As a salesperson, you are engaged day-in and day-out in moving deals toward closes. You have most likely given little thought to what your activities might mean in the grand scheme of things, to the world at large. If you have, you might have even brushed them off as having little to no consequence. But believe it or not your role as a salesperson—as an “entrepreneur within the enterprise”—has a more profound significance than you might think.
Trade Means Peace
Some 150 years ago Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian School of economic thought, pointed out that trade itself is innately a peacekeeping element; countries can only trade with each other if they are not at war.
It is also true that trade can only occur within a free market economy—one in which entrepreneurs are free to innovate, seek out opportunities and act upon them to the benefit of themselves, their companies, their communities and countries, and their customers. A free market economy, it can be seen, can also only exist in times of peace.
A Global Village
Since the advent of the internet, in which entrepreneurship played no small role, Earth has truly become a “global village.” The borders between nations have become less significant as companies have increasingly traded across them. In the last decade, virtual employment has also become common; companies have employees with physical locations all across the world, further lessening the significance of national borders.
Although various political interests continue to try and divide our global village and keep various factions opposed to each other, companies—especially small and medium businesses—act in precisely the opposite manner. It is in their interest—and factually in the interest of everyone else—to freely continue commerce with others, no matter their location. It is only then that products with true sustainable value can achieve maximum benefit for all.
What About Salespeople? Are You an Entrepreneur?
As a member of a sales force you might now be asking, “What’s my role in all this?”
Despite the opinions of some who seem to enjoy portraying salespeople as “necessary annoyances” within companies, the hard cold fact of the matter is that no business, small or large, could exist without them. A company is only as good as its sales force, for at the end of the day it is that sales force that will bring in company revenue, or not. While entrepreneurs start up and continue to run companies, it is the entrepreneurs within those enterprises—the sales reps—that are the heart and soul of a company’s success. As a company engages in commerce within a nation or across international boundaries, it is the salespeople who are a vital part of the sales process actually conduct that commerce and keep it alive.
If companies are the true peacekeeping agents for the world—for again, commerce can only occur in the absence of war—it is the salespeople who are continuously working to create that commerce. So see yourself for the entrepreneur that you are, and for your actual role in the grand scheme of things.
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