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In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

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Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#31
> The better you are at selling, the more debased your life becomes, as everything is reduced to a transaction, a leveraging of the smallest edge

I think that's the essence of having a sales mindset if I had to explain it. It's really hard to convey what it means and I think only those that worked close with people with this talent would have a chance to know what this really means. Sales is an art on top of a very technical game, where you have an unlimited number of secret knobs to balance. It's like seeing chefs or f1 drivers performing at their best, and as such it's not just about grit, you also need talent on top.

Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#32

The best sales people I've worked with were incredible strategic thinkers and not really sales people at all. They built an intimate knowledge of their customer and their industry, built strong connections with the top brass of their client by delivering exceptional work that got those people promoted, and were really good at building autonomous teams that could get the (exceptional) work done with their guidance on…

How does a salesperson deliver exceptional work? In every place I’ve worked, outside of independent contracting, the sales person didn’t do the trench work.

Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#33

The best sales people I've worked with were incredible strategic thinkers and not really sales people at all. They built an intimate knowledge of their customer and their industry, built strong connections with the top brass of their client by delivering exceptional work that got those people promoted, and were really good at building autonomous teams that could get the (exceptional) work done with their guidance on…

Okay, I've worked at a company that had that kind of sales. It is indeed very impressive to see. But I think that worked because there were only a small number of vendors who could potentially deliver for these (giant) customers in the first place. Otherwise the immense investment to attempt to land one of these customers would have too low a chance of paying off.

Although they have the same title I think it's a different job to when there are a lot of options for the customer.

Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#34
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a pill that reverses male-pattern baldness and makes you lose weight without exercise Sadly only one of these exists.

I asume that you mean only the weight loss pill exists? Would that be something like manjaro (inhibiting the desire to eat) or one of the few _actual_ metabolism boosters in existence (which all make you produce insane amounts of heat and have fairly high fatality rates -- not necessarily a bad thing given their other side effects)? Assuming that's what you mean, reversing has spotty success, but prevention is easy f…

I assume they were referring to semaglutide.

Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#35

#1: An inmate who preaches "criminal wisdom" of questionable quality, like " want to know how to disable a burglar alarm with aluminum foil? " #2: A telemarketing old lady with a "warm voice and metronomic cadence". #3: An NYC beggar who "walks up to a table, falls to his knees, interlaces his hands as if in prayer, and begs, at the top of his lungs, Please please please, money, please I need a dollar! "

I thought this comment was a very clever joke, then I clicked the link and realised it’s an actual summary of the article. Thanks for saving me seven minutes.

It's a summary of the title, but not of the article.

Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#36

The best sales people I've worked with were incredible strategic thinkers and not really sales people at all. They built an intimate knowledge of their customer and their industry, built strong connections with the top brass of their client by delivering exceptional work that got those people promoted, and were really good at building autonomous teams that could get the (exceptional) work done with their guidance on…

How does a salesperson deliver exceptional work? In every place I’ve worked, outside of independent contracting, the sales person didn’t do the trench work.

> In every place I’ve worked, outside of independent contracting, the sales person didn’t do the trench work.

Because they were not "elite salespeople"? Jokes aside, I guess the best salesperson is the one whose title is not "Sales".

Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which one translates best into high ticket SaaS sales?

Hire #2 for the first call, #1 to close, and #3 for contract renewals

Damn this is a wickedly awesome response.

Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought this comment was a very clever joke, then I clicked the link and realised it’s an actual summary of the article. Thanks for saving me seven minutes.

It's a summary of the title, but not of the article.

What more substance is there?

Re: In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work

#39

> We were victims. Therefore, we had license to take whatever measures were necessary. Once this worldview sets in, it’s very difficult to break out of, not least because it often feels so perfectly just. One of many nuggets of wisdom in this excellent text.

For the would be thief, a real or imaginary victimhood is eagerly sought, or welcomed, to justify your actions.

Maybe this is the real motivation behind the "victims" of the PC mindset: its a cadre of justifications to plunder the status quo.

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