Now that I have committed to writing a book about sales, I am investing a lot more of my time (relatively speaking, of course) reading about sales.  I want and need to know what the pundits are saying, how are they saying it, and what is their rationale?  As you might expect, many of the books that I skimmed through are recycling the same ideas, the same rhetoric, and the same purpose (how to be a producer). 

As a result, my quests for competitive, if not original, perspectives on sales devolved sharply into a sophomoric exercise of how to identify common themes by different authors.  One recurring idea among sales writers, is that a sales person should not support a product or a concept that he or she does not entirely embrace.  They say that salespeople can't realize success selling something that we, as customers, would not buy ourselves.  In other words, "YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!".  You know what I say?  Bullshit.  Although I agree that a salesperson's own belief in his or her product is helpful, I can hardly agree that it's essential.  My reasoning is simple: the overwhelming majority of America's sales force is selling "second best" everyday, know they are, and are doing extremely well by it.

Call it a cold reality if you'd like, but not everyone can sell Coca-Cola, BMW's, Sub Zero appliances, or Aveda skin care.  In fact, most of us can't, don't, and never will.  Instead, we push Pepsi, Ford, GE, and Mary K.  We sell equipment that we'd never use, cars that we'd never drive, and brands that we'd never wear.  When I worked at Virgin Yellow Pages, half the markets I canvassed used our directory for a doorstop or a booster chair.  Did it bother me?  Not in the least.   Now (for one more week anyway) I sell drugs (the legal kind), and like many pharm reps, I promote second, even third-line pills.  I tell a hundred and fifty doctors every two weeks, twenty six times a year, "When you can't control patient "A" with drug "X", drug "Y", or drug "X" plus drug "Y", will you write drug "Z" (my product)?  Corporate says we're "painting a clear patient type", but I know better; we all do.  So, the question begs to be asked: why doesn't selling lesser alternatives detract from my performance, depress my passion, or dull my confidence as a sales person?  Why doesn't it effect tens of thousands more salespeople, just like me?  The experts say it should, so why doesn't it?   Three reasons:  self-respect, money, and the middle-class.

Self-respect comes from within; not every sale rep has it, but more do than don't.  Just because the goods or services that we sell are second-rate, doesn't mean we have to be.  You do the best you can with what you've got; it's the only way to sleep at night.  The second reason is the green reason.  If salespeople are getting paid, belief in our product is merely an after thought.  Show us the money, and we'll show you the numbers.  Finally, it's because of economics.  Most Americans can't afford their first choice.  We have to settle for things - cloth instead of leather, domestic instead of import, projection instead of plasma, carpet instead of tile.  That's life.  However, affording average is nothing to be ashamed of, and neither should selling it be.