As I meet more and more salespeople, I’ve started to realized that the three myths about sales are, in fact, completely false.
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The Myth of the Blockhead
A common opinion is that it doesn’t take a genius to sell things. Sometimes, people even go as far as to say that anyone can sell, even if they are totally incompetent in everything else. If someone can’t get another job, then they can just be a salesperson. I’ve learned that this is totally incorrect. While it is true, that one can be taught how to sell effectively, it’s not a job for everyone. Like any other profession, sales has its challenges, and a person must be equipped to handle difficult days and lots of rejection. Not just anyone can do this job.
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The Myth of the Moneygrubber
Some people assume that salespeople are all “in it for the money.” They assume that salespeople don’t care about anything but their commission. While this may be true for some people, most sales representatives genuinely want to solve problems and help people.
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The Myth of the Natural
This myth is counter-intuitive compared to myth number one. Rather than assuming that anyone can sell, many people say that they just aren’t natural salespeople. Rather than trying to learn to sell, they use the excuse that some people are good at sales naturally and some aren’t. This is a more difficult myth to combat because some people do have more of a proclivity to sell than others, but that doesn’t mean that other people cannot become excellent salespeople. It is a skill that anyone can learn eventually.
BoweryJE22
I really appreciated this post, Rachel. You took each of the myths and “demystified” a bit more and put them into laymen’s terms. Like you mentioned, I found it very interesting how two of the myths seemed to cancel each other out per se. Wonder how that all happened? Thanks!
These myths sound like ill informed stereotypes to me after having studied sales in this class. However, these myths are still believed by many people who are unfamiliar with sales. A friend of mine, believing that you have to be exceptionally creative to study Entrepreneurship, is clearly influenced by the myth of the natural.
In high school, I definitely fell for the 3rd myth. I did not think that I could sell well at all because I didn’t inherently have sales skills, but I’ve since realized that that’s totally wrong. Since, I’ve definitely improved my sales skills and have learned a lot!