Nandan D. P.
Vice President - Sales & Marketing at Spartan Engineering Industries Pvt. Ltd.
Why are sales and marketing professionals not considered under the professional umbrella just like the doctors, chartered accountants etc.?
Location specific: India
Answers (7)
Giri F.
Sales leader specialised in services and solutions.
Best Answers in: Sales Techniques (2), Certification and Licenses (1), Business Development (1), Change Management (1), Planning (1), Career Management (1)
We're not regulated, and we don't need a 4+ year degree from University to practice.
Matt K.
Marketing & Business Development Consultant for the IT Services Industry at Matt Kelly Marketing
the primary answer is that unlike doctors, accountant etc, there is as much art as science involved in what we do. And that is difficult to measure and test, and more importantly, to certify.
Marketing has a number of professional bodies which do validate a practioners skills, (the CIM for example), but sales requires nothing but youthful enthusiasm (or naivety) to get into, and there is still a sufficiently large 'wild west' attitude in a lot of sales organisations to create a public perception that diminshes the professionalism of the rest of us.
Martin T.
Crisis Management§Interim Executive
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (130), Government Policy (13), Business Development (10), Organizational Development (9), Starting Up (8), Customer Service (7), Education and Schools (6), Economics (6), Staffing and Recruiting (6), Advertising (6), Career Management (6), Change Management (5), Ethics (5), Small Business (5), Business Dining and Entertainment (4), Travel Tools (4), Mentoring (4), Internationalization and Localization (4), Sales Techniques (4), Job Search (3), Internet Marketing (3), Writing and Editing (3), Social Enterpreneurship (3), Positioning (3), Car and Train Travel (2), Hotels (2), Occupational Training (2), Government Services (2), Public Health and Safety (2), Work-life Balance (2), International Law (2), Customs, Tariffs and Taxes (2), Guerrilla Marketing (2), Public Relations (2), Search Marketing (2), Business Analytics (2), Planning (2), Project Management (2), Personal Investing (2), Wealth Management (2), Business Plans (2), Blogging (2), Computers and Software (2), Computer Networking (2), Information Security (2), Web Development (2), Business Insurance (1), Commercial Real Estate (1), Facilities Management (1), Event Marketing and Promotions (1), Accounting (1), Foreign Investment (1), Compensation and Benefits (1), Personnel Policies (1), Environmental Health (1), Criminal Law (1), Contracts (1), Employment and Labor Law (1), Viral Marketing (1), Graphic Design (1), Customer Relationship Management (1), Lead Generation (1), Corporate Governance (1), Equity Markets (1), Futures Markets (1), Manufacturing (1), Packaging and Labeling (1), Quality Management and Standards (1), Retirement and Estate Planning (1), Market Research and Definition (1), Engineering (1), Pricing (1), Energy and Development (1), E-Commerce (1), Enterprise Software (1), Information Storage (1), Telecommunications (1), Wireless (1)
In the UK there is a proper Chartered Institute for marketeers. But I know of nothing simlilar for Sales and doubt you'd find many wanting to play if there were.
Russell D.
Freelance Energy and Manufacturing Consultant
Best Answers in: Business Development (1), Using LinkedIn (1)
Anyone with a red tie, double-breasted suit, well polished shoes, whitened teeth, and repertoire of party trick/jokes can be a salesman. However, it could be dangerous to wake up on the operating table to find an Amway door-to-door salesman doing a triple bypass in your clamped-open chest cavity.
For this reason, we ask that all 'would be' doctors/surgeons do 7 years training before being allowed to enter anyone's chest cavity.
Links:
Mark V.
Experienced Cellular Network Engineer
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (21), Wireless (5), Health Care (3), Computer Networking (3), Education and Schools (2), Internet Marketing (2), Planning (2), Product Design (2), Blogging (2), Computers and Software (2), Databases (2), Information Storage (2), Software Development (2), Customer Service (1), Facilities Management (1), Regulation and Compliance (1), Air Travel (1), Car and Train Travel (1), Travel Tools (1), Resume Writing (1), Accounting (1), Auditing (1), Corporate Debt (1), Economics (1), Government Policy (1), Government Services (1), Staffing and Recruiting (1), Environmental Health (1), Exporting/Importing (1), Criminal Law (1), Advertising (1), Business Development (1), Mobile Marketing (1), Sales Techniques (1), Writing and Editing (1), Nonprofit Management (1), Personal Investing (1), Wealth Management (1), Engineering (1), Career Management (1), Communication and Public Speaking (1), Starting Up (1), Information Security (1), Telecommunications (1), Web Development (1)
You're not serious, are you?
Clarification added 8 months ago:
You have GREATLY exaggerated ideas of the training requirements and value of the sales function.
I think it's primarily due to the fact that unlike other professions, the percentage of sales people who engage in continuous development of their skills is quite low. Sales professionals who can truly call themselves "professional" are also in the minority. There are vast numbers of people who work in sales but who are not professional sales people. There is a big difference between a sales person working in an inbound call centre and a sales person who closes large deals in a complex business environment using everything from a consultative sales approach to multi-level selling techniques.
Because the others spring from the guild system which encouraged the Closed Shop. They rig markets to keep prices artificially high. Salespeople embrace competition and market forces. All the professions rely on sales people to a) create the circumstances that bring them work - ie trade and b) need sales and marketing promote themselves.
The word "professional" is a marketing tag anyway - it's shorthand for outdated restrictive trade practices which deny access to the intelligent poor.
