In my life, I've witnessed three elite salespeople at work
An essay on “elite” salespeople—ranging from a prison hustler to a telemarketer and New York panhandler—prompts sharp reactions about both the writing and its bleak portrayal of sales as manipulation. Commenters contrast one-shot, high-pressure tactics like telemarketing with long-term, relationship-based B2B sales that require deep domain knowledge and can genuinely create value for customers. Many see the piece as a broader critique of consumerism and an economy built on constant demand creation, while others argue it unfairly tars an entire profession that underpins most modern businesses.
Reactions to the article and writing style
- Strongly polarized: some found it one of the best, funniest, most honest pieces they’d read; others called it overwrought, empty, or “wannabe edgy.”
- Several noted it works more as memoir / life story than as practical sales advice.
- A few questioned the narrator’s reliability, especially around the “No. 1 telemarketer” claim and self‑reported illegal behavior.
What counts as “elite” sales
- Many distinguish between:
- One‑off, high‑pressure, low‑recurrence sales (telemarketing, door‑to‑door, car lots, storm-chasing contractors).
- Long‑cycle, relationship and domain‑heavy sales (enterprise SaaS, telecom infrastructure, consulting, specialized B2B).
- “Elite” in the second category is described as: deep customer/industry knowledge, problem‑solving, trust building, accurate requirements gathering, and being closer to a strategist or consultant than a script‑reader.
- Multiple anecdotes: good salespeople making engineers’ lives easier, rescuing projects, or driving decades‑long accounts.
Ethics, manipulation, and legality
- Many see telemarketing in the article as outright fraud: skipping mandated disclosures, exploiting information asymmetry, and treating customers as marks.
- This fuels broad cynicism: “most sales is about pushing things people don’t need,” with car dealers and realtors common examples.
- Others push back: good sales matches real needs to good products and can be genuinely value‑creating, especially with repeat business and reputational consequences.
- Several note that low‑recurrence, low‑diligence transactions structurally reward sleazier tactics.
Psychology: feelings, trust, and relationships
- The article’s punchline (“it’s about how you make people feel”) gets extended:
- Some agree and generalize it to all relationships.
- Others argue the real core is trust; making people feel good is one route to that.
- A number of commenters describe practical techniques: listening, mirroring cadence, affirming people’s choices, structuring interactions so that saying “yes” feels like consistency with their self‑image.
Luck, structure, and broader social critique
- Thread frequently notes the role of timing, product fit, and macro conditions: even great salespeople can’t beat a dead market, while mediocre reps can look brilliant at a dominant vendor.
- Several pick up on the article’s wider thesis: modern life is saturated with sales‑like behavior—ads, algorithms, “personal brands,” gig work—and economic precarity pushes everyone toward constant, sometimes demoralizing, self‑promotion.