Industry Secrets!!

[wagon]

Agreed! Amen, brother!

[manuals4you]

And I used to be in the shit business too!
I was a Plumber for 27 years.

Paul@justmanuals.com

[Elle]

OMG!! thats too funny )

[CanonHPTech]

Wow... only a matter of time before this happened... I work at a bigger dealership with alot of salesman and alot of techs... both usually stick together in their respective flocks... a love-hate relationship.... salesman usually like the service managers- because they get the job done for them... but techs... well unfortuantely both sides bash each other... I have respect for salesman because trust me... I could be on either side of the spectrum, I just gotta eat and don't like the constant rejection.... I just try to look at it this way... we both have roles:

Salesman: Sells the invisable, promises the impossible and has the option of not picking up the phone or returning calls.
Tech: Sells the temporary peace of mind (between service calls), promises impossible eta's and parts in stock and does not have the option of choosing where he does not want to go or revisit the same customer 5 times in the same month for the same issue.

Salesman have to fight for interviews in front of multiple wrong employees (middle managers) until they earn the right to get in front of the actual decision maker and push boxes they know very little about and compete with dozens of other manufactuers and dealers who are all out selling this magical, unknown, customized 'business solution'. Understanably, this is why they don't always tell the truth and will eat the sales guy in the next cubicle just to close the deal.

Techs have to support and brag to the customer about how good that this bad engineering is in this machine that they do not have a say in and have to re-engineer machines to do things that the salesman promised the customer that it would do. They do not get paid enough for either.

Therefore I believe both jobs are hard in their own respects. Obviously, one would not survive without the other. I worked for small company's without salesman, but had OEM authorizations for service. You got your $50-100 here and there for one-time service, but no reocurring income and none of your customers would buy from you.

[Tonerbomb]

Nicely put !!! They do take alot af rejection and abuse for awhile, but once the machine is in place for 3 to 5 years it'; on the tech's.

And I'm still not sure they can sell used cars !

[Copier_Guy]

A lot of good points by Just A Tech and CanonHPTech.

To be serious for a minute, we both, sales and service, respectfully have hard jobs to do in this industry. I actually have a great deal of respect for the Salesman because anyone that owns a business or is responsible for revenue generation knows that Sales Drives The Economy. Engineering is the Foundation.

For every great product out there, it wouldn't be worth a Damn without someone out there that convinces people that they need it.

Most Techs I know are not great sales people, including myself, because we as Techs deal in absolutes. Sales People deal with probables.

Techs deal mainly with Logic when it comes to making a piece of gear work and less with logic when it comes to dealing with people.

Sales People deal with less logical scenarios because they have to deal with Personalities, Bias, Uncertainty, and Fear amongst other things to get to the heart of the Logical and sometimes Illogical decisions needed to complete their mission.

My hat off to both professions. As a small business owner, I do my own sales right now, which is probably why I'm not rich yet, but as things grow, I am definitely going to utilize a good sales person to make the business grow.

ShawnV, you push your product wherever you see fit. I know you already know you won't get the Red Carpet laid out to you everywhere you go, like here, but you should know by now, that's just the nature of the business.

I know I don't have to Spoon Feed that to you.
(Sorry, I couldn't help but throw a Jokee Joke in there somewhere!)

[blackcat4866]

I was going to hit may of the same points as Copier Guy.

I did try sales for three months, not copier sales but as a financial planner. I knew the numbers inside & out, but never could quite get a handle on those intangibles, the emotional factors that often (illogically) guide many of our financial decisions.

I'm a logical guy. Illogical things piss me off.

[Shawnv]

Hi all,

i agree, thanks for your spoonfull of words Copier Guy,
we are all in the same boat here some lets all get along,
the Industry Secret was a stupid way of selling but hey, it made people talk and think differently.

im not good at motivating speaches so lets all grab our spoons, raise them high and say: Ole!!

Chers