Sales Professionals – Beware of Uncertain Future

 Sales Professionals – Beware of Uncertain Future

Having spent 22 years in business development and sales as a professional in India with British and German multinational brands, and now being able to see the world from a wider perspective as a Career Mentor, I humbly put some of my thoughts which may sound slightly pessimistic about this subject.

But I can assure you, the readers in general and Sales professionals, in particular, can benefit from my perspective. I would also like to mention here that, it is not the end of the road as well for those in the profession as Sales Professionals. And I will try to explain to you how in the latter part of the article.

Broadly, a sales professional is someone who has in varying degrees the domain knowledge of the Product, the Market in which the product is being sold, and the Customer Segment, to which the product is targeted for Sales. Apart from the aforementioned key domains, the other key domain skill one develops over a period of time is the ability to handle a Team of younger sales professionals.

 

 The growth potential, if one remains in the Sales profession becomes very limited and more so, if one is not able to move away from a particular location/geography. Because, the moment one moves from one location to another, you suddenly have the growth opportunity with respect to new Market and new Customer Engagement. Handling a new team could also be considered an added learning opportunity.

For the Sales Professional to grow within the organization, he or she apart from being a domain expert on the above broad functions has to be very lucky to be at the right place at the right time. What I mean by this is, assuming let’s say;

Sales Professional A & Sales Professional B are of similar age groups, similar education backgrounds, similar domain knowledge, and similar performance for the last 3 years, who can take the next promotion? Organizations are commercial entities, which are driven by the concept of profit maximization for the owner or shareholders. That means they have to keep the costs always under control. So, to keep the cost of operation lower or optimum and also, we know the fact that, as we go higher in the leadership ladder the space available is smaller, so only one person amongst the cohort of lower level can move up the ladder. So, between A and B, anyone can make the cut to the next level. It is just that, he or she has to be just that little luckier than the other. Many times, the next promotion is highly influenced by what was your rapport with your superior at the time of the annual assessment (which could be the most crucial time of the year, even if one had a very average rest of the 11 months). Many times, one has to be lucky enough to have a senior leadership backing you, even if you just hanging on without being the best for the position. All the HR assessment processes can go out of the window because after all, the final decision about your progression/promotion within the organization depends on a lot of invisible and unspoken facts (to you), but are widely visible and discussed amongst the top leadership/management behind your back.

To become luckier hard work. Invest time and efforts in – Product Knowledge Improvement, learning about the Market, being creative in your Customer Engagement, and enhancing authentic team engagement. By doing these, you can definitely try to negate the angle of luck and personal rapport with superiors, but no one can rule out them completely. Although one needs to understand that, nothing is permanent in this world, including your job, your boss, your position, etc., if you continue to develop yourself personally and professionally, in your domain area as well as try to pick new skills, read books, listen to podcasts, etc. It is possible that you will land up with another organization in a similar industry, or your boss moves out or gets removed, etc. Then all your earlier hard work to invest in your development pays off big time.

Facebook, Amazon, Google, and other IT giants are changing the way of our lives in every way. Customers are not just buying products anymore; they are buying an experience. The modern customer has all kinds of information about, products, customer experiences, etc on smartphones/tabs/laptops. Amazon’s per minute revenue is close to $ 1 million already. We all are buying all kinds of products online from the smallest grocery items to laptops, phones, etc. Many of the high-end cars are now being sold through a customized portal of the company.

The table below shows the job roles which are decreasing in demand worldwide (as per the World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs, 2020). Sales Profession is one of them as you can see. 

This only shows that the traditional method of sales of products through individual sales personnel will be only for a few more years. The traditional human Sales professionals will be replaced by a combination of technology + Customer Service Personnel. Because all products will need personal customer service.

Bit of advice to the Current Sales Professionals;

In India, 1 million young persons turn 18 and they start looking for entering the job market every month. With some amount of training, on the product and market, they can replace a more mature salesperson at a much lesser cost. They may be less effective initially, but these younger persons are much more tech-savvy and can take advantage of technology far more easily than the existing mature Sales Professionals.

1.    Please be aware that pure product sales as a professional can be very unreliable if you are just starting or in the initial years of your career. Because eventually, the technology will take over the customer-to-organization interface. It is just a matter of a few years, depending upon the industry and product being sold.

2.     If you are just about to start your career, try and take up a Customer Service Role, which will be a more durable career option.

3.     Those who have already spent 15 ~ 20 years in the Sales field, try to expand your domain expertise – in Product, Market, Customer, and Team Management and be good with your superiors. This can you be the differentiator amongst your Cohorts.

4.     Invest time, money, and energy for personal development – read books, listen to podcasts, join some online courses, spend time on offline social bonding – family and friends.

5.     Invest time in finance planning – start as early as possible, to secure the future to the extent possible.

6.     Have a growth mindset and be on the lookout for opportunities. There are a lot of opportunities available if you are able to solve a problem of a customer.

You may agree or disagree with my thoughts or opinion. Either way, I would love to know, what you think?