Where have all the salesmen gone?

Have you noticed there are no salesmen anymore?

They have all morphed into business development professionals, account managers, or client service executives.

Yet we make sales; not developments, or accounts, or client services. We make sales and are pleased about it because our businesses depend on sales in order to survive.

David Ogilvy apparently had a sign on Ogilvy & Mather’s wall that said:

“We sell. Or else.”

It was there to remind every art director, every copywriter, every account manager and every print buyer that the purpose of their business was to help their clients sell more stuff. And as Ogilvy & Mather grew it helped to keep everyone grounded in this very simple philosophy; their business is to make money for their clients.

According to the very nice chap at Ogilvy’s the sign is still on the wall. Probably not the same sign, but I’m sure David Ogilvy would be pleased. He might have also renamed the Group Communications department the Sales Department, but I can’t be sure.