Sales Reps Need Not Apply

A question I am often asked is, "What will be the role of the sales representative in the future?" My answer is, "The role of the sales representative as we know it today is disappearing. The underlying shift is from sales representative to sales entrepreneur." The role of a sales professional will not disappear anytime soon, but responsibilities will include a sound knowledge of selling coupled with a professional code of conduct.

Unfortunately, the profession of selling is saddled with a lousy reputation. Rarely do we advertise our careers as, "I'm in sales." It's usually, "I'm in marketing," or "I'm in business development," or "I represent the XYZ company." The actions of one-dimensional sales representatives continue to fuel the less-than-stellar reputation of sales. Most one-dimensional sales representatives are motivated by the one-time hit: get the sale at all costs and take no prisoners. They repeatedly make canned presentations armed with little more than glossy brochures and a box of donuts. Their basic need is survival. Repeat business is not part of their repertoire. The future offers no security for the sales representative.

Businesses are scrambling to differentiate themselves as they compete for a piece of those well-guarded corporate budgets. Sales entrepreneurs are their key to corporate differentiation. The facilitators of corporate differentiation will be sales entrepreneurs, not traditional sales representatives. Customers today no longer tolerate the one-dimensional "sales representative" style of selling.

One of the objectives of this book is to foster a mindset of entrepreneurial selling. Your future in selling lies in your willingness and ability to operate more as a business, a mini-enterprise, thinking as the president of ME Inc. Sales organizations are slowly reshaping themselves in an attempt to foster entrepreneurial selling. You are no longer servicing a territory but managing a business. There is a groundswell of support within the business community supporting the role of the sales entrepreneur.

I am always amazed to see the lack of performance accountability at the sales level as some companies still accept so-so sales results, where performance falls short of revenue targets. With nothing more than a verbal spanking, the representative forges ahead optimistically into next year. In future, sales entrepreneurs will be held closely accountable for all sales-related aspects of their business, including margins, profits, customer satisfaction, expenses, and results.

I fully expect the future will endorse some form of certification or licensing for sales professionals. In fact, the International Standards Organization regulatory body is already looking at it.