The Maverick: The art of selling is the American dream

When I was 19 I spent a summer working the phones in a "pen room" in Beverly Hills, California. I worked as a commission-only salesman, cold-calling firms listed in the Yellow Pages all across America, trying to persuade them to buy personalised ball-point pens. We read from a script, and if my patter was faltering, the boss grabbed the receiver and closed the sale.

So said Luke Johnson, Chairman of Channel 4 and Risk Capital partners . The article proposes that the sales embarassment that European organisations feel is not felt in the USA. It is this sales dynamism which has led to the strength of the USA's econoomy and it's ideolgical belief in free markets. Sales is the American Dream.

Further to this, I would argue that we have sales forces who can't conjour compelling reasons to buy. Why is this? They have Major weaknesses: Self limiting record collection, non-supportive buy cycle's, need for approval, emtionally tied into a deal, and not money motivated (high basics leading to complacency)

How do you overcome this? Answers on a postcard.