Salespeople

In my experience there is no more strained relationship than that of a salesperson and a creative. With some rare exceptions the two rarely see eye-to-eye which almost guarantees communication problems. I view the salesperson as a privileged liaison – the deliverer of the client’s wishes to the designer and the designer’s solution to the client. If either the designer or client is misrepresented by the salesperson nobody wins. Consequently the creative may lack the charisma and experience of a salesperson who’s closed a few deals, but give the creative a chance to “sell” you his idea and you may discover that you have a powerful sales ally. Fortunately I’ve had the honor of working with salespeople that actually go to bat for me, selling the ideas that I come up with. Don’t fool yourself, it’s a beautiful thing!