We All Sell, We Are All In Sales

By Carmen Lapham, Director of Recruiting and Operations, Q4B

If anyone asks you “What do you do for a living?” how do you respond? Most people answer with their job title and their company, as in “I am the owner of VF Transport” or “I am the head of production with MQ Manufacturing” or in my case, see my info above. Nothing wrong with this type of response but on the other hand it isn’t really the answer to the question. Saying you’re the owner doesn’t mean that you “own” for a living, nor does saying you are head of production mean that you “produce “for a living.

The best answer to the question, believe it or not, is one that most people tend to avoid. We don’t want to admit that the answer is something that all of us do, day I and day out, regardless of job title and name or type of company that we work for. Even some people who do this for a living call it by some other name as though there is some stigma attached to it. And yet the answer when viewed as a career provides those who do it well the greatest opportunity to make more money than any other career choice.

So, what is this answer? The answer to the question “What do you do for a living” is “I sell, I am in sales”.

The owner of the transport company sells every hour of every day. He sells himself, his products/services, his company’s capabilities and solutions. If he doesn’t sell his company will die. The head of production at the manufacturing plant sells his ideas, his boss’s ideas, the opportunity for advancement for his team, his vision. If he doesn’t sell there will be little or no production and he will be out of a job. And, as Director of Recruiting and Operations, I sell everyday as well. I sell candidates on great career moves; I sell hiring managers on great candidates; I sell my boss and other stakeholders on new and better technology that has a better than expected ROI. I sell, I am in sales.

This is a concept that is not easy for everyone to accept. Even those who are in a sales position (recruiters included) have a difficult time saying “I sell, I am in sales.” And yes there are those who would argue that not everyone sells and use as an example those starving artists who create their art for its own sake and would never think of calling themselves salesmen. But isn’t that why they are called “starving artists”?

From my experience in the recruiting field, the one group that has the most difficult time accepting the concept that “we sell, we are all in sales” is job candidates, active or passive. Most have been told by recruiters and career coaches that as job candidates they need to be selling themselves, especially to the hiring managers; that they are the product and that their resume is their product literature; that job search is all about selling and marketing themselves. All true, but very difficult to accept.

I have a suggestion for those job seekers who struggle with the “I sell, I am in sales” concept. Instead of thinking of selling just yourself, as though you were a product, think of selling what the buyer (hiring manager) needs. Think of selling a solution to his/her problem since as we all know the only reason that a company is hiring is that they have a problem, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but a problem nonetheless. Think of selling an increase in revenue from a problem territory; an increase in collecting receivables; a better return on the investment made in a new ERP system; a quicker turnaround in invoicing; a better quality pipeline for new business; a better and more responsive customer focused web site with social media channels.

If you think of selling what the buyer needs, your chances of making the sale will be that much greater. Making the sale means that you will get the job offer. Now that is selling!

My hope is that someday, when any one is asked the question “What do you do for a living” everyone will answer “I sell, I am in sales.”

Now, are you buying any of this?

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Comment by David Palmer on October 25, 2012 at 9:57am: Nope not buying it! What a dull boring world you wish for. No one would ask the question because they would already know the answer. No subtle suggestion of the detail in your job in the answer: I sell. It's like what do you do? I breath..how about you?

Comment by Ken Forrester on October 25, 2012 at 10:51am: So true, Carmen-nothing happens until something is sold. But, not everyone can sell-because selling is a process that takes time to learn, practice and apply. And unfortunately we now live in a push-button world. We push a button and expect immediate results. Very few are willing to invest the time to learn the fundamentals of selling, so we will quickly purchase the latest app that aims to by-pass the boring, repetitive, rejection oriented stuff and just deliver only good results. Maybe traditional selling is dead?

Comment by Carmen Lapham on October 25, 2012 at 1:05pm: WOW! David, I am not sure where to begin. I get asked the question "What do you do for a living?" often, at networking events, conferences etc. And most often I do use my title and company name which sometimes leads to some further conversation. But, I am changing may response to "I sell, I am in sales" because I know that it will lead to more interesting questions (no subtlety here) regarding what I sell (solutions, opportunities, profits etc) that will certainly get the attention of the questioner and quite possibly lead to some business or candidate opportunities for my company. I also feel that job seekers should think of themselves as sales people for the same reason. It will help differentiate them from the rest of the pack and give them a sense of value, what they are bringing to the hiring company's table. And isn't that what recruiters do? We sell our clients on our candidates and our candidates on the client's opportunity. And until there is an app for that, Ken then I would think that traditional selling like traditional recruiting is NOT dead!

Comment by Sharon Hibble on October 25, 2012 at 6:45pm: Yes, I agree that a recruiters job is to sell, we sell jobs and we sell skills/people however I would never ever say that in answer to the question "What do you do for a living". If you go back to the good old sales training that most of us have been through often numerous times ( I was in Retail for 16 years, the last 7 of them in Management prior to Recruitment) you are taught to answer a question like this with an open answer, this is a closed answer. If I asked somebody that question and got that answer I would be running for the hills!

I am British and I have lived in Turkey for almost 4 years. When a Turkish person asking me what I do for a living and I say I am a recruiter, they look at me and scratch their head, So I will then answer in Turkish and still they don't get it. So I will then go on to explain WHAT I do (in Turkish) I help American people find jobs and I help American companies find new staff. Because I am not recruiting in Turkey itself I end my explaination there which is infact a closed statement however it does generally lead on to a further conversation of how do I do it etc. I live in a Tourist Resort and I live in a lovely apartment above a central restaurant, most of the time I set my laptop up downstairs in the restaurant as it is nice to be surrounded by the hussle and bussle of people so for 27 weeks of the year I actually answer this question on pretty much a daily basis from tourists who are intrigued to know what I am doing 12 hours a day at my laptop. My answer is the same as when a Turkish person asks me however I always end by saying "So what do you do for work?"

The thing to remember here in my situation is these people are on holiday, they are in their shorts and t shirts with a nice cool efes beer - Anyone of these people could be a Hiring Manager or a potential candidate ( I have actually re written 2 resumes in the last week from guests who have been sat in the restaurant).

I suppose what it amounts to is there is a time and a place for the "Get straight to the point" however I personally believe in Sales Through Service and not going for the jugular, but this is what I am comfortable with and it is what works for me, everyone is different :-)

Comment by Carmen Lapham on October 25, 2012 at 8:47pm: Sharon, always remember,

"Nothing in this world worth having comes easy."

Sahip olmaya değecek hiçbir şey kolay elde edilemez.

Comment by Mitch Sullivan on October 27, 2012 at 2:20am: How are you defining "we"?

Comment by Carmen Lapham on October 29, 2012 at 12:28pm: The plural of "I".

Comment by Will Thomson on October 31, 2012 at 12:53pm: We do all sell. Some better than others. I tell you though, I never want to be called a sales person. I was in the recruitment industry for 3 years, left to sell products and services for 10 years and came back into recruitment. I hated every moment I had to tell someone I was in sales. I hated the stigma of what comes along with being a sales person. Call me an advisor, a Talent Acquisition professional, a recruiter, a Human Resource professional. Call me anything but a sales person! That being said, recruiters who don't sell aren't in the industry for very long. God bless the people who get up every morning with a call sheet and prospecting list. My stomach turns everytime I think about quotas. You are a better man/lady than I.