[strofcon]

Are we really trying to claim that sales people should have the same level of knowledge as power-users / developers / engineers who build such things?

Perhaps I'm too young, but I've literally never know any such a salesperson. They're there to be charismatic and friendly, and show the features for which they've been handed a script.

Their job is to drive interest, and address very, VERY high level concerns. They're not experts, else they'd (by and large) be doing something other than sales, yes?

(To be fair, it's possible that we've just eliminated reasonable expectations of salespeople, but that's not clear to me yet)

[jacquesm]

A booth like that would usually be staffed by suits and engineers, and if you are extremely lucky, engineers in suits.

But plenty of companies sent minders and order takers, technically incompetent, they might be able to do a scripted demo but likely would not know the first thing about the actual uses of such a device.

[ajford]

> Perhaps I'm too young, but I've literally never know any such a salesperson.

This was about 30-40 years ago, so it's far more in the time frame where you'd have technically competent sales folk, as you'd be pitching this gear to other engineers at this trade show.

When you're at a trade show for the very field that equipment is designed for and someone is trying to pitch you a piece of equipment that's nearly double the annual salary of an entry level engineer, I think you'd be far more likely to see a salesperson knowledgeable about their gear.

[strofcon]

That's a great point and clarification, thanks!