Sales professionals, according to some circles at least, aren’t all that different from us quality professionals. I once believed they were two-faced liars, because they’d sell their mother to get that precious sales commission. However, as a systems thinker, I like to get my facts straight before drawing conclusions. I’m sure you do, too.

The following is an excerpt from the week of a typical sales professional. It’s built from my collection of conversations with a mystery sales professional—who shall remain anonymous—and as such is written in the first person.

Sunday. With the knowledge of the meeting tomorrow with the sales and marketing manager, operations manager, and vice president, I have to prepare the presentation. A PowerPoint masterpiece, with analysis of past performance and future opportunities. I must break down the different product groups and target opportunities... that would easily give me more slides.

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