Who Needs a Salesperson?

Two schools of thought:
1. Business doesn't happen without a salesperson to make the transaction happen.
2. Give the right people the right information and they will buy what they need.

It's funny how the value of sales skill is underrated by the person who isn't doing the selling. Yet show me an organization with no sales skills and I'll show you a company focused on surviving, not thriving. Sales philosophy must infiltrate an organization from securing funding, arranging strategic partnerships, and closing profitable customers to bringing on the right talent and keeping them on your team.

The strength of a sales person is ability to take the tools at hand and make the deal work now, for the best results for all parties. The sensible marketing person will have positioned and messaged and strategized, the finance person will have analyzed and forecasted, the technology person will have Visio'd out the networks. But it takes a sales person - perhaps in the form of a VP of Sales or as a CEO, President or Department Manager with a name other than 'Sales - to make business come together.

Don't neglect your sales skills. Until you are maxing your quotas with ease, don't assume that you can't improve. And hug a sales person today!

International Sales Pros Association