Anyone here work in IT sales?

mrbios · 12 Dec 2015 at 23:21

question for you all seeing as the subject is here and it's something of a conversation piece among a group of friends only recently...
If you work in IT sales, when people ask what you do, do you tell people you work in IT, or do you simply tell people you work in sales or append working in IT with the word sales?

Caged · 12 Dec 2015 at 23:27

They're both hugely broad terms so unless you'd expect a professional footballer to tell you they work in 'sports' then I'd qualify it with what your job actually is. Enterprise hardware sales, whatever it happens to be.

I'm on the fence as to whether working in a non technical sales role for an IT company counts as 'working in IT', the lines are blurry at best.

mrbios · 12 Dec 2015 at 23:33

Caged said:
I'm on the fence as to whether working in a non technical sales role for an IT company counts as 'working in IT', the lines are blurry at best.

That's kind of where the question stems from

as some context into the conversation i mentioned: One friend sells IT, a few of us work with it, the debate came up as to whether he should be telling people he works in "IT" as someone stated it as "insulting to their field" given the salesman's actual level of knowledge. Though i won't state my personal stance on it.

dowie · 12 Dec 2015 at 23:38

like people who 'work in media' when they basically buy or sell advertising space for clients

Housey · 12 Dec 2015 at 23:44

mrbios said:
That's kind of where the question stems from as some context into the conversation i mentioned: One friend sells IT, a few of us work with it, the debate came up as to whether he should be telling people he works in "IT" as someone stated it as "insulting to their field" given the salesman's actual level of knowledge. Though i won't state my personal stance on it.

If he works for an IT company he works in IT.

Caged · 12 Dec 2015 at 23:46

mrbios said:
someone stated it as "insulting to their field" given the salesman's actual level of knowledge.

That person should stop being so precious.

Pestilence · 12 Dec 2015 at 23:51

dowie said:
like people who 'work in media' when they basically buy or sell advertising space for clients

Yeah. In my opinion, you're in sales. Doesn't matter the niche. You don't adopt the niche, you adopt the role. Which is sales.

You're a salesman.

I'd personally find it "off" to claim that I'm IT when all I'm doing is selling enterprise solutions without knowing the ins and outs like one of the on-the-ground technicians does.

Of course, though... to be a totally competent salesperson you really SHOULD understand it...

So you can easily overcome objections in the heat of the moment.

I work constantly in the grey area. I'm a copywriter, which is selling in print. No namby pamby agency crap with monkeys climbing ferris wheels. It's all about the product and why it matters to you, as the reader.

And there are so many lazy copywriters out there who DON'T do the work -- just like a lazy salesperson -- to completely understand the ins and outs and make themselves and the product "one being", so to speak.

So they end up spouting crap, promising lies and generally making the whole experience for buyers a nightmare. Expectations and delivery are everything, so that's a major focus in my work. I will never hype anything. If it deserves hyping, sure. Otherwise... nah.

The best salesperson has a product that's good, and a person that could benefit from it. It's as simple as that.

And it gets my gourd when I see people promoting themselves with testimonials from others saying "they could sell water to a fish... ice to an eskimo... boots to a bootmaker..."

Why would you want to? All that tells me is that they're likely an unethical POS.

Caged · 12 Dec 2015 at 23:54

Housey said:
If he works for an IT company he works in IT.

How far do you take this? Do the people in HR at Dell work in IT? Or do they work in HR? What about the people in the staff restaurant? I don't think it's as simple as you work in whatever field your company is best known for.

Housey · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:04

Caged said:
How far do you take this? Do the people in HR at Dell work in IT? Or do they work in HR? What about the people in the staff restaurant? I don't think it's as simple as you work in whatever field your company is best known for.

Why do you feel it's important? It's not to most people and to feel offended because of some notional perspective you have on your own (to your point above) value or skill set is naive. If he is a sales person in an IT company he works in IT by any sensible metric.

Housey · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:10

Pestilence said:
The best salesperson has a product that's good, and a person that could benefit from it. It's as simple as that.

It really isn't as simple as that.

Caged · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:12

Housey said:
Why do you feel it's important? It's not to most people and to feel offended because of some notional perspective you have on your own (to your point above) value or skill set is naive. If he is a sales person in an IT company he works in IT by any sensible metric.

Er OK. I was trying to get to the reason why you'd classify the field people worked in based on what their employer did as opposed to the job someone did but a nerve has been touched in the process it seems.

The last thing we want on a discussion forum is a discussion, after all. You said someone who works for a IT company therefore works in IT and I wanted to go into that point a bit.

Housey · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:16

Caged said:
Er OK. I was trying to get to the reason why you'd classify the field people worked in based on what their employer did as opposed to the job someone did but a nerve has been touched in the process it seems.

My point was to your question. You implied that a sales person selling IT products shouldn't be classified as working in IT did you not? To be clear you touched no nerve, not sure where that came from. :confused:

Housey · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:17

I've just re-read I am associating the wrong comment with you, apologies. it was mrbios's point I was addressing.

Caged said:
That person should stop being so precious.

I was trying to say this really

Caged · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:18

I said the lines were blurred. It's not important, like the vast majority of stuff discussed on here.

I was trying to get more insight on your point that working for an IT company in any role meant that person worked in IT.

Edit: I take you point about the metrics - you'd consider that job to be one generated by the tech sector on a macro level. Maybe when deciding on a field that a person considers themselves to work in they need to think of it in terms of changing employment. If I were an app developer for Asos and I moved to Skyscanner I wouldn't say I used to work in fashion but now I work in travel.

Housey · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:22

Caged said:
I said the lines were blurred. It's not important, like the vast majority of stuff discussed on here.

I was trying to get more insight on your point that working for an IT company in any role meant that person worked in IT.

As I said that wasn't my point, see above.

Caged · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:22

I've edited it now oh god this is confusing

mrbios · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:23

I think the opinion I've generated, based on this discussion and the other one, is that the term "IT" is ******* irritating, and should never be used to describe your job without pre or post appended words, but my opinion has no relevance to sales or otherwise.

It frustrates me when someone says in any conversation "I work in IT" regardless of their role be it sales, networks, storage, sysadmin or otherwise. The frustration doesn't stem from the role the person within the job does, but the opinion the person outside of any IT environment generates of them....but maybe I'm just the one being too precious

(safe to say a few of my friends are...maybe it's catching lol)

Sorry to take the thread slightly off topic, but it seemed an opportune moment given the thread title and my outside discussion.

Housey said:
I've just re-read I am associating the wrong comment with you, apologies. it was mrbios's point I was addressing.

Which one? I haven't made any points! I hadn't really formulated an opinion until about 5 minutes ago

Caged · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:27

Yes but if someone genuinely gets upset if someone who shifts hardware at a distributor claims they work in IT because they feel it devalues their line of work then maybe they should get a job a bit more challenging than prodding Small Business Server and reviving Dell laptops using eBay parts for a company of 9 people.

Edit: That wasn't aimed at you, just a made up stereotype.

dowie · 13 Dec 2015 at 00:32

mrbios said:
It frustrates me when someone says in any conversation "I work in IT" regardless of their role be it sales, networks, storage, sysadmin or otherwise.

tis an easy answer that people tend to accept - the average person doesn't really care what specific technical role you perform or whatever 'I work in IT' usually suffices

as for whether salespeople should say they work in IT or not - I really don't see the issue nor care too much

Ev0 · 13 Dec 2015 at 12:47

dowie said:
tis an easy answer that people tend to accept - the average person doesn't really care what specific technical role you perform or whatever 'I work in IT' usually suffices

as for whether salespeople should say they work in IT or not - I really don't see the issue nor care too much

Exactly, for 99% of people who ask what you do saying anything more than 'I work in IT' would likely make their eyes glaze over