by Shaheen Darr

Created on: October 26, 2008   Last Updated: December 22, 2010

This topic brings to mind the question, "what came first, a chicken or an egg?" A question that is so inter related that one cannot take place without the other. In a similar context we can ask, if there is nothing to sell what would we as customers buy?

It is primarily the work of salespeople to bring to us choices and varieties of products available on the market. Salespersons can work alone or under the umbrella of a big organization but it is through their marketing efforts that we make our choices as consumers. The weekly trek to the supermarket, the services provided by a lawyer or an accountant, the television channels that we enjoy or the movies that we pay to watch in cinemas are all examples of goods or services that have been provided for us to buy.

If there were no salesmen to sell, and by this I mean the entire pyramid of selling in society, there would be nothing to buy. We would probably survive on old time bartering methods to buy what was required without a host of products to choose from. At the top of the selling pyramid are the multimillion organizations that sell globally and keep us informed of market trends in a range of products including clothes, furniture, electronic gadgets and home furnishings. According to what they sell at their outlets, we as consumers, make a selection to buy.

At the bottom of the pyramid are salesmen who work either alone to market their own goods or services or work for a company to sell new products that have entered the market. They either sell door to door or use different methods like telephone sales to sell their products. This is probably the most difficult area to be in because they are labelled as the most irritating or annoying as they are seen as interfering in our choice of buying as consumers. The phone is slammed down and the door is shut on them as we do not want to be influenced by anyone else's choice of products. And then we go down to the local superstore and buy goods from another sales source, the difference being we are choosing the goods ourselves in our own time. The concept behind the action is exactly the same; we are buying products but the way it is done is different.

It is just a matter of looking at how society operates and realising that at every point in our lives we have bought things that someone else has sold to us. The choice might have been an individual one or been influenced by our economic or environmental conditions but buying is a natural by product of selling. In conclusion, both actions are interrelated and one cannot work without the other.

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