eds

Salesy

Being SALESY should be a great thing!

I noticed that I, like many others in the industry, was using the word salesy to describe something negative yet I keep preaching that sales is the best thing that happened to me and that anyone that is good at sales will never be hungry.

I can see how history made us relate someone salesy to someone pushy and annoyingly persistent, but if you work in SaaS sales these days, you know it's not about selling but rather helping people buy.

Being salesy should no longer be related to something negative, how can I start changing the connotation of being salesy to something positive, a characteristic to seek, a good listener and communicator?

If a prospect calls me "salesy" it's a

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23 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Being calle 'salesy' makes me feel grimey, but being called a good sales professional/person gives me pride.

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

100%!!

That's what I mean, "salesy" is bad and frowned upon, but "sales professional" is good? they should be synonyms and both should have positive connotations

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I would strongly disagree with you. Salesy means I am being a stereotypical used car salesman. I don't want my prospects to feel like I'm pushing them down the road or forcing a buy. That's not a good thing to be related to, at least in my book.

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

I hear you, my point is that "salesy" shouldn't equate to that stereotype despite that being the case. Use "sleazy salesperson" for that.

My desire is for the word "salesy" to bring memories of a salesperson that behaved like a doctor, that listened, that cared, that guided and educated.

That's all, I would love for us in sales to stop reinforcing the fact that salesy means pushy, annoying, etc.

JC10X

Politicker

Senior Sales Manager

This is so true, we really need to reevaluate the meaning we give words. Being Salesy is a great thing, it means you know how to help people buy, you're an expert and a great source for advice.

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

That's it, I want to rewire the perception of the profession.

Most of us don't sell snake oil anymore, do we? Those are scammers!

Beasthouse

Opinionated

Corporate trainer

its currently bad but it will change as the market does the challenge is that what do you call all the snake oil sales dicks that aren't going to change

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

scammers!! they're scammers!

Do.it.for.the.checks

Politicker

Account Executive

Too many people have had too many bad experiences from crappy salespeople.

Also, I love to use it to describe myself when I negotiate. "Look I hate to get salesy with you, but the fact is I have a spiff and if we can get an agreement in place by end of the month, I have the green light on some better commercials. Is there any way you can make a decision by then?"

Breaks the mold, I'm not trying to run one past you. I'm trying to work with you on a resolution

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

You're right, and I feel that we won't be able to give the word salesy a positive connotation because most salespeople out there don't have the right approach.

It all stems from the bad experiences we've had after purchasing something from a guy that was more convincing than what I'm comfortable with.

Calico

Celebrated Contributor

Corporate Trainer

Since the word "salesy" already has a bad connotation of being hypey and pushy, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to change that meaning that people have already internalized.

If someone wants to compliment me as a salesperson, I'd prefer "professional" or "hard-working". I know these are general terms that can be used for any employee though.

Beasthouse

Opinionated

Corporate trainer

yea i have to agree hard working would be way better for me as well

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

You're right, I'm starting to think this is the wrong battle to pick.

Balloons4baboons

Opinionated

Account Executive

For all of us it probably sounds like a good thing because we know what it means - being sales savages. But for anyone outside of sales, until the narrative around sales changes, it’s going to typically mean slick or sleazy and like we aren’t trustworthy.

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

You hit the nail in the head b4b, my dream is to give the word a positive connotation at some point.

Santipodero

Politicker

Sanix

It seems to me that when they call you a salesman it is because they don't want any other kind of friendship with you, just business.

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

Me gusta tu espanol

Santipodero

Politicker

Sanix

Sorry I'm learning English and sometimes the translator fails me ajajajaja

eds

Opinionated

Salesy

hehe no worries, keep learning :)

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

Being calle 'salesy' makes me feel grimey, but being called a good sales professional/person gives me pride.

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

The perk is getting to work from home.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

depending on where you live (Canada + USA) You can carve out a section of your home for WFH and deduct the proportion of electricity/mortgage/rent.

ChickenWings

Opinionated

Tom Callahan's Son

I have one recent experience with being called “salesy”. Was not at all offended.

It depends on who is claiming you to be salesy. Certain personas will deem you guilty before innocent simply due to your title.

I had multi-threaded support from multiple c-level execs, and those closest to the work.

Their CTO was resistant to the change we collectively were driving.

It turns out dude just didn’t want to reverse any dev work they had completed…without considering the serious disadvantage he was putting his entire org in.

His defense to staying out of the convo? Calling me “salesy”. I shrugged it off, asking for a real opportunity for him to decide that after meeting with me.

His team pushed him to have one convo. He came with an open mind and valid questions. We gave him valid answers. We all actually got along great.

Within an hour he was on onboard, sent everybody LI requests, set up an external slack. Things moved forward and we’ve proven that “salesy” has worked better than his non-existent incumbent.

If a throw away comment about being salesy gets someone to the table to truly find out, I’ll take that.

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eds

Being SALESY should be a great thing!

If a prospect calls me "salesy" it's a

23 comments

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