Do aspies make good salespeople?

[Dragon's Tooth]

Something I've been thinking about. The only job I've ever had that I really loved was my sales job. I loved it because I could spend all day talking about things I loved. And I because I was passionate about what I was selling then I could sell well.

I think our honesty would also make us better sales people because we wouldn't lie to a customer.

Just a point of discussion ...

 

[Jacki Cucinotta]

I definitely see your point on how us aspies are very honest - but I cannot say that would go for 100% of all aspies because there could be some that are very slick and possible loan sharks. There are always exceptions to how most aspies act and behave, and honesty might be one of them but I'm not sure as I have not encountered an aspie that was dishonest or shady.

On the other hand, I believe being passionate about something makes the sales pitch more believable and authentic. For instance, how many celebrity endorsers do you think actually use the products they are selling? How many of those are authentic?

 

[dwc780]

I think it really depends. I can sell food and wine like it's nothing. During my introduction to bartending class (I'm in culinary school) we had to make a marketing scheme for a fictional wine, complete with creating and describing the fictional wine, and I was told that I could sell boxed wine to a collector/snob and they would still buy it. Same with me actually bartending. If you put me behind the bar, where I'm doing something I'm really interested in and really enjoy, I am a totally different person then, say, if you had me selling clothes. Food and alcohol I am into; being around them and working with them puts me in a relaxed, natural, comfortable state where I almost function as a NT, albeit a quirky and slightly odd one. Put me around something I really don't care about and I'm back to being my normal, sometimes offputting, closed off self.

For reference, here is the marketing scheme I came up with. The actual artwork isn't mine, but 90% of the words and ideas are.

 

[Dragon's Tooth]

When I sold computers and technology I made that whole adage "could sell ice to an eskimo" true. Mostly because I was so passionate about it.

I'm like most aspies and I find lying hard if not impossible. So I would trust an aspie salesperson over some I saw. There is one race I will never buy off because I met heaps of salespeople from that one particular race and everyone of them was dodgy, even the ones raised in my home country. To avoid appearing too racist, I won't name them. But I met a number of them and they were all slick and all of them dodgy as they come. One manager I was friends with used to ***** at me about spending most of his days cleaning up after one of them. I might have got it wrong on occasion because I don't know everything but at least I wasn't out to deceive people like some salespeople I saw.

If find it ironic that we aspies might actually be geared up to be good at a very extroverted job that involves a lot of social interaction. Mind you if you get most of us going on our fave subject we will go for hours. Something that is an advantage in sales if we can control that one.

Ah the discussions I used to have with dumb arse customers over which gaming system was best. Most of them assumed because I was a woman that I didn't know what a game system was let alone the difference.

 

[King_Oni]

I think it depends on where you work to sell stuff.

I'm quite sure that I could sell stuff if it suits my interest and/or if it's my own store I run.

What's also a point is "not lying"... in some stores you just have to lie in order to sell more. Some stores want competitive and salesdriven employees. I don't like those stores as a customer and most likely don't like them if I'd work there.

Something I would like to add in terms of interest is that I'm quite sure some aspies (including myself) have some "not so standard" uses and therefore interests and obsessions. That might cause incoherent rambling for customers.

But as others stated; for an objective sales advice I think a lot of aspies might be fine people.

Just too bad that it's a rarity how stores operate nowadays. Stores nowadays rather sell you crap so you'll come back within 6 months for a new product. I can totally understand the need for sales to maintain an existence for a store and a manufacturer, but that also makes unbiased, objective salesadvices (and therefore people who can deal with those) more and more of an undesireable asset.

 

[NeverEnder]

I would not make a good salesperson.

In fact, I have been one at a job in the past and did not do so well at all: I was expected to talk customers into higher-end products, some who could not afford the products being pushed on them. If they could not afford the more expensive product we were expected to talk them into taking out a line of credit with the store. Many of these people were poor and the line of credit would just make them more in debt. I knew this and felt guilty about doing it. I felt wrong about it.

I did not last long in that position needless to say.

 

[Dragon's Tooth]

in Australia we have had a chain of stores done for pushing stuff onto people who can't afford it using a line of credit. So it happens anywhere.

The store I worked in we were competing with a much bigger chain and they gave out free stuff to get customers. We used to get customers who knew we knew what we were talking about, price up an item then go to the big chain and get what they wanted from there cheaper. So I worked in a sales environment where honesty was the best policy.

 

[Stardust]

LOL. I think this would be the worse job for me mainly because of my social anxiety. I tried once and it was ****ing horrible (people started laughing behind my back and make rude comments) so I gave up.

 

[King_Oni]

Something that might be a factor as well, and as such might help aspies a bit more is if customers are willing to listen and want sound advice in general. Pushing and lying into sales isn't the best for a lot of aspies, nor is selling stuff in general. Working in a specialist store where people know what they can expect and want more in depth advice might even benefit aspies as salespeople since they can get rather obsessive and inform people.

I once worked at a callcenter for 2 days where I had to sell people "green power". Most people weren't into that, especially not since I had to phone them in the early evening, just around dinner time. I'm terrible with verbal information (so phones are a mess), but besides that, having to fight up a hill selling people something they initially don't even want, and as such having to deal with them even staying on the line and listening to your salespitch is equally hard. Funilly enough no one ever told me "oh, I was waiting till you guys called, since I want that awesome product".

And there's also a stigma on callcenters and how annoying they are. People get annoyed, flat out rude and offensive to boot sometimes. Not really the best salesenvironment for people that deal with communication issues in general I think.

 

[Soup]

Call center sales are not popular here for all the same reasons. Not only that, many of them were scams targeting lonely elderly people who get few calls & are more gullible. So many complaints were being made about telephone solicitors that the people are demanding that telephone sales be outlawed altogether.

As for Aspies in sales, I think that some would be great at it under the right conditions.

 

[King_Oni]

Call center sales are not popular here for all the same reasons. Not only that, many of them were scams targeting lonely elderly people who get few calls & are more gullible. So many complaints were being made about telephone solicitors that the people are demanding that telephone sales be outlawed altogether.

As for Aspies in sales, I think that some would be great at it under the right conditions.

I'd be totally fine if they'd outlaw them. After my really, really, really short stint there I know how silly it is.

Over here we even have a list where people can register if they do not wish to be phoned by callcenters. The catch however is that not all callcenter companies register to adhere to that list. So that doesn't make a lot of sense, since all companies will just steer clear of acting like they know the existence of that list.

It wasn't neccesarily a scam where I worked, but it was questionable to say the least. Phone people, look up their zipcode and "assume" through software how much they use in power. Then tell them it's cheaper if they get green power. I've had people telling me they had solar panels and as such was called a liar for not telling the exact numbers. They were right though.

People have asked me how I even acquired their phone number. I was told, by my supervisor, to tell them "I cannot make statement about that". Fact is; these callcenters pay other companies (like mailorder, etc.) a hefty amount to buy addresses and phonenumbers in bulk. But apparently it's not illegal or there just isn't any enforcement.

 

[smith2267]

We are TOO honest. Salespeople have to lie.

 

[Soup]

"Over here we even have a list where people can register if they do not wish to be phoned by callcenters. The catch however is that not all callcenter companies register to adhere to that list. So that doesn't make a lot of sense, since all companies will just steer clear of acting like they know the existence of that list." -King_Oni

We also have a national 'do not call' registry & despite the fact that we're on it, we still get those annoying calls: albeit less of them. A new trend here are 'robocalls'. that is when, instead of a human being, you get called by a robot. These are often contest scams. The one we're getting allegedly comes out of Florida & a robot calls you & screams, " CONGRATULATIONS, Mrs. _____ -_____: You have won a free Caribbean cruise! You will be departing from Florida & enjoy 1000$ of free spending vouchers blablabla..."

Some people who were flattered to have won something (the fact that they'd never even entered into a contest didn't render them suspicious) took the bait & really got fleeced. We've also been getting those stupid African 'send me money to free up my money & I'll give you a bajillion $. YOU are the only person who can help me' email scam solicitation.

 

[Jacki Cucinotta]

"Over here we even have a list where people can register if they do not wish to be phoned by callcenters. The catch however is that not all callcenter companies register to adhere to that list. So that doesn't make a lot of sense, since all companies will just steer clear of acting like they know the existence of that list." -King_Oni

We also have a national 'do not call' registry & despite the fact that we're on it, we still get those annoying calls: albeit less of them. A new trend here are 'robocalls'. that is when, instead of a human being, you get called by a robot. These are often contest scams. The one we're getting allegedly comes out of Florida & a robot calls you & screams, " CONGRATULATIONS, Mrs. _____ -_____: You have won a free Caribbean cruise! You will be departing from Florida & enjoy 1000$ of free spending vouchers blablabla..."

Some people who were flattered to have won something (the fact that they'd never even entered into a contest didn't render them suspicious) took the bait & really got fleeced. We've also been getting those stupid African 'send me money to free up my money & I'll give you a bajillion $. YOU are the only person who can help me' email scam solicitation.

There are similar systems in the United States as well, but as Soup said, these scam calls still somehow make it into our phones. And yes, it is rare nowadays to actually be called by an actual live person as they have been replaced by automated voice messages (i.e., "If you want to speak to a representative, press 1; if you want to discuss payment options, press 2"). Those are completely annoying, and more often then not, extremely unhelpful and inconvenient.

 

[smith2267]

Yes the do not call list here in the states does not work well. Probably we dislike the intrusion of these calls more than NT's

 

[dwc780]

"Over here we even have a list where people can register if they do not wish to be phoned by callcenters. The catch however is that not all callcenter companies register to adhere to that list. So that doesn't make a lot of sense, since all companies will just steer clear of acting like they know the existence of that list." -King_Oni

We also have a national 'do not call' registry & despite the fact that we're on it, we still get those annoying calls: albeit less of them. A new trend here are 'robocalls'. that is when, instead of a human being, you get called by a robot. These are often contest scams. The one we're getting allegedly comes out of Florida & a robot calls you & screams, " CONGRATULATIONS, Mrs. _____ -_____: You have won a free Caribbean cruise! You will be departing from Florida & enjoy 1000$ of free spending vouchers blablabla..."

Some people who were flattered to have won something (the fact that they'd never even entered into a contest didn't render them suspicious) took the bait & really got fleeced. We've also been getting those stupid African 'send me money to free up my money & I'll give you a bajillion $. YOU are the only person who can help me' email scam solicitation.

I use my cellphone as my "primary" phone, and a free "wifi" phone jerryrigged off of an old cellphone as my home phone. If friends and family want to reach me, they get my primary cell number. All businesses, websites, etc get my wifi phone number. Never had a telemarketer call.

 

[Dragon's Tooth]

we have a do not call list here in aussie. It doesn't work. I just unplugged the house phone. Problem solved lol.

 

[Butterfly_Lady]

I am not a good sales person, I was passionate about the Cutco knives that I was selling but I was still very shy at the time and I guess I wasn't aggressive enough? I still have the set I bought for doing the demonstrations and tell people I know how awesome those knives are. I still have many I want to get but I am just not the type of person that can really actually sell it. I also have tried "up-selling" things on cars when I was working at the Honda dealership and many times the customer would turn it down, just wanting what they originally came in for in the first place.

 

[Soup]

@ ButterflyLady: What a coincidence! My son sold Cutco knives back when he was about 17! They're expensive, but really great: I also have the vegetable peeler & the pizza wheel (aside form a bunch of knives). I was shocked that anyone in their right mind opened their home & let in a strange scraggly looking teenage boy with a bagful of large super-sharp knives in the first place!!!

 

[Butterfly_Lady]

@Soup Actually I was kinda surprised that anyone let me into their home too. I only ever sold 2 knives and one was to my uncle who already had most of them, he was only missing a few if I remember correctly.