We’ve been discussing, in this series, the discovery of meaning within sales. Why is this so important? Our planet is in incredible turmoil, and we know things will never be the same. From now on it’s an entire different world, with changes on a par to when the Berlin wall was erected. Hopefully, there will be peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, but whatever happens, war has come to a continent on which we never thought there would be war again. It’s a bit frightening when I think that this is happening only 500 miles from my original home in Vienna. There is even a possibility (God forbid) that this conflict could go nuclear. I didn’t necessarily want to get political here, but this is a massive change in society, and through what we do we can address it.
It is more important than ever that salespeople find their true meaning, for they are crucial for peace in society. And Coevera aims to refocus, reengineer, and reimagine sales as one of the world’s most important workforces.
Negative Image
We’ve detailed in the last two articles that sales has certainly been labeled with a negative image. This has been due to some salespeople’s behavior over the years, and their portrayal in the media.
We placed the sales profession in comparison to firefighters—firefighters, anywhere in the world, have a fantastic reputation. Salespeople, on the other hand, do not. Our goal is to bring sales from a negative light into a positive one, similar to firefighters, because they are so crucial.
Creation of the Middle Class
There is a superior reason, however, for sales to find its true meaning once more: sales is vital for creating a middle class, which serves to stabilize the economy.
Crises seem to be hitting us like waves, one behind the next—ISIS, COVID, and now Russia attacking Ukraine. These crises serve to significantly destabilize society. This destabilization breaks down economic protective walls, meaning those of the middle class.
Homes are only affordable by members of the middle class. As firefighters keep homes safe, salespeople keep the society in balance. Wipe out or drastically decrease the middle class, and people can only afford to rent, live in trailer parks, or become homeless as we see in our larger cities.
History shows us what can happen when the middle class disappears within a society. We’re left with the wealthy on one side, and a majority of unemployed or those in poverty on the other. Such a population can be very easy to manipulate, as Adolf Hitler did with the German Workers’ Party in 1919. We all know how that turned out.
Those in Existing Sales Positions
There is a high number of people in sales positions, which is another reason we aim to bring real meaning to sales—a number higher than at any time in the past. 30 percent of the working population leave college or just go straight from high school to sales-related jobs. They’re mainly taking these jobs because they haven’t found any other job they could do, or they’re doing it just to survive. But there are many who are not happy and have no meaning in these positions, and in fact sales has one of the highest turnover rates of any profession—the average salesperson only remains on the job for a year and a half. If they did have meaning, they could perhaps help create a better world.
The Network Enforces Ethics
As we touched on in our last article, salespeople who are purpose-driven and honest will fare better in today’s networked community. Dishonest salespeople, or those who just behave badly, won’t get far, as their reputations will spread near-instantly through the digital world. The reputations of honest, helpful salespeople will also rapidly spread, though, and they will prosper.
Another interesting factor brought about by the networked society is that it pressures salespeople into ethical behavior.* First, they have to be nice in order to sell. If you don’t believe it, just go out and do some shopping. Go out to buy, say, a new grill for barbecuing. The person you talk to at the store will show you the features and do their best to help you. If they don’t, they won’t have a job for long, and word of their behavior will follow them through the network.
Or, if you visit a restaurant, how do they treat you? They are very pleasant. They ask how your meal was and how you enjoyed your dining experience. If they didn’t act that way, you wouldn’t be back, would you? And where would you report your experience? Through an online review.
We can see that our world has become more customer-centric than ever before. It is also, though, at more of a risk than anytime in the past, thanks to riots and, now, war. Salespeople have more pressure to be customer-centric from social media and the network.
It is my assumption that such pressure can cause those in sales positions to become better people. If they weren’t before, under pressure they could become cordial, they become honest, and their traits actually change to those we outlined in the last article: patient, loyal, content, possessing self-control, acting with humility, and the rest. Think about it—if they are dishonest and arrogant and remain that way, they’re not going to do very well as salespeople.
My speculation is that a salesperson, being customer-centric and treating people well throughout a whole day, goes home and continues this kind behavior with their friends and family. Of course, there will always be exceptions, and I have no study to back it up. Still, given the evidence I’ve personally seen in the sales world—and I’ve seen a great deal—I would hazard to guess that a good percentage of salespeople who spend all day being good to people are the same when they go home.
This theory, if true, has broad implications. Not long ago, a study found that it only takes 25 percent of the total population to make a positive change. Therefore, if even 25 percent of salespeople are affected positively in the way we are describing, they will produce better communities, safer environments and a better culture. Isn’t that what we all want?
Sales Meaning Has Global Value
As Coevera returns meaning to sales, it brings one of many answers to the chaos troubling our world today.
Salespeople bring real value to our society. To begin with, they create happy customers. When a person purchases something they really want or need, the salesperson there has produced at least momentary joy.
Beyond that, sales greatly assists in the production of peace. As we quoted in our first article, French economist and writer Frederic Bastiat said, “When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will.” But when sales and trade prevail, conflict does not exist.
So far, we can see that sales brings peace and joy. Salespeople engage in the right thing to do—righteousness. And what is that right thing? It is creating a win-to-win for both parties. Not to get religious, but the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, stated, as an alternative to the Roman Empire, that the structure of a stable society is not built on eating and drinking but on joy, peace and righteousness.
It all boils down to creating an environment where we can all live with each other, which is our vision at Coevera. We want to influence salespeople in becoming a driving force to build this environment of peace and joy.
We’re not just providing the best possible CRM at Coevera. We’re engaged in the establishment of a society in which we all get along. It’s a mission more important today than anything else, for who wants war? People long to live happily with each other.
Is there really any other meaning?
———————-
*Just as an aside, pressures to be kind fall on many other professions, too, and cause them to behave in a friendly, customer-centric manner—but why not on politicians?
