The Truth About Salespeople

I am a professional salesman, and the essay “Life of a Salesman” (by Marc Porter Zasada, Metropolis, Dec. 21) is a perfect example of why so many people feel the way they do about salespeople. I am not a “peddler,” “hopelessly prosaic” or a “poet.” I will be the first to admit that my chosen profession is full of people who would not qualify as a “professional salesperson.” However, the examples set by people such as Zasada do not represent the millions of hard-working, honest, professional people who build solid relationships based on trust and the value that they and their products can provide. Sales is not about lying or allowing oneself to be “humiliated” to make a sale. It’s about addressing a need, or sometimes uncovering a need, and then filling that need with both parties being equally satisfied.

Jim Griffin

Ladera Ranch

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Unfortunately, I do not have the creative vision to look for meaningful metaphors in the sales part of my life. I do, however, create opportunities in sales interchanges to clearly state and seek out the truth. It is the absence and avoidance of the truth that lead to the distrustful situations that Zasada describes. Nowhere in his debrief of one sales situation was anyone bonding or connecting with anyone else. That, of course, leads to both sides fudging the truth. Big red warning lights and loud sirens go off in the prospect’s head anytime a salesperson says, “We’ll be losing money, but we’ll do it . . .”

Douglas Kolker

President, Sandler Sales Institute

Sherman Oaks