I wouldn't count on thatAbel4Life wrote: ↑That post was from 2007 so I'll give the benefit of the doubt that the poster has matured and since then.
The negative people just don't get that without sales there is no business. In addition, without growing sales, no new jobs. Declining sales leads to layoffs. Pretty 'real' to me.
I'm not against sales. Anyone that thinks that is reading my words with their own intentions and assumptions. What I'm against is salespeople. You don't need dedicated staff to sell direct to consumers or businesses as seen by the Amazon model. If you have a good entry mechanism, computers will outsell humans any day of the week and with less chance of errors. Salespeople, especially in finance do not have your interests at heart. How could they? Talk to any major bank advisor. Will they recommend funds from a rival bank even if you have a major of assets there or historically, the rivals have better management and returns? Of course not. They will upsell you on products that generate the most commission. Real jobs are jobs that provide long-term value to the business, not just immediate uptick in revenue at the expense of the customer. I would rather see all these salespeople lose their jobs, and replaced with engineers to build a functional product that provides self-serve capabilities, so consumers make their own choices. At the end of the day, fees matter in investments. Salespeople do not have incentives to disclose fees and educate consumers on the impact of the fees over the portfolio balance at retirement. I have more examples on how sales have corrupted certain industries, but it's beyond the effort I want to expend for this forum.