Black Sales Journal

Sales Representative Job Description– Individual needed to convince buyers to do something that they otherwise might not do!

Job Duties - To make this happen, you need to be able to create interest, develop relationships, clarify the product/service and its uses, close the deal, and service the customer.  Not capable of being done by a machine or robot.  Cannot be outsourced!

Why Aren’t There More African Americans in the Sales Profession?

As a Black sales professional, or an aspirant one, you may, or may not, have wondered the answers to this question.  As the question is intriguing, I attempted to research it on the basis of items written and published.  There is not much discussion in print. There is not much out there other than a couple of doctoral works done in the late ‘70s.  As those are somewhat stale I will pose some of my own observations on this issue.

Most professional sales positions interface with the ‘paying public’, also known as customers, in business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-personal (B2P).  Thus the sales profession is where the “rubber meets the road” for most organizations involved in manufacturing and distributing durable and non-durable goods as well as personal and business services.

Simple observance would tell you that Blacks are underrepresented in the nation’s professional force.  Whether it is sales positions in large thriving organizations, or sales positions in small and medium sized firms, there are very few organizations that have “too many” Black sales professionals.

There are several reasons why Blacks never get exposed to professional sales positions.  Here are some of them:

Many Qualified Blacks Avoid Jobs with an Uncertain Income - Those of you who are in sales know that many of your friends and your relatives marvel at the fact that you can’t tell them how much money you will make next year.  In the Black community jobs involving only commission are intimidating and not highly sought after.  Positions that have compensation schemes that involve salary are much more desirable.  Positions that have variations of the two (salary and commission) such as salary and bonus, or a salary draw plus commission garner suspicion because income at risk is not as desirable as a good salary.

Many organizations don’t seek out Black Sales Professionals – There are organizations that do recognize the benefit of the Black sales professional and actively recruit and hire.  Many large organizations have formal recruitment programs and planned goals as they measure hiring and retention of their minority sales talent.    The converse of this is that mid-sized and smaller businesses do not actively seek entry-level sales recruits with or without college educations.  These organizations lack formal sales training programs and thus expect candidates to come into the job with sales experience, and some indication of success.  This can be limiting for aspirant Black candidates, as they must attempt to garner the experience somewhere before getting the most desirable sales positions.

There are Hiring Managers that Discriminate in Hiring - This will not come as a surprise to those out there in the job market.  Discrimination will always exist in the job market. Remember, individuals, not a company or organization, do the hiring!  As long as hiring managers, with their own racial preferences, racial perceptions, and racial prejudices, select the candidates, the door is open for discrimination.  There is some basic human nature at play here, such as racial preference, although there can be the ‘dark side’ of human nature which includes basic racial prejudice.

Mobility within organizations – When Black college seniors are recruited they enter the organization through the sales operation.  That makes sales jobs a gateway position.  Many recruits that enter in this way find mobility within the organization and move to positions, even promotions that are more desired. Using the sales position as a portal to get inside an organization is fair, and a good way to work the system. This means that Black professionals in both simple and complex organizations migrate throughout the organization after finding success in the sales job.  Many new Black college graduates have little desire to be a career sales professional, but are highly desirous of getting on with a quality organization.  Many of those quality organizations that hire and train Black professionals allow them upward and lateral mobility within the organization, as these professionals are a known quantity and stable performing minorities are needed.

Lack of confidence – Based on the fact that most buyers are white, the Black sales professional often has many concerns regarding acceptance, preference, and possibility of success.  Depending on the firm that is in question, this might be only a perception, but it can be a serious and a limiting problem.  How many times have students or aspiring professionals indicated to me that they don’t think they could do the sales job?  More than I could ever count.  In reality many of them could do it, but they are intimidated by the nature of the job…. they lack confidence. Although mentoring, training, and general support can help a professional gain confidence, success is the best catalyst to creating that aura of confidence.

‘Bad’ assignments – Often when a Black sales professional is hired, they are more likely to get a difficult assignment.  Sometimes that assignment is related to an area or territory which has languished, or a company trying to reach Black businesses.   Have no doubt -Black sales professionals should be very clear about the territory that they are entering and should have agreement on what is expected upon hire and deployment. Hiring a Black sales professional in hopes that individual is going to handle Black businesses is unfair and limiting.  If you agree to it, that is ok (even though it is limiting).  I consider it a form of discrimination.  Your universe of prospects should be the similar in composition to all of the other sales professionals if your territory is similar to other sales representatives.  This scenario happens too often and can result in failure on the job.

Lack of mentoring - It is well known that we need more mentors to help Black sales professionals learn to navigate the sales environment.  As you will see later in this book, that need for mentors spans both an understanding of the intricacies of the organization as well as the sales environment.  Consequently, the sales professional may need more than one mentor.  Mentoring will help professionals who need to know more about the sales profession, the market, and the organization.  We need to increase this activity to fill the void, as it is obvious that there are deficiencies in this regard.  Organizations need to provide more mentoring, yet mentoring from outside the organization can be effective as well. Mentoring, when done right, represents a way to give experience, expertise, advice, and support.

Lack of training and support - Organizations who hire should attempt to provide the proper training and support. As they have made the first move, now they need to give the Black sales professional the opportunity to succeed. The Black Sales professional should request details about training, and ongoing support prior to accepting a position.

Retention of Black sales professionals is difficult – Much of this is based on what is above.  A solid Black sales professional has many talents, and if thwarted by the points shown above, they will move to other sales positions, and possibly to other occupations.  Having them move out of sales positions keeps the numbers anemic, but also makes managers wary in the hiring process.  This is not favorable for other Black sales professionals.

Why is it Important? – The Professional Sales Outlook 2012 – 2018

The importance of this issue is based on the fact that as many occupations languish, professional sales is projected to grow through 2018. Let’s quickly look at the number of sales positions available.   The source of this information is the United States Department of Labor.  This report projects through 2018. A quick look at the sales profession in this jobs report will show the following information:

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Mfg.  1,973,000

Sales Whsl. and Mfg. (Excl Tech and Sci)      1,540,000

Sales Whsl. and Mfg. (Tech and Sci)                 433,000

The jobs pay well in the overall also:

• Wage estimates ex tech/scientific– Median $51,920, with the 75th percentile showing $74,310 in the overall.  This is wage, and does not include commissions or bonuses.
• Wage estimates tech/scientific – Median $71,300 with the 75th percentile showing $100,910 overall.  This is wage, and does not include commissions or bonuses.

Total sales employment for 2018 is projected to rise to 2,116,400 by 2018 for a 7% projected increase. All of the numbers shown are from the May 2009 DOL Report. Almost all sales positions have some arrangement regarding bonus or commission, although some sales positions are commission only.

In a country that has a reduced focus on manufacturing products, the occupation of sales has increased in importance.  This importance comes from selling US manufactured goods as well as goods manufactured outside the US to businesses in our country.  This is basically the essence of distribution. In professional sales, you cannot successfully outsource distribution.   It will be domestic, and almost all of it will be face-to-face.

Your comments are appreciated.

The world might be prejudiced, but if they don’t discriminate legally it does not make any difference.  Know the difference and know what might be actionable if it affects you.  When it comes to prejudice, thicken your skin and when it comes to discrimination know the rules.

_________________________________

If you have read Black Sales Journal before, you recognize that I frequently comment on racial prejudice, racial preference, and the effects of negative racial perceptions.  It is natural to provide comment on these topics as they represent the 8,000-pound elephant in the room and as a result are not discussed openly in most forums.

We spend time discussing how the Black sales professional can successfully use tactics to neutralize racial preference and how we all (all Black professionals) can nullify and improve negative racial perceptions.  We also face the fact that racial prejudice is a different and difficult beast and that we may never change it.   Psychiatrists often characterize prejudice as a deep-seated attitude.  We all are aware that something negative has been cast into someone’s personal life, it can have a permanent effect.

Importantly, we should recognize the relationship between racial prejudice and racial discrimination and how they manifest themselves in sales.

The Attitude versus the Action!

For the purpose of this explanation let’s define both of these:

Prejudice – Unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

Discrimination – Treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit:  racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

(Courtesy of Dictionary.com definitions 3/5/2012)

So there you have it, racial prejudice is an attitude.  It can reach deep into ones fiber, but an individual will never be tried in a court based on this attitude, as it is not a crime.  If a customer has this attitude, they still remain a viable customer for someone, but possibly not for a Black sales professional.  If your employer has this attitude it is unfortunate yet as long as they make objective and meritorious decisions, they are not guilty.   In other words they can be prejudice but not discriminate strange as it may sound.

Racial discrimination is a different animal as it is action oriented.  A distinction made on the basis of race can potentially be afoul of the laws and regulations, and is almost always ethnically wrong.  It goes without saying that racial discrimination is unfair and although a customer is free to do anything they want, in the case of an employer it could be legally actionable.

The Vicious Circle

The relationship between prejudice and racial discrimination is suggested to be ‘circular’; meaning one leads to the other.  You document racial discrimination but you talk about prejudice as someones disposition or attitude.  Racial discrimination might mean that you get no ‘call-in’ prospects, bad territories, or no house (orphaned by another rep leaving) accounts.  Discrimination may be hard to prove, yet there is evidence, especially when you are able to compare the situation on a relative basis between all sales professionals at a location.  Know what extras you get and how well you performed when you get the chances and if you feel aggrieved read Black Sales Journal 3/9/2011 When You Feel Screwed  – Three Steps to Getting Help.

I make the suggestion that from the standpoint of professional sales that we realize that the most important activities that we can undertake are as follows:

• Look for and expect fairness from the managers that we work for and be prepared to professionally point out inequities as they happen.
• Document important milestones and activities correctly recognizing that it is “not what you know, it’s what you can prove!”
• Master your company’s performance system (Black Sales Journal 1/10/2011 – Preparing for the Performance Review Discussion).  Always be pro-active and prepared.
• Document every thing you get and what you don’t get.  Know the prospects, house accounts, and special benefits you get, and document them well.  Especially document the situation if you are not getting any.  You will need to know what others are getting to have a chance of success.  The facts count.
• Be the expert on you! Know your sales totals, close ratios, and what percentage of your success came from the company giving you prospects or accounts.

When Bad Gets Worse – Racial Harassment

The unfairness of racial discrimination creates frustration and ill will.  Things are even worse when there is racial harassment.  Racial harassment normally comes from the employer and can emanate from management or coworkers.  A strong example of this is the Montrelle Reese vs. ThyssenKrupp (see Black Sales Journal February 13, 2012).

Racial harassment has a primary purpose of demeaning and driving an individual out of the particular work environment.  It is akin to racial bullying and has no place anywhere, especially in the work environment.  Making someone miserable is awful, and anyone who witnesses it and does nothing is full of fault as well.  It makes no difference as to the colors involved.

Know the facts and know your options.  Most importantly, recognize that acts of discrimination, harassment, and bullying may be actionable, but prejudice is not.  It is an attitude.

Additionally, always be the professional.

Your comments are welcome.