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I think the stereotype of salespeople being manipulative is unfortunate because sales actually serves an important function of delivering information about the

I think the stereotype of salespeople being manipulative is unfortunate because sales actually serves an important function of delivering information about the product to the customer. Researching that info on your own is time consuming and the salesperson should be familiar with the product and its competitors. Unfortunately many unscrupulous salespeople use their position to lie and try to close a sale which leads to a less effective marketplace for everyone.

yellowbuilding 8y ago
... And the result is clogging the gateways for doing one’s own research. Sales and advertising have nothing to offer. Customers would literally be better off without them, and so would art and entertainment! You also seem to assume bringing another cook into the kitchen is going to make things better, as long as they have good faith. Both of my parents were in sales. I truly believe they were the types you speak of. Their jobs were not easy, competing with dishonesty, but they did well in the right environments. Their careers were based building trust in the long term. This can never work in an aggressively corporate world as we have created today.
spaceflunky 8y ago
I'm not sure why every time there is mention of salespeople being good, there also has to be a caveat at the end about the tactics bad salespeople use. For example, I wouldn't say, "Engineers serve a very important function in our society, designing and building the things we need. Unfortunately there are many unscrupulous or lazy engineers who have built bridges that collapse or unsecure code that fails which leads to litigation, high insurance premiums, and costly preventative measures which are bad for everyone." There's shitty people in every job. Get over it.
- rixed 8y ago
  Because engineers have little incentive to lie, while salespeople have a very strong incentive to do so, maybe?
  - spaceflunky 8y ago
    >Because engineers have little incentive to lie, Really? They have just as much incentive. Tight deadlines, bonuses, promotions, etc. You've never see an engineer push through questionable code to make a deadline or launch a product so they can get that promotion?

yellowbuilding 8y ago

... And the result is clogging the gateways for doing one’s own research. Sales and advertising have nothing to offer. Customers would literally be better off without them, and so would art and entertainment! You also seem to assume bringing another cook into the kitchen is going to make things better, as long as they have good faith. Both of my parents were in sales. I truly believe they were the types you speak of. Their jobs were not easy, competing with dishonesty, but they did well in the right environments. Their careers were based building trust in the long term. This can never work in an aggressively corporate world as we have created today.

spaceflunky 8y ago

I'm not sure why every time there is mention of salespeople being good, there also has to be a caveat at the end about the tactics bad salespeople use. For example, I wouldn't say, "Engineers serve a very important function in our society, designing and building the things we need. Unfortunately there are many unscrupulous or lazy engineers who have built bridges that collapse or unsecure code that fails which leads to litigation, high insurance premiums, and costly preventative measures which are bad for everyone." There's shitty people in every job. Get over it.

rixed 8y ago
Because engineers have little incentive to lie, while salespeople have a very strong incentive to do so, maybe?
- spaceflunky 8y ago
  >Because engineers have little incentive to lie, Really? They have just as much incentive. Tight deadlines, bonuses, promotions, etc. You've never see an engineer push through questionable code to make a deadline or launch a product so they can get that promotion?