Coin Operated Machines

Being in sales for most of my working career, I’ve heard the phrase or nickname “Coin-operated Machine” referring to salespeople and it rubs me the wrong way and is quite offensive.

First off it implies that the only reason that those in sales roles work hard is to earn coin or money and implies that everyone else who works hard is doing it with altruistic reasons and pure motives.

It infers that if salespeople are not paid well then they won’t work and if you want them to work harder then all you do is throw more money at them! The picture that comes to mind is the horse with the carrot out in front of its nose - striving to get that carrot that it will never reach.

All of these assumptions are completely off base. In every company there have to be those who are motivated to go after sales and close deals as these people in your organization are necessary to generate revenue in order to keep the organization alive and making payroll! They actually bring in the revenue that helps to pay the paychecks of the others in the organization who are not revenue generating such as human resources, accounting, finance, operations, customer service, etc.

As a salesperson, I enjoy (and find a lot of fulfillment in) closing deals as I know that I’m helping the organization to make payroll and provide funds so that my colleagues can pay their house payments, put food on the table and send their children to college! I also enjoy growing organizations and companies as companies employ people and provide jobs that are essential for survival.

In every organization or company there have to be “hunters” who enjoy bringing in the provision and “gatherers” who enjoy nurturing the tribe and “processing” the hunt which can be more of an onboarding, operations, or customer service type of role.

Also, it reduces people and debases them to compare them to machines. We are not data in/data in. Humans process information and have the ability to co-create with God as we are called friends of God. We are able to make decisions - and even when they seem high risk and illogical, humans can employ FAITH and press ahead in spite of opposition (i.e. becoming a missionary to a nation of cannibals because the heart of reaching a nation to tell them they are loved and God has a future for them is able to override FEAR of facing man-eating savages).

Humans are so complex and beautiful and wonderful and diverse and unique and gifted and powerful that reduce anyone on this planet to a label of “coin-operated machines” is extremely offensive and is the foolishness of fools.

In reality, salespeople give away a great deal of money - meaning they donate it. Salespeople are extremely generous. Yes, we enjoy closing deals but we also enjoy donating goods and money to non-profits.

I personally support a number of non-profits and work extremely hard, every single day, as I have goals to support many more. It drives me. I know a gentleman in my industry who is very wealthy. He probably earns over $150k every month, yet he lives a simple and humble life. He keeps his overhead expenses low and donates over $70k per month to non-profits. That is my goal!

Let’s commit to showing other humans dignity, respect and love. Look others in the eyes and tell them with full conviction that he/she is created special, unique (think of the snowflake - no two are alike), gifted, talented, and beautiful.

We are people; never machines.