There exists, lurking beneath the polished floors of every enterprise, a paradox so profound that it borders on the absurd: the world unanimously acknowledges that without sales, no business—large or small, ancient or modern—can survive, and yet the very custodians of sales are often regarded with the faintest respect, the shallowest dignity, and at times, the coldest indifference.

It is a contradiction that has bewildered thoughtful minds for decades.
Why does a society that worships results shy away from honouring the profession that births them?

The Cultural Misreading of Sales

Part of the disdain stems from an ancient cultural misunderstanding. Sales is too often caricatured as a craft of persuasion rather than a discipline of understanding; a trade of talking rather than a science of diagnosing; an act of manipulation rather than an exercise of service.

Parents nudge their children toward engineering, medicine, finance, or technology—professions wrapped in obvious prestige. Yet, they recoil at the thought of their offspring entering sales, as though sales were a lesser calling, a career chosen not out of brilliance but out of necessity.

The irony is almost poetic, for sales is perhaps the most intellectually demanding domain of them all.
One must read minds without presumption, listen without fatigue, negotiate without ego, and persevere without applause.

Why the Profession Is Misunderstood

Sales is rejected not because it is simple but because it is emotionally arduous, psychologically taxing, and courageously exposing.

It requires a person to stand, repeatedly, in the vulnerable gap between rejection and resilience.

Most people live their lives avoiding rejection; salespeople make a living by walking straight into it with enviable grace.

It is easier to sit behind a desk and criticise a market than to walk into it, unarmed except for conviction.

The Unsung Virtues of Salespeople

If truth were given its rightful throne, organisations would recognise that salespeople are often:

1. The Most Honest: – For no lie survives a quarter. A salesperson’s ledger is the only department where truth reflects itself with brutal immediateness.

2. The Most Courageous: – Where others seek comfort, they seek confrontation—not conflict, but the confrontation of reality.

3. The Most Disciplined: – Targets do not soften. Markets do not pause. Seasons do not sympathise.

4. The Most Knowledgeable: – They understand the organisation better than most departments combined—from product to pricing, psychology to competition.

Yet these very individuals, who often know the most, are accorded the least prestige.

Sales: The Cradle of Leadership

Most intriguingly, the corridors of global leadership are overwhelmingly populated by individuals who once walked the rugged lanes of sales.

Most CEOs emerge from sales.

Most transformative leaders are sculpted in sales.

Most compelling public speakers have, at some juncture, honed their voice in the crucible of sales.

And a staggering proportion of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs began their journey not with capital, but with the audacity to sell.

Yet, in a bewildering paradox, the very profession that shapes leaders, builds empires, and teaches the rarest human skills remains one of the most misunderstood and disrespected.

The time has come to rethink, to reframe, to re-establish the undeniable truth:

Sales is not merely a profession it is a discipline, a character-forge, a leadership school, and perhaps one of the most honourable callings across industries, businesses, and segments.

Why Other Departments Often Undermine Sales

Perhaps the discomfort arises because sales shines a harsh light on everyone else’s complacencies.
While others operate in controlled ecosystems, sales teams operate in the wild.

• Operations can blame procurement.
• Procurement can blame supply chain.
• Finance can blame cash flow.
• HR can blame hiring shortages.

But a salesperson has no refuge. The market has no sympathy. The customer has no obligation.

Thus, in many SMEs—where ego frequently outweighs wisdom—salespeople become easy scapegoats. Their failures are public; their victories quietly absorbed into the collective.

The SME Paradox Using Sales Yet Misusing Salespeople

SMEs, in particular, are notorious for this mistreatment.

They demand miracles yet provide crumbs.

They expect loyalty yet withhold respect.

They question integrity yet ignore their own inconsistencies.

They want world-class results with village-level discipline.

Salespeople are blamed for everything from market fluctuations to management misjudgements because blame is cheaper than introspection.

A World That Needs Sales Must Learn to Honour It

If a business survives, it is because someone—somewhere—sold something.

Not invented.
Not manufactured.
Not audited.
Sold.

Sales is the bloodstream of enterprise; everything else is merely bone and muscle.

And yet, salespeople walk through corridors that forget their contribution and celebrate their mistakes.

They deserve better far better.

For when civilisation applauds courage, resilience, intellect, empathy, and discipline, it is in fact applauding the very fibres that make a salesperson.

Probably the world does not need more products.
It needs more people who can move them.
And more importantly
It needs to finally respect the ones who do.