L. Alex Mo

Head of Inside Sales at Noodle.ai

Sales union

I have been thinking about a sales union. As salespeople we usually get short end of the stick, so why not bond together and fight for our jobs, fair compensation, and rights at work?

Sales union

Attached poll

37%

Good idea

63%

Bad idea

💰 Compensation

😳 Ethics

🌍 stateof sales 2023

20 comments

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jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Not sure this would gain much traction..

Though I don't disagree about sales getting the short end of the stick when shit hits the fan.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Sales people are too capitalistic to ever join a union in mass.

And it would be too easy to bust a union full of sales people who are intrinsically out for themselves. Way too easy.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Haha sooo true!

BTQ

Politicker

Fractional SDR

This is certainly an interesting thought experiment.

I’m not sure how it would work but unions tend to be complicated. Curious to hear others chime in on there thoughts.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

You see how often a small sample of sales peeps disagrees in here? Don't think a union idea has legs.

RandyLahey

Politicker

Account Executive

I think there is an implicit trade-off in sales; forego union and traditional protection for higher salary. Curious to see how this goes though!

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

What’s the goal? To increase base pay? That means probably less commission , certainly at the top end

Another reason you join a union is workers compensation , insurance, pension, etc. most of these are covered for “white collar” like sales, at least in my experience it is.

My opinion this is a bad idea, the costs far outweigh any benefit.

quotascammedeverytime

Opinionated

account executive

It would be nice to stop getting scammed over quota and comp plans. What would your plan be?

hola

Valued Contributor

sales consultant

Exactly like wouldn’t it be nice to not get fired or “laid off” for non reason, or not get scammed on commission, or equity?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Our profession is built around negotiation and positioning. If you can’t do that for yourself then you shouldn’t be hired to do it for others.

Rely on communities like this, sites like RepVue, and your own networks. Those are resources enough to give you all the data and transparency you need to be successful in your career.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I recognize the value that unions have brought to the workers of the US, but in practice, I'm not sure how they'd function for our messy, complicated career. You have products and services, D2D, B2C, B2B - it's crazy complex and I'm having a hard time grasping how it would work.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

The idea is great in theory, in practice I don’t see it ever being able to work

UncleHoho

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Wait. I thought bravado was a sales union?

ASalesCoach

National Director of Sales

if you choose to create a sales union, it will benefit the entry level sellers and not the more experienced sellers. as a more experienced seller, I trust what I can do to get the job done and I want to get paid for it, which I would have accepted upon getting hired. unionizing sales would be the end to that. Companies would give more to the masses and less to the top sellers, which create mediocre selling organizations and therefore gives the company more power at the next negotiation. I could go on for hours about this topic as I have been in all facets of sales and sales leadership for over 25 years.

might be the worse selling idea I have ever heard, and I do not mean to be rude.

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

Lead Sales

I am very pro union, but I don't think it works in sales. The turnover is just way too high.

AT&T is a union sales job. You get better benefits and job security but definitely at the cost of compensation

FranchiseSalesQB

Politicker

Franchise Sales QB

I'm in, dig up Hoffa and let's go.

sketchysales

Politicker

-1

Sales Manager

Nah. Bad idea

detectivegibbles

Politicker

-1

Sales Director

Nah fam.

Maximas

Tycoon

-3

Senior Sales Executive

Agree 4 sure.
As a starter, I believe that Major Sales Platforms just like Bravado already started that Union idea at least by allowing all sales people from all around the world to share their challenges and experiences, hopefully that nice experience to be broaden upby timefurther to a full sales union soon.