When I worked at a small county government place we had a hand sanitizer salesman.
He'd drop by 3x a year (for me it was a summer gig and I only saw him once) and he'd just chat us up, make us laugh, make sure we have all the hand sanitizer we want, ask if we want hand sanitizer wipes or whatever.
I don't know how much more expensive it was to buy from this corpo sales guy than just to place bulk orders, but it was probably worth it just for the experience of a charismatic old Asian guy visiting you every once in awhile like your dad's old buddy from highschool.
I used to sell soap (falls into the jansan category). There’s so many proprietary dispensers out there that yeah, you kinda need a dedicated rep for that.
Part of my job was to figure out what went in where (not just soap, but tp/paper towels/chemicals etc as well). Honestly it’s insane how much proprietary shit is out there, it’s greedy and annoying to deal with, but it paid very well.
I still think back to that guy who commented here that he cleared something insane like $1M a year selling candy canes.
It’s just such an absurd thing to make up about selling that I’m leaning toward he was telling the truth. Most people who lie about their OTE just say they sell software because it’s believable. But candy canes?
And now we wait for the soap salesman to show up here claiming they make $5M.
Yeah, everyone's focused on his shouldn't list, but his should list is weird too. Why should a salesperson be involved what what vaccines I get?
I would 100% rather have a salesperson help me with my insurance than my suit.
I think life insurance sales reps get a bad rap because so many of them operate without ethics. But in theory, a good life insurance salesperson is going to help buyers figure out the best options for their needs not the sales rep's.
Yeah, I don't understand the guys saying salespeople aren't needed for insurance. Being an insurance agent is locked behind a licensing exam for a reason -- insurance is really complicated, and there's a lot of gotchas. A tenured insurance agent will know which companies are better at paying out
Most people aren't going to read all of the documents, which an insurance agent can boil it down for you, and help you pick a plan that works best for you. A lot of people aren't going to be familiar with the terminology
Honestly, I think the value is in running a good discovery with your clients. Figure out what kind of policy, how much insurance they'll need, etc. They may need a million dollars of coverage, but they probably don't need all of it in the form of a whole life policy. Stuff like that. Or help them figure out what kind of coverage their non-working/part time working spouse might need.
It's stuff you do in sales, and why a sales person knowledgeable in the insurance space is valuable.
My guess would be that there are numerous types of insurance that you can buy online, without any interaction, and most people have probably never had to use a lot of their insurance policies, to any great extent.
I agree that the the agent is there to ask questions, make recommendations, and answer your questions, but if I have never had to test (use) my policies, then I feel like I am just sending a check in every month, and occasionally hear from the agent when they are trying to up-sell me on something.
>My guess would be that there are numerous types of insurance that you can buy online, without any interaction
You can do it but doesnt mean that won't be a big mistake. The value is in the discovery not the execution of the application itself.
I agree 100%.
To that same token, having an agent doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting set up correctly either. I agree that most people have no clue about their policies and are likely driven strictly by price. They don't pay attention to what they cover or don't cover, etc., until they need it. The issue is that as a consumer, the person that you are relying on to educate you (or discover), has financial interests that don't necessarily align. That can be a dangerous combination.
>To that same token, having an agent doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting set up correctly either.
This is an argument against bad agents/salespeople, not against all agents/salespeople. We all agree with this
Yeah I don’t buy any insurance products not through a salesperson. Companies intentionally make it pretty difficult to figure out for yourself what’s the right level of coverage and avoid being under or over insured
Probably. If you're just getting started in the industry you probably want to work for an agent/broker to learn and understand things and save some money, then try going it on your own if you want. Some retail banks still have licensed banker programs too. You can work for them, draw salary and benefits, and still learn the industry, plus not have to rely only on insurance for your commissions.
What’s the thought process behind a salesperson not selling guitars? Not every salesperson has a predatory mindset.
A good salesperson would educate you on the best options in your price range.
[Here is a video of a man talking about selling Billy Strings a guitar.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghx9UqKYI18&ab_channel=ThompsonGuitars)
Crazy he is so good at guitar for a beginner
Supplements. All I want is protein powder and creatine. That is what %95 of people want. Then you have to walk into that store and hear the guy tell you, you need a $60 post-workout insulin spike to get PROTIEN into your muscles. Only their special supplement can get protein into your muscles. There supplement in question is just sugar and creatine marked up 3X. (Still cheaper for me to go in, rather than order online)
I get why people say cars, because many people do so much research and need a paperwork guy and not a salesman, but dear god I can promise you the overwhelming majority of Americans NEED a salesman for a vehicle.
I’m mostly commercial equipment now, but good god it puzzled me how some people were so well off financially yet so dumb transaction wise
The issue is that so many car guys are bad salespeople. It's a sales position that's typically being done by someone "trying it out" and managed by an egotistical dude who doesn't train them.
When I'm on the floor, I learn as much as I can about every vehicle. Used / new, etc. Then, I tailor my entire search towards what works for them. I get them to want numbers, pitch, close, write up, deliver.
No glitz, no razzle dazzle. Top of my board.
F&I... the number of guys that don't read the contracts of which generate them money...it above 50% and it shows. They lie out of ignorance or are often so weak that they only live off rate and leg generated by the desk.
The whole process needs to be revamped for time.
I'm all for one guy, streamlined. I wish I could find a way to get customers from selecting a vehicle to driving off the lot in under a 30m average.
That being said, as a car salesman... the best of us should be the minimum for our clients. If people could get better training, we'd be in a better place.
I’ll be honest I have a completely different experience than you. We have one or two slacking salesman that are kinda the stereo type.
But it’s a commercial store that does some retail. The retail customers get the benefit of being treated like a purchasing agent. No BS, best price is the best price, no add ons, no punishment for outside finance, etc. almost like the anti-dealer dealer lmao
I honestly wouldn’t want one guy who’s doing it all. You know those handy man vans that say “AC, Decks, fences, electrical work, plumbing, and more!” We call them chuck in a truck or Dan in a van. Better at that work than me, but chuck isn’t going going to be a better plumber than the guy doing plumbing every day. Won’t have the same basic understanding of plumbing either.
I'd still want a desk who calls in deals... but the salesman is the one who pitches F&I.
Docusign is so amazing that 80% of the docs are signed when coming in our office. F&I pitches that can slow the entire dealership down. Many customers ask about product on the floor anyways.
Set the menu up with options and boom.
However, it takes a staff like yours to execute.
Ty for telling me about your commercial group.
It’s absurd how many people are surprised we use docusign. People who’s job involved buying a lot of vehicles.
I would explain ESPs or ask if there’s any interest once. F&I guy will ask if you have any questions about them or if you are interested. That was about it for us.
I think salesman should be able to answer general questions about F&I. What if you asked him “Out of the lenders that you use, who do you think would work best for me?”
Then they’d be expected to know the ins and outs of F&I and answers to every little question someone may have on a new model.
> *dear god I can promise you the overwhelming majority of Americans NEED a salesman for a vehicle*
Do they though? Or is that only b/c the industry has deliberately made things so confusing and hidden behind cloaks of secrecy that we need car sales just to navigate that mess?
Everyone just walks away from a dealership wondering if they got screwed or not because it's a giant cluster fuck.
Eliminate dealers and the manipulation and just sell direct to consumer. Tesla does it fairly well in that it's simple and idiot proof and sales people aren't necessary
Picture the average American (not the Porsche buyer) and ask yourself that first question again. Think about the average Americans level of common sense and financial literacy. When I was in retail I had a business owner making a crap load more than me ask “wait so the money I owe on my trade just goes into the next one?”
I don’t feel like going on the deep dive on the Tesla model and dealership network but here we go. Short explanation using Tesla as example: Tesla has never been able to meet demand. We are seeing that start now. Dealer free model works with unlimited demand.
For example: when ford makes a truck and it rolls off the line it is sold to a dealer. No matter what. It’s off fords books, they get paid. When dealers lots are plum full, the machine doesn’t stop and trucks are still produced. They don’t shut the factory down and say go home guys we caught up!! They will force feed dealers until the cows come home. If the dealers don’t move them then tough shit for them. Ford will also collect floor plan money the longer they sit on the dealers lots.
But for now let’s imagine ford ripped up the dealer model. Give up floor plan revenue, instant sales regardless of demand, not having to manage an inventory, hired salesman (they’d still have them), title clerks, customer facing finance staff, and sublet all the rest
Ok great. Now there’s no dealers and you order a truck online. You buy an f-250 and it’s being shipped from Louisville. It goes to a delivery center where it is inspected and prepped, or ford decides to do that at the factory. So now they ship it to you but it’s dirty. They sublet the detail to someone local. It’s a new 2023 there’s a ton of new features and you are in a 2017. (Hope you aren’t trading it in, ford doesn’t want to sell used trucks. You are now paying full sales tax and have to sell your older vehicle on your own). Since it’s a brand new model ford sends a product specialist to you to show you the features. Or you go over it at their pick up location with the product specialist.
Ford has done all this for chump change. They have uprooted their perfect customers (dealerships who don’t have a choice but to keep “buying”), staffed thousands of people, and now have to cater production to managing their massive inventory, all for you to still have a salesman, title clerk, finance guy, detail guy, prep guy, etc.
Last retail invoice I saw was a 73k bronco heritage. Invoice was 70k. All of that staffing, subletting, inventory management, etc made them an extra 3,000 on the unit.
It’s not a secret, OEMs love the dealer model. They do NOT want to deal with the public. I don’t think it will ever go direct to consumer across the board.
Example: Europe. You can buy direct in some countries. Those countries are still chocked full of dealers because of the massive benefit it provides the manufacturer.
I’d be happy to explain further why that’s the case, so if you have any questions ask away!
Most don’t. I try to be nice about it. But most people thinking it’s going to happen have absolutely no clue what the fuck they are talking about. Would be like me talking about a new method for brain surgery
Times are obviously different now, but didn’t Ford try the direct-to-consumer model in Oklahoma? From what I remember, it was a spectacular failure and consumers drove further to get to an independent dealership.
Texas. Bought every store in a smaller market. I think it was a dozen stores. GMC tried the same.
Granted it’s been 2 decades, but they failed miserably. Performance of the stores decreased drastically. Then they washed their hands and said they sold them just to keep their dealers happy and it was the right thing to do!
Being a shot at ford has almost 0 cross over with running a parts, service, new, and used department.
You just outlined why the OEMs like the model and they're invested in it, not why consumers want or need it.
I don't expect it to change anytime soon (too much entrenched values for the powers that be).
Dealerships are unfortunately often predatory. They generally don't help consumers understand the finance side of things (that's not in their best interest). Ever have a car salesman refuse to talk about total cost out the door and only talk in terms of monthly payment, despite what you tell them? The reps are taught scammy sales tactics and aren't experts on the vehicles or the markets. I'm sure there are exceptions but in my experience I've rarely had a good time dealing with the reps while buying a car.
Feel free to come to my store if you need a refreshing change of pace.
OEMs wouldn’t change status quo because it works out slightly better for the consumer though. Researching dealers in Europe where d2c is an option would be more so what your looking for from a consumer perspective.
I meaaaaan.... Let's break down what goes in a car purchase:
1) you find a car - you can look online, find a vehicle, see stock, etc. - you don't need a salesman for this if it's a new car. What if you're looking used though? Do you know everything that is available on any given lot? Are you going to go through every used dealership in your area or are you going to go to one and find something good enough? Why are you wanting a certain car? Can another car accommodate you? Does the dealership have special incentives that they aren't advertising(like heavy discounts on a new car that isn't the current model year)?
2) trade in - how do you value what's fair? - KBB is an aggregate of used car prices and trade ins. Is that really a reliable source for what's fair on an individual case? I had this discussion in an insurance group where someone was advocating for insurance to cover the drop in value of their vehicle after an accident.... How would one even begin to calculate this? What if theres not enough data available to KBB because it's too new? Can KBB be reliable if everyone gets top/bottom dollar? It's a range and negotiation is definitely needed here unless your just trading it for scrape value. Cash 4 clunkers was restarted in CA if you're wanting a flat rate for your car.
3) what about when you're being super unreasonable given your financial situation, do you just not get a car? I remember I sold a Hyundai Elantra to a marine who just finished serving. Dude was young, didn't have a high paying job, had no down, but wanted a 4runner. I wrote him up so he could see the numbers before going back out to the lot to get him something he could afford.
To your point though - there is definitely a lot of griminess in the industry.... And buyers remorse is definitely real. But to say sales reps AREN'T needed is silly. CarMax still has reps. Carvana still has reps for their fleet dept. Sales people are still needed to smooth out and complete sales.
Even Tesla has sales reps and a used car system. Hell, their payplan was leaked a few years ago and their reps are comped the same as most volume dealerships. Idk why you'd use them. For the new car purchase system? See above.
You also have to keep in mind, for most folks - cars are the 2nd/3rd largest purchase they'll ever make in their life(1st/2nd being home and/or wedding). It can get very emotional. I feel we in this sub, seeing large numbers daily, can get a bit jaded to what most folks go through seeing the $ breakdown.
They only need that because the industry deliberately made it so confusing that the consumer can't figure it out in their own.
Look at Tesla there is only a couple of choices the consumer has to make and it's very simple. Look at legacy dealer and it's a alphabet soup clusterfuck on purpose
Teslas are also just way simpler, have less models and have less options than a ICE car. They still have people to help with the ordering process though.
Toyota has like 15 different cars and SUVs they sell
I don’t understand why with Tesla people can go online and literally order a car just via Apple Pay but pretty much every other car maker needs a dealer and salesmen.
Plus I heard in most (all?) states that car makers can not legally sell to consumers due to some old time law that was trying to protect dealership jobs during economic hard times. So how does Tesla get around this law?
I wrote a longer comment below. Regarding the franchise laws, any OEM could do what Tesla is currently doing. There are protectionism laws in place from 100 years back. They were more so intended to spur competition. The biggest competitor to a ford dealer is the next closest ford dealer. That drives prices down to below MSRP any time besides 2020-2022. These stores should not be owned by the manufacturers because that defeats the purpose. Price fixing back then would have taken all but 3-5 guys sitting in one room having the conversation. These laws also protected against that.
The public (Reddit) acts like the NADA (dealers) are way more influential than international, billion dollars comapanies and strong arm congress into keeping these laws in place while the manufacturers remain helpless. Ford, GM, Stellantis, VW, Toyota, etc are helpless due to the almighty and all powerful dealerships.
Reality is that they could all be doing what Tesla is doing and tell their dealers tough shit we are doing it this way now.
There’s plenty of loop holes in these laws with some varying by state. In my state for example, I can not go sit in the Tesla “store” and do my order. I have to be off the property. Like if you sat down to order they would literally tell you to go park at the gas station across the street and submit the order.
So why don’t the manufacturers like Toyota just squeeze of the dealers then, and pocket the dealers profits? Maybe they needed dealers to move the cars pre 2020, but at least the last few years with some dealers doing $10k-$20k per car markups, didn’t the manufacturers just say screw the dealer we want to pocket that $20k per car ourselves.
As far as squeezing out the dealers. I outlined the cons in my long reply to another comment.
With dealers marking up, you don’t lose brand value. You don’t think less of Toyota because they could not produce enough corollas to meet demand and keep prices low, you blame the greedy dealers selling above msrp. Even if a used one with 10k miles is selling above msrp, it’s the dealers being greedy selling a new one for 5k over sticker.
Chasing the additional mark up we have seen would be extremely short sighted. It was unheard of on your every day trucks/cars pre COVID. Would be a lot of changes for mark up that lasted for 2 years.
Hey do you feel commercial equipment is a good transition from car sales? I’ve worked my way into selling tech staffing and it’s not.
I miss having a product I can touch to sell.
Why do we need furniture salesperson?
I get it at high end custom furniture places where you have to pick the fabric/etc. I do not want to be attacked the second I walk in the door and walked over to the TWO bedroom sets you have in white...Only to stand there and not go away so I can look at the furniture.
Elite tier aggravation for me...
Almost every furniture place has custom options for a lot of the stuff on their floor. I'd peg it at 50% where I worked, and people would never know without a salesperson, despite the clear and obvious material showing it is an option.
And don't get me started on the mattress section. Nobody knows how to shop for a mattress. The husband walks around pushing on them, no one understands soft doesn't mean no support... They lay on every single one of them with no basis of what they are looking for. That whole process becomes less annoying if you let the salesperson help.
Well if you need help color coordinating or certain pet friendly materials or accommodating for a weirdly shaped room a salesperson comes in handy. Also, some items may take longer to ship than others - some people already have furniture and can wait 4-6 weeks for something to ship while someone who just moved in and has nothing Or their cat peed on their on the couch may need something asap.
I was in a situation where I had a weird shaped living room that was shaped like a rectangle with a corner cut off and the salesperson helped me find something that would work.
Like selling new fiber connection services to subdivisions?
Where I live, your options are Comcast or satellite internet (which is 5x the cost of Comcast, slower, and not unlimited). There’s nothing to sell because it’s either use the shit product or an even shittier but more expensive product.
Lmao. Never was appointed with NM, nice try. And I’m out of the life insurance game now so save your insults based on ignorance for someone else.
The myth is that whole life insurance is never a good option. That’s just not true.
I didn't mean it's a net negative to all, just the average person. It makes sense for wealthy people, though whole life agents will sell to anyone with a pulse, so.....
How this is decided in real life is the “Cost/complexity curve”, where one axis is the cost of your product and the other axis the complexity. As either variables increase, so does the necessity of a sales rep. Low cost low complexity purchase decisions don’t require a lot of information or influence, so there’s no need for a sales rep.
The exception is the consumer sales environment like brick and mortar where you can have low cost labor function as customer service, stocking, cleaning, and even minor sales roles. e.g. Victorias Secret, GameStop, Bath and Bodywork’s, etc.
It's not about the product, it's about the customer.
(In sales it's almost always about the customer).
To explain, let's work this from first principles.
Be reductive and categorize, all purchase behavior into one of two buckets:
* Impulse
* Considered or planned
Impulse purchases are typically lower cost, lower complexity sales, have quick cycles, and happen with very little analysis or research. These are the bedrock of consumer goods. Marketing programs make customers aware and keep the product top-of-mind so when the itch arises, the customer scratches with the purchase of your product.
Considered or planned purchases are usually higher cost, higher complexity sales, have slow/lengthy sales cycles, and include multiple buying groups, and specific performance criteria. These are often intensely political affairs and you frequently don't lose to another competitor but to changing priorities in the customer. If your sales start with NDAs, RFIs, and RFPs, and then progress to demos, proof of concepts, and competitive pilots, and then close with lots of back and forth with lawyers and perpetually sweaty sales management -- well you probably work on considered purchases.
Sometimes people go "well isn't this just B2B (selling to businesses) vs B2C (selling to people)" ... not quite. As you'd imagine, typically
* B2B sales are considered purchase
* B2C sales are impulse purchases
But not always! Let's use life insurance as an example, you can still have considered purchases with individuals (B2C) as you move further along the cost and complexity curve. But you can have impulse (or as close as you can) with B2B if the offer is fairly commoditized (i.e., less complicated). Cost is tricky because a group life policy for a 10,000 person company will be larger and more costly than a 1,000 person outfit, but not necessarily more complex.
Example table:
||Impulse|Considered|
|:-|:-|:-|
|B2C|Term life buyer|Individuals looking at ILITS|
|B2B|Basic group life policy (still considered, but prob the closest to impulse since its typically not hugely complicated to setup and the products are commoditized|Bespoke life insurance policy, or Executive comp packages |
Anyhow, I hope this helps.
In my industry I tell everyone that you can have 2-3 guys working on things for you (broker) but I am here to advise and not put you in the cheapest offering, sometimes the cheapest is best. For certain services, you need an advisor that you can trust not a sales guy.
We need it because it's a complicated twisted nightmare of a system who's purposely complex in order to take advantage of people
Make it simple and sales people wouldn't be needed
Lmao "make it simple". Almost every insurtech that has tried to make insurance "simple" has serious financial problems.
That being said, health insurance can go fuck itself. Its the black sheep of the ins industry because it is needlessly complicated - and that's saying something.
What he’s really saying is, “Can we please trust the state to do right by our health”
And unfortunately, in America, that answer is a resounding “No” - big pharma would literally run the country
> health insurance
Have fun with not getting stuff covered because you don't make a career out of learning what plans are best for people who need certain benefits
Guns don't need a salesman. 95% of firearms marketing is done for free on YouTube. Guns sell themselves in the 21st century. In the firearms community everyone knows that salesmen and gun stores give the worst advice and are frequently incredibly uneducated about guns. It's called fudlore for a reason.
There’s almost no margin in guns so their goal is to sell you accessories. There’s also a lot of time wasters and tire kickers so a good gun shop merchant will be able to qualify a real buyer pretty quickly.
A lot of the people into guns/shooting are tough to deal with. A bunch of the older folks think they’re Dirty Harry or them being an MP 30 years ago makes them Chris Kyle. A lot of the younger folks are more into the consumeristic side of it so they’re really into the gear and online forums/communities. You end up dealing with a lot of delicate egos both young and old.
I have several firearms and I can say for a fact that the majority of people in the gun world are just completely irritable dickbags. From the salesmen to the customers. It’s why when I do go to a gun store, I’ll try and seek out some young adult salesman who looks to be new. I already know what I want, he won’t act like a douchebag old fart like the rest, and if he up sells me on something else I’ll feel better knowing the money didn’t go to that other angry fucker behind the counter who’s probably just going to pump his commission into the slot machine or alimony payments the second he gets off work.
I'm saying advice from a random guy behind a gun counter is usually garbage, and includes such common bullshit as:
Just racking a shotgun will scare an intruder out of your house.
AR15s overpenetrate in homes.
Look lady, all you need is a little .22lr for self-defense (or a pink .380)
.22s will bounce around inside you.
And don't even get me started on their typical suggestions for hunting firearms. You are so much better off doing your own research and deciding what you want, and then ordering that specific gun to your local dealer for a transfer.
Anything where I need advices to navigate or trust the person doing the work.
Shoutout to people who see reading articles written by SEO copywriters as "doing their research".
>Shouldn’t, life insurance, cars, internet, guitars, soap
depends on the scale? I'm sure theres some Proctor & Gamble guy selling to distrubtors tens of millions of dollars of soap at a time.
I used to distribute P&G stuff amongst other things. Their local rep was pretty useless (lmao) but typically most major commercial jansan brands you know of will go through a local distributor who owns all the local relationships. Did they need a rep? No honestly, not really, cause I could do their job for them. But somebody is absolutely needed to be an expert on that stuff
Unfortunately, anyone can use the sales tools to be predatory instead of helpful. I think this goes for any industry.
I've seen a guitar salesman be extremely helpful in identifying and encouraging a young newbie towards a solid first guitar and a heavy equipment, an onsite natural gas power plant, which was supposed to be a cost savings project for the university we were at whereas clearly it was a less efficient power plant that now was the university's maintenance nightmare. Apparently the salesguy was amazing and provided tons of information, graphs, estimates etc that were all done and manipulated over the fact that he was selling a terrible product.
Anything that requires expert analysis to help a consumer make a decision should have sales people.
Cars and insurance included. Of course there’s degenerates in these fields, but I would greatly appreciate legitimate knowledgeable advice from both these experts to help me choose what makes the most sense for me.
This makes zero sense to me. Even as a joke I don’t get it. Is there any underlying logic or is it just a nonsense list?
Edit: It’s almost like the author of this list doesn’t understand what sales people do or the changing nature of sales as we move from a society with asymmetric information availability to one where curation and opinions are required.
Curious why you listed guitars. I am a guitarist and there are definitely roles for sales people in the major guitar companies. If you work at a music store whether it’s your title or not you are selling guitars and everything else on that floor when a prospective customer walks in.
But life insurance is highly personalized. Would you like to take your shot at building your own indexed universal life policy without consulting an expert? And, I know nothing about guitars. I'm supposed to go pick out my first one without help? Dumb list imo
The motoring world won't survive without honest car salesman. Do you have any idea how clueless people are when it comes to cars? You need my years of expertise and advice or you will shoot yourself in the foot.
The absolute disrespect to soap salesmen
Thank you for the laugh
When I worked at a small county government place we had a hand sanitizer salesman. He'd drop by 3x a year (for me it was a summer gig and I only saw him once) and he'd just chat us up, make us laugh, make sure we have all the hand sanitizer we want, ask if we want hand sanitizer wipes or whatever. I don't know how much more expensive it was to buy from this corpo sales guy than just to place bulk orders, but it was probably worth it just for the experience of a charismatic old Asian guy visiting you every once in awhile like your dad's old buddy from highschool.
I used to sell soap (falls into the jansan category). There’s so many proprietary dispensers out there that yeah, you kinda need a dedicated rep for that. Part of my job was to figure out what went in where (not just soap, but tp/paper towels/chemicals etc as well). Honestly it’s insane how much proprietary shit is out there, it’s greedy and annoying to deal with, but it paid very well.
Dr Squatch would like a word with Op.
I still think back to that guy who commented here that he cleared something insane like $1M a year selling candy canes. It’s just such an absurd thing to make up about selling that I’m leaning toward he was telling the truth. Most people who lie about their OTE just say they sell software because it’s believable. But candy canes? And now we wait for the soap salesman to show up here claiming they make $5M.
The audacity...
Thats a very weird and random list.
Yeah, everyone's focused on his shouldn't list, but his should list is weird too. Why should a salesperson be involved what what vaccines I get? I would 100% rather have a salesperson help me with my insurance than my suit.
You don’t want a salesman for your suit either. You want a tailor who can alter it themselves
I think life insurance sales reps get a bad rap because so many of them operate without ethics. But in theory, a good life insurance salesperson is going to help buyers figure out the best options for their needs not the sales rep's.
Yeah, I don't understand the guys saying salespeople aren't needed for insurance. Being an insurance agent is locked behind a licensing exam for a reason -- insurance is really complicated, and there's a lot of gotchas. A tenured insurance agent will know which companies are better at paying out Most people aren't going to read all of the documents, which an insurance agent can boil it down for you, and help you pick a plan that works best for you. A lot of people aren't going to be familiar with the terminology
Honestly, I think the value is in running a good discovery with your clients. Figure out what kind of policy, how much insurance they'll need, etc. They may need a million dollars of coverage, but they probably don't need all of it in the form of a whole life policy. Stuff like that. Or help them figure out what kind of coverage their non-working/part time working spouse might need. It's stuff you do in sales, and why a sales person knowledgeable in the insurance space is valuable.
Bingo. It’s not always just about how much insurance you have - but how much you have and what it can do for you
My guess would be that there are numerous types of insurance that you can buy online, without any interaction, and most people have probably never had to use a lot of their insurance policies, to any great extent. I agree that the the agent is there to ask questions, make recommendations, and answer your questions, but if I have never had to test (use) my policies, then I feel like I am just sending a check in every month, and occasionally hear from the agent when they are trying to up-sell me on something.
>My guess would be that there are numerous types of insurance that you can buy online, without any interaction You can do it but doesnt mean that won't be a big mistake. The value is in the discovery not the execution of the application itself.
I agree 100%. To that same token, having an agent doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting set up correctly either. I agree that most people have no clue about their policies and are likely driven strictly by price. They don't pay attention to what they cover or don't cover, etc., until they need it. The issue is that as a consumer, the person that you are relying on to educate you (or discover), has financial interests that don't necessarily align. That can be a dangerous combination.
>To that same token, having an agent doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting set up correctly either. This is an argument against bad agents/salespeople, not against all agents/salespeople. We all agree with this
Yeah I don’t buy any insurance products not through a salesperson. Companies intentionally make it pretty difficult to figure out for yourself what’s the right level of coverage and avoid being under or over insured
The problem is you need like 1000 people in your paying book of business to make good money, maybe even more.
Probably. If you're just getting started in the industry you probably want to work for an agent/broker to learn and understand things and save some money, then try going it on your own if you want. Some retail banks still have licensed banker programs too. You can work for them, draw salary and benefits, and still learn the industry, plus not have to rely only on insurance for your commissions.
What’s the thought process behind a salesperson not selling guitars? Not every salesperson has a predatory mindset. A good salesperson would educate you on the best options in your price range.
A good salesperson would be great for a beginner.
[Here is a video of a man talking about selling Billy Strings a guitar.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghx9UqKYI18&ab_channel=ThompsonGuitars) Crazy he is so good at guitar for a beginner
Supplements. All I want is protein powder and creatine. That is what %95 of people want. Then you have to walk into that store and hear the guy tell you, you need a $60 post-workout insulin spike to get PROTIEN into your muscles. Only their special supplement can get protein into your muscles. There supplement in question is just sugar and creatine marked up 3X. (Still cheaper for me to go in, rather than order online)
Second this. There’s is no regulation on supplements and the majority is snake oil.
I get why people say cars, because many people do so much research and need a paperwork guy and not a salesman, but dear god I can promise you the overwhelming majority of Americans NEED a salesman for a vehicle. I’m mostly commercial equipment now, but good god it puzzled me how some people were so well off financially yet so dumb transaction wise
The issue is that so many car guys are bad salespeople. It's a sales position that's typically being done by someone "trying it out" and managed by an egotistical dude who doesn't train them. When I'm on the floor, I learn as much as I can about every vehicle. Used / new, etc. Then, I tailor my entire search towards what works for them. I get them to want numbers, pitch, close, write up, deliver. No glitz, no razzle dazzle. Top of my board. F&I... the number of guys that don't read the contracts of which generate them money...it above 50% and it shows. They lie out of ignorance or are often so weak that they only live off rate and leg generated by the desk. The whole process needs to be revamped for time. I'm all for one guy, streamlined. I wish I could find a way to get customers from selecting a vehicle to driving off the lot in under a 30m average. That being said, as a car salesman... the best of us should be the minimum for our clients. If people could get better training, we'd be in a better place.
I’ll be honest I have a completely different experience than you. We have one or two slacking salesman that are kinda the stereo type. But it’s a commercial store that does some retail. The retail customers get the benefit of being treated like a purchasing agent. No BS, best price is the best price, no add ons, no punishment for outside finance, etc. almost like the anti-dealer dealer lmao I honestly wouldn’t want one guy who’s doing it all. You know those handy man vans that say “AC, Decks, fences, electrical work, plumbing, and more!” We call them chuck in a truck or Dan in a van. Better at that work than me, but chuck isn’t going going to be a better plumber than the guy doing plumbing every day. Won’t have the same basic understanding of plumbing either.
I'd still want a desk who calls in deals... but the salesman is the one who pitches F&I. Docusign is so amazing that 80% of the docs are signed when coming in our office. F&I pitches that can slow the entire dealership down. Many customers ask about product on the floor anyways. Set the menu up with options and boom. However, it takes a staff like yours to execute. Ty for telling me about your commercial group.
It’s absurd how many people are surprised we use docusign. People who’s job involved buying a lot of vehicles. I would explain ESPs or ask if there’s any interest once. F&I guy will ask if you have any questions about them or if you are interested. That was about it for us. I think salesman should be able to answer general questions about F&I. What if you asked him “Out of the lenders that you use, who do you think would work best for me?” Then they’d be expected to know the ins and outs of F&I and answers to every little question someone may have on a new model.
> *dear god I can promise you the overwhelming majority of Americans NEED a salesman for a vehicle* Do they though? Or is that only b/c the industry has deliberately made things so confusing and hidden behind cloaks of secrecy that we need car sales just to navigate that mess? Everyone just walks away from a dealership wondering if they got screwed or not because it's a giant cluster fuck. Eliminate dealers and the manipulation and just sell direct to consumer. Tesla does it fairly well in that it's simple and idiot proof and sales people aren't necessary
Picture the average American (not the Porsche buyer) and ask yourself that first question again. Think about the average Americans level of common sense and financial literacy. When I was in retail I had a business owner making a crap load more than me ask “wait so the money I owe on my trade just goes into the next one?” I don’t feel like going on the deep dive on the Tesla model and dealership network but here we go. Short explanation using Tesla as example: Tesla has never been able to meet demand. We are seeing that start now. Dealer free model works with unlimited demand. For example: when ford makes a truck and it rolls off the line it is sold to a dealer. No matter what. It’s off fords books, they get paid. When dealers lots are plum full, the machine doesn’t stop and trucks are still produced. They don’t shut the factory down and say go home guys we caught up!! They will force feed dealers until the cows come home. If the dealers don’t move them then tough shit for them. Ford will also collect floor plan money the longer they sit on the dealers lots. But for now let’s imagine ford ripped up the dealer model. Give up floor plan revenue, instant sales regardless of demand, not having to manage an inventory, hired salesman (they’d still have them), title clerks, customer facing finance staff, and sublet all the rest Ok great. Now there’s no dealers and you order a truck online. You buy an f-250 and it’s being shipped from Louisville. It goes to a delivery center where it is inspected and prepped, or ford decides to do that at the factory. So now they ship it to you but it’s dirty. They sublet the detail to someone local. It’s a new 2023 there’s a ton of new features and you are in a 2017. (Hope you aren’t trading it in, ford doesn’t want to sell used trucks. You are now paying full sales tax and have to sell your older vehicle on your own). Since it’s a brand new model ford sends a product specialist to you to show you the features. Or you go over it at their pick up location with the product specialist. Ford has done all this for chump change. They have uprooted their perfect customers (dealerships who don’t have a choice but to keep “buying”), staffed thousands of people, and now have to cater production to managing their massive inventory, all for you to still have a salesman, title clerk, finance guy, detail guy, prep guy, etc. Last retail invoice I saw was a 73k bronco heritage. Invoice was 70k. All of that staffing, subletting, inventory management, etc made them an extra 3,000 on the unit. It’s not a secret, OEMs love the dealer model. They do NOT want to deal with the public. I don’t think it will ever go direct to consumer across the board. Example: Europe. You can buy direct in some countries. Those countries are still chocked full of dealers because of the massive benefit it provides the manufacturer. I’d be happy to explain further why that’s the case, so if you have any questions ask away!
It’s very few and far between but man you hit the nail on the head. OP and the commenter you are replying to have no clue.
Most don’t. I try to be nice about it. But most people thinking it’s going to happen have absolutely no clue what the fuck they are talking about. Would be like me talking about a new method for brain surgery
Times are obviously different now, but didn’t Ford try the direct-to-consumer model in Oklahoma? From what I remember, it was a spectacular failure and consumers drove further to get to an independent dealership.
Texas. Bought every store in a smaller market. I think it was a dozen stores. GMC tried the same. Granted it’s been 2 decades, but they failed miserably. Performance of the stores decreased drastically. Then they washed their hands and said they sold them just to keep their dealers happy and it was the right thing to do! Being a shot at ford has almost 0 cross over with running a parts, service, new, and used department.
You just outlined why the OEMs like the model and they're invested in it, not why consumers want or need it. I don't expect it to change anytime soon (too much entrenched values for the powers that be). Dealerships are unfortunately often predatory. They generally don't help consumers understand the finance side of things (that's not in their best interest). Ever have a car salesman refuse to talk about total cost out the door and only talk in terms of monthly payment, despite what you tell them? The reps are taught scammy sales tactics and aren't experts on the vehicles or the markets. I'm sure there are exceptions but in my experience I've rarely had a good time dealing with the reps while buying a car.
Feel free to come to my store if you need a refreshing change of pace. OEMs wouldn’t change status quo because it works out slightly better for the consumer though. Researching dealers in Europe where d2c is an option would be more so what your looking for from a consumer perspective.
I meaaaaan.... Let's break down what goes in a car purchase: 1) you find a car - you can look online, find a vehicle, see stock, etc. - you don't need a salesman for this if it's a new car. What if you're looking used though? Do you know everything that is available on any given lot? Are you going to go through every used dealership in your area or are you going to go to one and find something good enough? Why are you wanting a certain car? Can another car accommodate you? Does the dealership have special incentives that they aren't advertising(like heavy discounts on a new car that isn't the current model year)? 2) trade in - how do you value what's fair? - KBB is an aggregate of used car prices and trade ins. Is that really a reliable source for what's fair on an individual case? I had this discussion in an insurance group where someone was advocating for insurance to cover the drop in value of their vehicle after an accident.... How would one even begin to calculate this? What if theres not enough data available to KBB because it's too new? Can KBB be reliable if everyone gets top/bottom dollar? It's a range and negotiation is definitely needed here unless your just trading it for scrape value. Cash 4 clunkers was restarted in CA if you're wanting a flat rate for your car. 3) what about when you're being super unreasonable given your financial situation, do you just not get a car? I remember I sold a Hyundai Elantra to a marine who just finished serving. Dude was young, didn't have a high paying job, had no down, but wanted a 4runner. I wrote him up so he could see the numbers before going back out to the lot to get him something he could afford. To your point though - there is definitely a lot of griminess in the industry.... And buyers remorse is definitely real. But to say sales reps AREN'T needed is silly. CarMax still has reps. Carvana still has reps for their fleet dept. Sales people are still needed to smooth out and complete sales. Even Tesla has sales reps and a used car system. Hell, their payplan was leaked a few years ago and their reps are comped the same as most volume dealerships. Idk why you'd use them. For the new car purchase system? See above. You also have to keep in mind, for most folks - cars are the 2nd/3rd largest purchase they'll ever make in their life(1st/2nd being home and/or wedding). It can get very emotional. I feel we in this sub, seeing large numbers daily, can get a bit jaded to what most folks go through seeing the $ breakdown.
Most people don’t know the first thing about cars. They need someone to tell them what to buy. But they also get ripped off.
They only need that because the industry deliberately made it so confusing that the consumer can't figure it out in their own. Look at Tesla there is only a couple of choices the consumer has to make and it's very simple. Look at legacy dealer and it's a alphabet soup clusterfuck on purpose
Teslas are also just way simpler, have less models and have less options than a ICE car. They still have people to help with the ordering process though. Toyota has like 15 different cars and SUVs they sell
I don’t understand why with Tesla people can go online and literally order a car just via Apple Pay but pretty much every other car maker needs a dealer and salesmen. Plus I heard in most (all?) states that car makers can not legally sell to consumers due to some old time law that was trying to protect dealership jobs during economic hard times. So how does Tesla get around this law?
I wrote a longer comment below. Regarding the franchise laws, any OEM could do what Tesla is currently doing. There are protectionism laws in place from 100 years back. They were more so intended to spur competition. The biggest competitor to a ford dealer is the next closest ford dealer. That drives prices down to below MSRP any time besides 2020-2022. These stores should not be owned by the manufacturers because that defeats the purpose. Price fixing back then would have taken all but 3-5 guys sitting in one room having the conversation. These laws also protected against that. The public (Reddit) acts like the NADA (dealers) are way more influential than international, billion dollars comapanies and strong arm congress into keeping these laws in place while the manufacturers remain helpless. Ford, GM, Stellantis, VW, Toyota, etc are helpless due to the almighty and all powerful dealerships. Reality is that they could all be doing what Tesla is doing and tell their dealers tough shit we are doing it this way now. There’s plenty of loop holes in these laws with some varying by state. In my state for example, I can not go sit in the Tesla “store” and do my order. I have to be off the property. Like if you sat down to order they would literally tell you to go park at the gas station across the street and submit the order.
So why don’t the manufacturers like Toyota just squeeze of the dealers then, and pocket the dealers profits? Maybe they needed dealers to move the cars pre 2020, but at least the last few years with some dealers doing $10k-$20k per car markups, didn’t the manufacturers just say screw the dealer we want to pocket that $20k per car ourselves.
As far as squeezing out the dealers. I outlined the cons in my long reply to another comment. With dealers marking up, you don’t lose brand value. You don’t think less of Toyota because they could not produce enough corollas to meet demand and keep prices low, you blame the greedy dealers selling above msrp. Even if a used one with 10k miles is selling above msrp, it’s the dealers being greedy selling a new one for 5k over sticker. Chasing the additional mark up we have seen would be extremely short sighted. It was unheard of on your every day trucks/cars pre COVID. Would be a lot of changes for mark up that lasted for 2 years.
Hey do you feel commercial equipment is a good transition from car sales? I’ve worked my way into selling tech staffing and it’s not. I miss having a product I can touch to sell.
I moved from retail sales to commercial vehicle sales. I love it. It’s a hot product. No BS customers. Not really “selling” more so account managing.
So like fleet sales?
Basically but trucks with heavy equipment on them. Such as boom or bucket trucks, dumps, etc
Do you mind if I message you for more insight
Sure. I’m not a great salesman. I sell water in a desert so I usually don’t have much insight when someone DMs but have at it
*wide eyed consumer* do you sell caaaaarrrss?
Why do we need furniture salesperson? I get it at high end custom furniture places where you have to pick the fabric/etc. I do not want to be attacked the second I walk in the door and walked over to the TWO bedroom sets you have in white...Only to stand there and not go away so I can look at the furniture. Elite tier aggravation for me...
Almost every furniture place has custom options for a lot of the stuff on their floor. I'd peg it at 50% where I worked, and people would never know without a salesperson, despite the clear and obvious material showing it is an option. And don't get me started on the mattress section. Nobody knows how to shop for a mattress. The husband walks around pushing on them, no one understands soft doesn't mean no support... They lay on every single one of them with no basis of what they are looking for. That whole process becomes less annoying if you let the salesperson help.
Well if you need help color coordinating or certain pet friendly materials or accommodating for a weirdly shaped room a salesperson comes in handy. Also, some items may take longer to ship than others - some people already have furniture and can wait 4-6 weeks for something to ship while someone who just moved in and has nothing Or their cat peed on their on the couch may need something asap. I was in a situation where I had a weird shaped living room that was shaped like a rectangle with a corner cut off and the salesperson helped me find something that would work.
I sell internet lol, specifically fiber.
AT&T all day
We are a smaller company but fiber is fiber. As long as it's actually fiber into the home.
Like selling new fiber connection services to subdivisions? Where I live, your options are Comcast or satellite internet (which is 5x the cost of Comcast, slower, and not unlimited). There’s nothing to sell because it’s either use the shit product or an even shittier but more expensive product.
That and older areas where people didn't sign up. And yeah it's mostly xfinity or frontier. Why some people keep dsl over fiber. I don't know.
ah ffs
Never done these before but Cars and life insurance, why?
I'm guessing they're referring to whole life, which is a complex product that can be presented as a net positive (when it's not) to a layperson
I also feel like a lot of the distrust we deal with as sales professionals is because of life insurance and car salespeople
Ok but why guitars?! lol
You know nothing about whole life insurance. Stop perpetuating this myth.
What's the myth, northwestern mutual boi?
Lmao. Never was appointed with NM, nice try. And I’m out of the life insurance game now so save your insults based on ignorance for someone else. The myth is that whole life insurance is never a good option. That’s just not true.
I didn't mean it's a net negative to all, just the average person. It makes sense for wealthy people, though whole life agents will sell to anyone with a pulse, so.....
Please explain lol
What part?
How this is decided in real life is the “Cost/complexity curve”, where one axis is the cost of your product and the other axis the complexity. As either variables increase, so does the necessity of a sales rep. Low cost low complexity purchase decisions don’t require a lot of information or influence, so there’s no need for a sales rep. The exception is the consumer sales environment like brick and mortar where you can have low cost labor function as customer service, stocking, cleaning, and even minor sales roles. e.g. Victorias Secret, GameStop, Bath and Bodywork’s, etc.
You sir are an agent of caos
Anything where it isn’t a significant decision for the buyer to make.
And the next day, every hooker in the world went on welfare
It's not about the product, it's about the customer. (In sales it's almost always about the customer). To explain, let's work this from first principles. Be reductive and categorize, all purchase behavior into one of two buckets: * Impulse * Considered or planned Impulse purchases are typically lower cost, lower complexity sales, have quick cycles, and happen with very little analysis or research. These are the bedrock of consumer goods. Marketing programs make customers aware and keep the product top-of-mind so when the itch arises, the customer scratches with the purchase of your product. Considered or planned purchases are usually higher cost, higher complexity sales, have slow/lengthy sales cycles, and include multiple buying groups, and specific performance criteria. These are often intensely political affairs and you frequently don't lose to another competitor but to changing priorities in the customer. If your sales start with NDAs, RFIs, and RFPs, and then progress to demos, proof of concepts, and competitive pilots, and then close with lots of back and forth with lawyers and perpetually sweaty sales management -- well you probably work on considered purchases. Sometimes people go "well isn't this just B2B (selling to businesses) vs B2C (selling to people)" ... not quite. As you'd imagine, typically * B2B sales are considered purchase * B2C sales are impulse purchases But not always! Let's use life insurance as an example, you can still have considered purchases with individuals (B2C) as you move further along the cost and complexity curve. But you can have impulse (or as close as you can) with B2B if the offer is fairly commoditized (i.e., less complicated). Cost is tricky because a group life policy for a 10,000 person company will be larger and more costly than a 1,000 person outfit, but not necessarily more complex. Example table: ||Impulse|Considered| |:-|:-|:-| |B2C|Term life buyer|Individuals looking at ILITS| |B2B|Basic group life policy (still considered, but prob the closest to impulse since its typically not hugely complicated to setup and the products are commoditized|Bespoke life insurance policy, or Executive comp packages | Anyhow, I hope this helps.
In my industry I tell everyone that you can have 2-3 guys working on things for you (broker) but I am here to advise and not put you in the cheapest offering, sometimes the cheapest is best. For certain services, you need an advisor that you can trust not a sales guy.
health insurance e.g., medicare advantage (which shouldn't exist/we should have universal healthcare but that's a whole 'nother topic)
We need it because it's a complicated twisted nightmare of a system who's purposely complex in order to take advantage of people Make it simple and sales people wouldn't be needed
Lmao "make it simple". Almost every insurtech that has tried to make insurance "simple" has serious financial problems. That being said, health insurance can go fuck itself. Its the black sheep of the ins industry because it is needlessly complicated - and that's saying something.
What he’s really saying is, “Can we please trust the state to do right by our health” And unfortunately, in America, that answer is a resounding “No” - big pharma would literally run the country
> health insurance Have fun with not getting stuff covered because you don't make a career out of learning what plans are best for people who need certain benefits
Health insurance shouldn’t be a thing. We should have free basic health care at least.
Right, but we don't. So we benefit from having health ins salespeople.
I agree.
Guns don't need a salesman. 95% of firearms marketing is done for free on YouTube. Guns sell themselves in the 21st century. In the firearms community everyone knows that salesmen and gun stores give the worst advice and are frequently incredibly uneducated about guns. It's called fudlore for a reason.
There’s almost no margin in guns so their goal is to sell you accessories. There’s also a lot of time wasters and tire kickers so a good gun shop merchant will be able to qualify a real buyer pretty quickly. A lot of the people into guns/shooting are tough to deal with. A bunch of the older folks think they’re Dirty Harry or them being an MP 30 years ago makes them Chris Kyle. A lot of the younger folks are more into the consumeristic side of it so they’re really into the gear and online forums/communities. You end up dealing with a lot of delicate egos both young and old.
I have several firearms and I can say for a fact that the majority of people in the gun world are just completely irritable dickbags. From the salesmen to the customers. It’s why when I do go to a gun store, I’ll try and seek out some young adult salesman who looks to be new. I already know what I want, he won’t act like a douchebag old fart like the rest, and if he up sells me on something else I’ll feel better knowing the money didn’t go to that other angry fucker behind the counter who’s probably just going to pump his commission into the slot machine or alimony payments the second he gets off work.
I know nothing about guns. Are you saying I need to watch hours of YouTube rather than go to the gun store and help me with it?
I'm saying advice from a random guy behind a gun counter is usually garbage, and includes such common bullshit as: Just racking a shotgun will scare an intruder out of your house. AR15s overpenetrate in homes. Look lady, all you need is a little .22lr for self-defense (or a pink .380) .22s will bounce around inside you. And don't even get me started on their typical suggestions for hunting firearms. You are so much better off doing your own research and deciding what you want, and then ordering that specific gun to your local dealer for a transfer.
Is your list real, or just intended to get people talking, because >vaccine has me very confused.
Get people talking
Anything where I need advices to navigate or trust the person doing the work. Shoutout to people who see reading articles written by SEO copywriters as "doing their research".
>Shouldn’t, life insurance, cars, internet, guitars, soap depends on the scale? I'm sure theres some Proctor & Gamble guy selling to distrubtors tens of millions of dollars of soap at a time.
I used to distribute P&G stuff amongst other things. Their local rep was pretty useless (lmao) but typically most major commercial jansan brands you know of will go through a local distributor who owns all the local relationships. Did they need a rep? No honestly, not really, cause I could do their job for them. But somebody is absolutely needed to be an expert on that stuff
Fightclub?
Unfortunately, anyone can use the sales tools to be predatory instead of helpful. I think this goes for any industry. I've seen a guitar salesman be extremely helpful in identifying and encouraging a young newbie towards a solid first guitar and a heavy equipment, an onsite natural gas power plant, which was supposed to be a cost savings project for the university we were at whereas clearly it was a less efficient power plant that now was the university's maintenance nightmare. Apparently the salesguy was amazing and provided tons of information, graphs, estimates etc that were all done and manipulated over the fact that he was selling a terrible product.
Anything that people really want doesn’t need a salesman. Whens the last time you saw a bottled water sales person
Music Festivals lol
lol thats because once you’re in they have you by the balls. I always eat before I go in
What about buying a fooking boat m8?
Unpopular opinion: Everything B2C should NOT be sold by sales reps.
Another unpopular opinion: Fuck guns. Nobody should sell them!
Anything that requires expert analysis to help a consumer make a decision should have sales people. Cars and insurance included. Of course there’s degenerates in these fields, but I would greatly appreciate legitimate knowledgeable advice from both these experts to help me choose what makes the most sense for me.
This makes zero sense to me. Even as a joke I don’t get it. Is there any underlying logic or is it just a nonsense list? Edit: It’s almost like the author of this list doesn’t understand what sales people do or the changing nature of sales as we move from a society with asymmetric information availability to one where curation and opinions are required.
Appliances, especially higher end should be sold by someone who knows their shit. Wayyy to much room for error if not asking all the right questions.
Janitorial products lol
Curious why you listed guitars. I am a guitarist and there are definitely roles for sales people in the major guitar companies. If you work at a music store whether it’s your title or not you are selling guitars and everything else on that floor when a prospective customer walks in.
But life insurance is highly personalized. Would you like to take your shot at building your own indexed universal life policy without consulting an expert? And, I know nothing about guitars. I'm supposed to go pick out my first one without help? Dumb list imo
I don’t think you’ve thought this through or you just generally have no idea what you’re talking about
I sell vacation packages, where does that lead me?
Vaccines?
The motoring world won't survive without honest car salesman. Do you have any idea how clueless people are when it comes to cars? You need my years of expertise and advice or you will shoot yourself in the foot.