Death of a Salesman? Hardly.

 “Mommy, did you want to grow up to be in sales?”

Ask your friends in sales that question. I’m betting that none of them said they aspired to be a sales person. Who among us sales people knew in high school or college that would be our life direction?

“I want to be a salesperson when I grow up” said no one anytime.

So the next question is “How did you come to be in sales?” The answers will be as different and complex, and sometimes funny as the folks you ask.

How is it that this profession (which, by definition according to Miriam-Webster is: a type of job that requires special education, training, or skill) has no basis for skills certification other that the myriad of private, for profit sales training courses that are offered independently or in house by an employer?

And almost all of those courses “certify” a sales rep after an amazing 3-14 days of training. Or after reading their book and subscribing to a “quote of the day” service to motivate them.

There you go, kiddo — knock ‘em dead!

And if that wasn't alarming enough, one the profession’s publications “Selling Power” magazine claim that of the 18,000,000 sales people employed in 2010 that by 2020 only 4,000,000 will be left.

That’s pretty dramatic but is easily over stated as it includes all sorts of commerce including cashiers, retail sales, delivery folks, and most notably, internet purchases. We've already seen the shrinking of “sales people” thanks to websites like Amazon and every other retailer that has a web site.

But when you look at outside sales or Business-to-Business sales you get a different picture.

When you look at the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2010 you’ll find approximately 3,000,000 sales people engaged in some type of business to business sales, like manufacturing and wholesale sales, engineering sales, advertising and the largest category: services.

Again, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the largest and fastest growth for the 2010-2020 time horizon comes from services. Expectations are for a 1.5% gain each year resulting in an additional 17,950,000 new jobs for the entire services sector, obviously not all of these will be sales jobs.

However, IMHO, contrary to growing trends in technology these multiple and varied industries will continue to need sales people rather than rely simply on “question asking” technology or “reverse auctions” or slick interactive web sites.

They will need smart and well trained business people who possess more than a “cult of personality” to succeed in sales. These new breed of sales people will have to be more than a “solutions” provider, more than a “feature/benefit” babbler, and more than a “good listener”.

Supporting this argument is the need for more effective sales people in information technology, medical devices and logistics according to CareerBuilder.

They will need to be schooled in the science of sales (notably capital management, revenue forecasting, cost controls and have the requisite agile computing skills) along with having the personal skills set that help define success in sales (notably interpersonal and communication skills, persistence, resilience).

They will have to be a product expert in their field and most importantly understand and utilize social media as another means to achieve success in sales.

So where do we get these new breed of sales people?

The answer lies in a new birth of sales people from our country’s colleges and universities.

What? You mean there will actually be degrees given for “sales”? Yes, thankfully.

Take a peek at what Florida State University is doing this month.

Finally, the profession of sales is getting some attention from higher education. And the birth of a new generation of sales people who will be fully equipped and well trained to succeed in the profession of sales is upon us.