I lack the temperament to be a salesperson, but I find watching them at work fascinating. A good salesperson doesn’t just automatically upsell, they gauge how much the customer is willing to spend and steers them towards goods and services around that amount by planting the idea and letting the customer arrive at it in a way that makes them think of it as their own idea. This is key to making a good sale, avoiding buyer’s remorse and importantly earning a returning customer. Only inexperienced, inept or just plain desperate salespeople are pushy. Go to any place that pays on commission and overstaffs to observe the absolute worst kind of sales tactics.
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I’ve been in sales for more than 25 years. What experience has taught me is that all sales is about solving problems. A customer has a “need” and the salesperson has a “solution”. Sometimes problems are obvious (my taillight is out. I need a lightbulb), sometimes the problem is not (It’s not a lightbulb but a fuse instead). Sometimes it’s both at the same time (lightbuld AND a fuse). In the biz, this is known as “pain”. Pain can be known or it can be latent or a combination of both. A good salesperson works to understand and uncover the pain then sell a solution for it.
Often, it is required to expose the customer’s pain to the customer so that he/she can see that the solution being presented is both necessary and effective. This requires communication, trust and honesty. A good salesperson not only resolves current pain but can help avoid future pain as well - this is where upsell comes into play. A bad salesperson just sees dollar signs.
There are whole schools dedicated to studying the art of selling but to me it comes down to appreciating the psychology of the process and the roles of the participants.
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(Sorry, couldn’t help myself. 
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I’ve taken a sales course and that is sales 101. Identify the wants and needs of the client and then sell them that.
The other big thing in some sectors is networking and contact building. My dad did herbicide, spray equipment, and wood chipper sales for years. A lot of that is through city, state, and county sales where you make bonds with the County Weed Commissioner for example. He’s very personable, a good story teller, and enjoys things a lot of rural Kansans enjoy, like fishing and hunting. So he still gets invited to come to meetings and certain promotional outings even though he retired a couple years ago.
Its the long pay off vs the short one. Exceptional service will keep them coming back and asking for you.
I used to sell computer computers and components in the 90s. At the time I wished I could have worked for the local distributor, as not only did I know the products better, generally, but I was a better speaker (though to be fair, I think all of their sales were not native English speakers.) Still, as I understood it, some of them made a lot of money due to volume.
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It is 101. What’s comical is how few salespeople actually bother to understand even this fundamental concept and learn their craft.
Sales as a profession is not for everyone - lots of frustration, uncertainty and ambiguity which can be hard for people with certain temperaments. The old axiom “people buy from people” is absolutely true. All of us are either buyers or sellers at some point every single day of our lives so I believe it’s helpful to understand the process.
With regards to the topic at hand, I have no problem with women “selling” their sexuality as it’s obvious there are vast numbers of men with “needs” willing to pay for it and as long as the arrangement is mutually agreeable and fair. But there is nothing “sexy” about these transactions in my personal opinion.
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What did I say that sounded like I was defending the men at all?
There’s nothing wrong with sex work, and it should be legal and protected. Knowingly encouraging the delusions of creeps who “want to win competitions for women’s attention, harbor a perverse antagonism to the women they patronize” still doesn’t seem like a good thing.
If you think people should remain diplomatically silent on matters they don’t approve of, you are on the wrong website.
I didn’t say that. I only asked a question.
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The way you worded your inital comment, it was pretty heavily weighted towards the idea that men were being “tricked” into the transaction. You put the emphasis pretty squarely on women being the primary ones who made this structure that they’re living within.
We’re often treated this way regardless - it’s not like if all sex workers stopped doing that work, that the patriarchal attitude towards sex would automatically end - women were not the ones who primarily built these structures, nor are they the ones who primarily benefit from it. Sneering at sex workers is not helpful. Trying punching up and not down, maybe.
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This. The problem is not sex work, the problems are patriarchy and our hyper-exploitative version of capitalism, and those problems are present in every part of society and the economy.
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