Salesman
1. Description
The recent seminar stressed the role of salesmen. The perception of sales has been reduced to telemarketers while the sales environment has shifted into the technological whelm. The public perception and reality have increasingly shifted apart. As the sales environment evolved the demands of consumers have amplified. The general public perceives salesmen as pushy, fast talking and demanding. Meanwhile, as the sales environment progressed the quality of customer service has become progressively more important to businesses. The role of the salesman has become that of a brand ambassador ushering consumers towards their business, answering questions about products and helping customers choose the right products to fit their needs. The seminar stresses the importance of etiquette in customer relations. There is no room for annoying, pushy salespeople in a successful business. Only curious and caring sales staffs succeed. With online shopping becoming increasingly popular, consumers seeking out sales staff have a rare question or require additional customer service.
2. Reflection
Throughout the seminar, certain trends kept repeating: the perception problem faced by the sales industry and the evolving communication environment with an emphasis on the expectations of consumers.
The speaker began by clarifying the description of sales. The perception of sales has deteriorated into that of a telemarketer creating a ‘broken profession’. In sales, how you’re perceived is crucial to your success. The comparison of sales and boxing used in the seminar illustrates the importance of repetition and persistence. The art of persuasion is similar to the sport of boxing. A single message is easily ignored by consumers while a strong integrated marketing campaign uses multiple channels to reach and persuade consumers.
The evolution of communication technology has given consumers an incredible amount of power. The communication expectation of consumers matches the highest quality available. Social media has given consumers a platform to express their opinions about a brand. Consumers demand advanced communication, detailed information to compare products and the most dedicated customer service. Social media gives us a platform to create an identity, stay informed and network. The one factor the seminar failed to emphasize is how social media shifted the power of influence to consumers. Before social media consumers were mostly influenced by traditional media and their immediate social networks. Since the eruption of social media networks consumers are now being influenced by other consumers.
The shift in consumer influence can be easily leveraged by salespeople. While the word ‘salesman’ produces negative connotations amongst many publics the word ‘customer service’ generates welcoming perceptions in those same audiences. Perhaps the industry of sales has shifted in the global market deserving the industry the new name of customer service. As the speaker noted most often consumers make quick purchases or shop online, the only time consumers welcome sales people is when they are looking for answers or additional service.
3. Relevance to the Course
In the field of international business, the sales skills are embedded into most aspects of cross-cultural communication. In international business, the need to reach out to our audiences, provide information beyond language barriers and convince out targeted publics to take action creates the key objectives behind our work. The shifting sales platform is even more obvious in international business. Web platforms and social media are the key factors that created the global market by providing channels designed to communicate across barriers and borders. In international business sales skills become crucial to convince a cross-cultural audience to trust a business from another country.
4. Comments
The seminar addressed the misconception about the sales profession while providing illustrative examples of the evolving needs of the global market. The relevance of the seminar and the examples provided create a strong message about the subject. The speaker was able to convincingly argue the need to rebrand the image of the salesman to consumers.
The seminar did lack reference to the shifting needs of online audiences and the shift in the power dynamics in the consumer/business relationship. Social media created a platform where consumers inform and influence other consumers. This shift has given consumers the power to influence the future sales and image of a brand. This concept creates growing pressure on businesses to provide the highest quality of customer service in order to positively influence future sales. The evolving market has changed the needs of consumers from requiring salesmen to push products into the market to needing customer service representatives to maintain relationships between businesses and consumers.
References
Comstock, N. W. (2015). Active listening. Salem Press Encyclopedia,
Covey, S. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people. New York: Simon and Schuster.
