Should businesses employ salespeople?

Pro: If a company wants to generate the greatest number of sales, it would hire sales personnel. Without intervention, a shopper may not buy a product at all or may buy a competitor's product. A sales presentation or the personality of a sales associate may be the decisive factor in influencing a shopper's decision. Salespeople can lure customers away from competitors and get prospective customers to buy goods. A company may have an excellent product, but it needs salespeople to make customers aware of it. Advertising only goes part of the way to present goods to prospective buyers.

Pro: Salespeople have to satisfy not only their employers but also their customers. Salespeople educate customers; they give valuable information regarding the features and benefits of products.

Reply: In private sessions or large meetings, independent consultants could provide unbiased information regarding products. Companies that do not bear the cost of employing salespeople to educate shoppers could afford to sell their products at lower prices.

Pro: Salespeople make up a large percentage of the workforce, and they stimulate economic growth. To eliminate them would do great harm to the economy, at least in the short run. To hire more of them would benefit businesses.

Con: Doing business without salespeople would help to keep the cost of a product at a minimum.

Con: The mere presence of salespeople in stores keeps some people from buying products. Many consumers would rather buy goods without interacting with sales personnel.