displayed sign that states, "Nothing happens until someone sells something." Are we primarily salespeople? No, of course not. We’re marketing and research consultants. But before we can practice our profession, we first must sell ourselves and our expertise to prospective clients. (To be sure, this is also the case for anyone employed in any capacity in the workforce!) Our pithy little office sign is intended to serve as a constant reminder to us and to our staff that, lest we forget it, sales plays an integral role in any business, and particularly in our business.

Before starting our own consulting firm, over the years we worked for a number of major companies where the direct sales force played a vital role in the success of the organization. That is, the only people who directly generated income for the entire organization were the members of the field sales force. Yet, even in those companies, significant numbers of employees tended to view the field sales force with a mixture of cynicism, suspicion and, sometimes, even open hostility and derision! It seems that these detractors of the field sales force were never able to see that they, too, were in "sales" for the organization, albeit in a different capacity.

What is there about being a salesperson¾and, most of us reserve this term for those engaged primarily in direct sales of some type¾that fosters such a uniformly negative perception? We believe it essentially is the result of good, old-fashioned "stereotyping." Many of us view salespeople as glib, "pushy," deceptive, superficial, intrusive, etc. And, as with any stereotyping, one can always observe at least some of these characteristics in some members of the profession. The tendency then becomes one of applying¾unfairly and unjustifiably, of course¾these negative characteristics "across the board" to all members of the direct sales profession.

As is the case with virtually all professions, there are direct salespeople who are sometimes less than honorable, sometimes less than forthright, and even sometimes deceitful, but the vast majority of them are no different from most of the other people in the workforce, no better, and certainly no worse. Without question, though, their efforts, day-in and day-out, accompanied oftentimes with more rejection than most of us could bear, literally "grease" the wheels of commerce.

So, the next time you find yourself (or an associate) criticizing or otherwise denigrating the "sales" profession, won’t you please take a step backward and tell yourself (or the associate) to remember that all of us are in the business of "sales"? We hope so because, also remember, nothing¾absolutely nothing!¾happens until someone sells something!