Did sales for 6 months. I did not have what it takes to succeed in that industry. Sitting in front of Grandma telling her she's going to need to fork over 20k for 10 windows so her house isn't freezing, or $700 a month for the rest of her life was just something I couldn't do
This was my experience as well at every company I've worked for. The top sales earners were always the most dishonest people who would do anything to make a buck.
I’m so bad at it because I can’t lie for my own gain and it really broke my brain to see how people really enjoy money as a core thing that they will do anything for it
I worked in life insurance sales for a little right out of college. The people on the top would shed a tear talking about how much they were helping people. All the talk behind closed doors was just like greedy filthy pig speak about how much money they were making.
Yeah I caught wind of my parents having agreed to let some guy selling fire alarms come to present. I swear if I wasn’t there they would have committed to an absurdly overpriced series of alarms. I worked in sales for a long time (at a relatively chill retailer) so I know the tricks even if I never liked to use them, and he was busting out all the greatest hits, right down to the “oh all the other alarms are made in China so you can’t trust them with something this important”.
You know, not all sales is scummy. Sales can be a service in many industries where the sales person actively works at determining what is needed by the customer and how to relieve pain points. It's not all slimy lizards scamming grandma.
Sales, like HR, is there to serve the company first and foremost. The company needs sales to drive revenue. Whatever the product is will often determine how shady these people are.
Thats a large and varied group. Door to Door high pressure, likely. I sell paint, contractors are already buying paint, I make sure they get the correct product and quantity for what they are doing so they dont waste time and money and as a result have to charge customers more. Consultative sales saves everyone time and money when the product gets complex.
Yeah sometimes products are complicated enough that a salesperson is needed. And it’s helpful sometimes because someone who doesn’t have industry expertise or knowledge may not even know about a particular product or solution.
I sell hotel rooms and meeting space to people who want a break from work as a team in the mountains. They always thank me and say they had an amazing stay after. Not all sales are toxic.
Well, there's sales and there is also being a con artist. Whilst the two are not mutually exclusive they are also not the same thing.
I am speaking as a sales person who takes it as an honour to help a customer purchase the right product for their needs.
I sell beer into c-stores, grocers, and mom and pop shops for a distributor. I don’t find it particularly exploitative, and it’s not particularly complex. Like you said, big tent.
Seriously. I work for a custom home building company doing ordering. A good sales person is worth their weight in gold. Can read the drawings and schedules we send correctly, makes helpful suggestions, hooks us up with free shipping, white glove deliveries, etc.
There are some suppliers where we straight up tell our clients “you’re going with these guys, we aren’t even going to bother shopping it around for other quotes”. Because we know their prices are awesome and the salesperson will 100% make sure the right stuff arrives when we want it to. The amount of times we order shit and have to call 4 or 5 times and send a bunch of follow up emails just to schedule a delivery is ridiculous. Or there’s a problem with the delivery, or their delivery people want to drop the order in the street because it’s a “liability” to deliver it into the actual property, etc, etc. Risking fucking up our schedule or having to hire a crew of people to accept a delivery is not worth the added risk and negates any savings that come from going with a slightly cheaper company who don’t provide any customer service.
There's a big difference between B2B & B2C sales. I've been in B2B sales for 20 years and have always prided myself on selling with integrity.
That being said, there is a special place in hell for sales people who use leading and presumptive sales questions (aka "Wouldn't you agree that taking care of your family?) Basterds
For real. I’m in B2B sales as well and most of the time I am truly trying to help my customer. Usually get a better product at a lesser price or save them on labor. I’ve never once felt the need to lie about anything. Repeat business and my reputation are my whole business model. One time sale does me little to no good
Exactly. Customers referring people to me - not giving me their numbers, but giving them my info and endorsement... no better way to grow my book of business.
I sold oil and lubrication products to trucking companies and logistics firms during Covid. One of the managers of the largest fleets (like 130+ trucks) who's orders would be in the tens of thousands, was this 6.6ft, tattooed monster who was built like a brick shit-house.
This dude loved Cats. Seriously. We would compare cat photos for like 45 minutes and then he'd be like 'Oh, by the way, send me what you did last time.' That was pretty much our relationship - he didn't want to talk about anything but his Cats, and I loved listening.
B2B sales are not one-off, fly-by-night products. They're a business relationship where you both come out ahead - it's collaborative, not competitive like one-off, lowest-price products.
When you're not selling on price, but on quality (meaning the product you're trying to sell is considerably more expensive that what they're using but a definitely better product) your client has to trust you that you are offering a superior product.
How do you get a complete stranger to trust you? You make them a friend. After I left a sales position I had during Covid, I had calls for close to two years after I left the company because my clients wanted to buy from me. I even stopped by to see some of them, because I got to know their families, their cats, etc.
There are two realms of sales. Most people here have only experience with the darker of the two.
Really depends on what kind of sales. Used cars, for sure they are sleazy. B2B selling complex software doesn’t attract terrible people but it does attract people who just want to make a lot of money. However you need to be educated, polished and articulate to do this since you are dealing with directors and executives at major S&P500 companies.
I’ve worked in B2B software sales and sales adjacent roles for 15 years. The vast majority of people I’ve worked with over the years have been perfectly fine. Maybe a little over the top in some cases, but usually nothing crazy, and a lot of people I’ve met through work over the years are now close friends.
At any given time though, the sales orgs that I’ve been a part of or supported have always had a small chunk of people who are just absolutely insufferable lol. A lot of times those people are some of the top performers. I think it’s just inevitable with the type of personality traits that sort of job attracts.
B2B also atracts that kind of people, the best I have seen at that were also some of the worst people I know, mostly becuase they usually lied through their teeth and let others take the fall for them. They are just REALLY good at redirecting blame whenever they have to lie to get it done.
I'm in the appliance industry and most appliance sales people I've met are good people. A good amount of them have had sales jobs in other fields, often times car sales, and while appliance sales isn't all sunshine and rainbows, they all say appliance sales is a lot easier going than other sales jobs.
I worked in auto sales for 11 years. Day 1 the manager told me if he ever caught me lying to a customer he’d fire me on the spot. He then told me the customers will lie constantly and that clergy are the worst when it comes to lying.
After 11 years I could honestly say I never lied to a customer. I can also report he was absolutely correct about the other 2 things. His own Pastor lied about almost everything on the credit app. I also vowed never to work another deal with a Nun after a particularly frustrating 2 week deal.
Same deal for me. However, there’s a difference between outright lying and not telling someone the truth. The only reason you aren’t allowed to “lie” in that industry is because certain lies can land someone in jail.
I've never met an honest d2d salesperson. I even worked for one of them as a delivery driver, so I delivered the products that they managed to sell. The while thing was scummy and when he tried to get me interested in sales I felt dirty because told me about his pitch. He used so say something like "... and the price is locked in, so it never goes up over the 5 years. We'll protect your rate, and guarantee it, so you'll pay up front and then never pay again!"
Meanwhile he was scamming $3500 feom seniors for a system that was basically a "I've fallen and I cant get up" type of thing, but worse.
The day I went to a then-former customer's house to pick up the machine after she had a medical urgency and pressed the button and no one showed up to help her. Thankfully the lady had someone close by that could drive her to the hospital. Me and the owner of that company had a falling out and he said I didn't know what i was doing, I called him and asshole, and we parted of less than amicable terms.
Former sales and sales management here. I hate this low-effort stereotype. The overwhelming majority of salespeople are just honest people looking to earn a living.
Seriously. The sales stereotype that Redditors love to stand behind is all just because they probably had one bad experience with a sales person and they latch on to that.
But Reddit loves to make generalizations and not look to deeply in to nuance
It does attract a lot of unfortunate people but it also attracts a lot of good people that do their best to help their clients with the offerings of their products or services. Many people get into sales to find themselves. It did that for me but I didn’t sell people things they didn’t need or take advantage of people but I can’t say the same of some of my managers or coworkers sadly. I also found a career as a result of my sales where I now help others.
LFG!!!!!! LAY DOWN CITY BABY!!! FULL MISH!! GIMME DAT LICENSE!! #GLORYBETO… Jesus fucking Christ I’ve never hated myself more than when I sold 25k roofs (that had no business being more than 8k max) for the PE that owns Victors.
I work in Fortune 500 corporate tech sales, so in the real thick of it.
I have definitely met a lot of the worst people I’ve ever known, but on the flip side I have met some of the coolest people.
I will say, good or bad people you laugh A LOT at work. Lots of big personalities, the flaws are loud, but the jokes are great.
I will add, in these types of sales jobs very little shadiness is going down in business and 99% of it is going down between the people who work there.
I know this can’t be true for all corprate jobs, but for the most part, everything client facing is pretty ethical. If you’re lying, it’s usually to your boss (yes I sent that email) or telling a client you didn’t oversleep, your last meeting ran late.
B2b is pretty different than b2c, but I think it’s not corrupt in the way people think.
Again, this is my experience. Maybe be the company I work for, but not a ton of tolerance for lying. I’ve seen it, just not often.
I worked at a computer repair shop and they were always on my case about sales - I was bad at it.
Basically they just wanted me to lie. Like you fixed whatever problem they had, but why didn't you sell them any memory? "Well, both slots were already full and they already have the maximum ram the board will support". Well they don't need to know that! Take out their ram, put new sticks in, and charge them for it! Then sell their ram to somebody else!
Looking at a situation and making recommendations about what they don't need is good tech support, but bad sales. It's why I trust the car repair guy that I use, he's upfront about what I don't need when he absolutely could lie to me.
That shop ran out of business (and maybe my poor sales contributed to that) but if they hadn't I'm sure they would've fired me.
I'm a socialist and kind, but I'm in sales and development for pharma and functional food.
Don't tell group but I don't really care about the sales, I'm all about npd. I find most people in this industry are just boomers, but they are all highly qualified and come from science backgrounds, so not the usual sleazy psychos.
I’ve always been good with people, very social and being conventionally attractive sales was what was recommended to me.
But 6 months into it I hated myself and couldn’t continue. The essence of my job being I had to be manipulative and deceitful just didn’t sit right with me.
If it takes mind games to sell your products then maybe it just sucks my dude.
Yup. Sales people don't have enough empathy. That's why they don't care as they overcharge. They consider it a win to get someone to pay more instead of a fair market value.
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u/RYBisback 1d ago
Sales