Ethics in sales

I’m in my first sales job. I really like the team, the company culture, and my boss.

However, I have some doubts regarding the value that our product really brings to the end customer. While we have different products, the one I’m mainly tasked with is not interesting to me. Quite frankly, I don’t believe it brings that much value to the end customer.

I tried speaking to my boss about a change of teams but currently, I have to stay on this one for at least a while. So, my question is: how do you sell and do your job successfully when you’re doubting the value of the product that you’re selling?

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I’d suggest trying to validate whether there is some actual truth to your doubts. Try understanding your target customer’s pains better and put yourself in their shoes, speak with the analytics and marketing team to see which features are used the most, etc. What I’m trying to say is that things that do not appear valuable to you might be of tremendous value to someone else and it all depends on their perspective and the context of their situation, so understanding these is crucial.

Best of luck!

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First and foremost, congratulations on your first sales job! It’s all down hill from here.

Good news is that to be successful you need to have a good boss and a great culture to work within. However, you also must believe in the product that you are selling.

I personally, must believe in what I am selling and the greater mission at hand. If this product line does not align with my values or I feel I am being deceitful then I would start to question my career with my employer.

For you to be truly happy and the best sales person you can be, you must believe in your company, their products, and the value they bring to your customers. Its easy to sell something you believe in. However, if you do not believe in what you sell, eventually you will get bored or you inner desire to be more purposeful in life will get the best of you and you will wonder why you waited so long to look around.

I agree with Aj753, find out what you customers think of the product you’re selling, but if your intuition is correct, which most likely it is, then I would confront your boss again.

Good luck and once again welcome to the club.

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Oh man, that’s really not a cool situation. I agree with @aj753 and @Matt Try validating or rejecting your concerns and if it doesn’t go away evaluate how you feel about the situation and what your options are. From my personal experience, if you don’t have at least a bit of passion for the product, your numbers will probably not be super great.

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This is a tough one, but I’d say to just don’t focus on the aspect of the product you don’t believe in. If it’s not “the best” in say, function, just compare it to something else, like price, where your product might be way cheaper than competitors. Comparing apples to pizza is always easier than comparing apples to apples. Or, you can be entirely honest about a weakness to prospects, but mention that your company is working on making the product better. I’ve found a lot of people appreciate the transparency and it’ll increases your credibility in their eyes. And to make selling more interesting for yourself, you can focus on the process rather than the product.