| Yeah... "elite" tends to mean different things at different levels. There are definitely "salesmen" with long term industry credibility, relationships and such. Probably reads as more of a "businessman" than salesman, regardless of how the bread is buttered. That said, I think this is fundamentally different from a Salesman who can join, start or lead a sales team and start putting up sales numbers. It's inglorious work, ultimately. Not a tone of respect for the salesman. That said... in terms of performance... there are totally different levels here. For some businesses, this can be a key hire of the highest order. Equivalent to ceo, cto and such... potentially. Also, worse salesmen in trashier sectors tend to be more visible. A lame pressure sales guy will just seem more salesman. They'll also work colder pipelines and leads, annoy more people. That bias makes salesmen's reputation even worse. |
Absolutely. Used to do Sales Engineering, and the different Account Execs were light years apart, even when you looked at the top performers. Definite 80/20 rule here.