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It has been 12 years since I started in sales. Looking back, it seems I have gained a lot, yet also nothing. People are like this: when you reach the end, you often return to the starting point. I spent 2 years in sales, 2 years as a branch manager, 2 years as a marketing manager, and 6 years as a marketing director. I haven't achieved any remarkable accomplishments, but I have learned some things and gained a deeper understanding of myself. If I were to reflect on myself or offer advice to those currently in sales, here are my heartfelt thoughts:
First, salespeople must manage their family well and, more importantly, their emotions. The essence of sales is opportunity and creativity, so the unstable work environment can easily lead to emotional instability. Especially when away from family, lacking warmth, and dealing with clients based on interests, although there is emotion, as a representative of an interest organization, the relationship with clients is built on corporate interests. Many salespeople fail to manage their emotions, leading to family problems or being exploited due to their desire for warmth, which leads them astray. There are many such examples.
Salespeople must first understand themselves. The nature of sales exposes us to uncertainty about the future, which we cannot control. If we don't understand ourselves, we easily focus on short-term gains, become restless, and fail to see ourselves clearly, becoming self-centered. Many people confuse confidence with self-centeredness. Of course, when you have a preference for someone or they benefit you, you might call them confident; when you have a bias against someone, you might call them self-centered. It's hard to step outside ourselves to see problems, so our view of ourselves is often subjective, while our view of others is often objective. To step outside ourselves, we must genuinely compare others' viewpoints with our own and carry a bit of self-denial; otherwise, our preferences easily make us think we are right. The same issue, viewed from different angles, can be right for each person because we see only the facts that support our correctness, while we often ignore or fail to see facts that prove our views wrong.
Salespeople must also clarify their value. Because the future is uncertain, the essence of sales is working with people, and people are unpredictable—whether consumers or distributors. So our work is uncertain, and we strive daily to find patterns and logic to make our work more efficient. Most salespeople are interested in methods and like to replicate them. That's why we prefer method-based training: it's easy to understand, simple to operate, requires little effort, and yields quick results. Thus, many salespeople are replicators of methods. But here's the problem: our work goals are uncertain and vary in intensity, which conflicts with method replication. More importantly, we should cultivate the ability to devise methods rather than just mastering existing ones. We often see that many salespeople rely on experience and can only operate in familiar industries; they struggle when switching industries. Methods are products of past environments, while we create value for the future. Enterprises need not replicators of methods (that's for workers) but those who seize opportunities and create methods.
Sales is a profession that rewards results, not effort. At least in most companies, performance and value systems are results-oriented. So we often set goals and use various methods, which is not wrong. But under pressure, it's hard to consider whether methods align with company principles or group direction. Because we judge heroes by results, salespeople often feel they are doing business with the company, leading them to resist company principles and systems, viewing them as obstacles to achieving goals. Moreover, the fastest way to achieve goals is to change the rules, but whether these rules conflict with the company's fundamental interests is something salespeople don't consider. We shouldn't blame salespeople for not following rules; their role is inherently about opportunity and creativity. This creates inevitable and necessary conflicts between the company and salespeople. Of course, this depends on the marketing director's stance. Most marketing directors come from sales backgrounds and often prioritize their own positioning. Whether they can view issues from the company's strategic and developmental perspective determines their future value.
Above, I've only looked at sales from another angle. Although I haven't done well myself, if readers can gain something, it's a comfort to me.
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