salespeople

[ seylz-pee-puhl ]

plural noun

1. people person engaged in selling.

Word History and Origins

Origin of salespeople¹

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80; sales + people

Example Sentences

“All that they do is hire salespeople, make up a BS story, and boom, they look like a distillery,” Leopold says.

From The Daily Beast

A new study finds that customers are more likely to buy when dealing with snobby salespeople.

From The Daily Beast

Patients are looking more like customers, and doctors more like salespeople.

From The Daily Beast

According to reports from his salespeople, various Korean celebrities have been spotted in Canada Goose products in recent years.

From The Daily Beast

If only salespeople were fuzzy and wagged their tails more, they'd probably find it easier to cooperate with the inevitable.

From The Daily Beast

We can recruit traveling salespeople to go door to door in the shanties and take orders.

From Project Gutenberg

And then you can leave your salespeople to wait on all customers, giving you more time for real management—generalship.

From Project Gutenberg

And the several thousand salespeople in the huge store were slangily nicknamed "Peter Rolls's hands."

From Project Gutenberg

In an instant she realized that the pads upon which salespeople did hasty sums must be called check books, anyhow in America.

From Project Gutenberg

About hours—we close at the right time, but the salespeople are kept late, often very late, looking over stock.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• clerk

More About Salespeople

What does salespeople mean?

Salespeople is a plural form of salesperson—a person whose job is to sell products or services.

A less commonly used plural of salesperson is salespersons.

Another term for salesperson is sales rep (or sales representative). The terms salesman and saleswoman are still commonly used, but salesperson and sales rep are often used in their place.

Salespeople are often said to “work in sales”—in which sales refers to the type of occupation or the division or department within a company.

Salespeople can sell directly to customers or to other businesses or organizations. Sometimes, salespeople sell things in person, such as at a retail store or dealership. They also commonly sell things over the phone or by communicating with people online. In the past, it was common for some salespeople to travel door-to-door to make sales to people at home.

A salesperson who has to travel as part of their job can be called a traveling salesperson. 

The word salesperson is sometimes used in a somewhat figurative way to refer to someone who’s skilled at persuading people, especially in a business or professional setting, as if they are selling them a product.

Example: Salespeople are known for their ability to start a conversation with anyone.

Where does salespeople come from?

The first records of the word salespeople come from the 1870s. The singular form, salesperson, is formed with the gender-neutral ending -person, which is often used in terms that traditionally ended in -man, such as businessperson (which can be pluralized as businesspeople).

The job of salespeople is to sell, and to sell they have to convince the customer to buy. For this reason, salespeople have a reputation for sometimes being aggressive or putting pressure on the customer, especially in retail settings, like furniture or electronics stores. Also contributing to this reputation is the fact that some salespeople are at least partly paid on commission—a percentage of sales that goes into their pay. Of course, this reputation isn’t always warranted—a lot of salespeople genuinely want to help you find the right product.

Still, a lot of people try to avoid salespeople when shopping due to feeling pressured. Relatedly, the term used car salesman is sometimes used in a figurative way to refer to someone considered a smooth-talking swindler.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to salespeople? 

• salesperson (singular)

What are some synonyms for salespeople?

• salespersons
• sales reps
• sales representatives
• salesmen
• saleswomen

What are some words that share a root or word element with salespeople? 

• sale
• people
• businesspeople

What are some words that often get used in discussing salespeople?

• aggressive
• pressure
• customer
• traveling
• door-to-door
• commission
• product
• goods
• services
• deal

How is salespeople used in real life?

Salespeople is a neutral term, but salespeople may be viewed positively or negatively, based on a person’s experience with them.

"How can you equip your salespeople to have assured, issue-led conversations with prospective customers that give them the confidence to do business with you?" The value in communications comes from content – invest in those capabilities! https://t.co/6UBCna08D7

— Mike Orr (@mikeorr8) July 30, 2020

I’ve known farmers who were not great with people, or didn’t know how to run a farm, or were not particularly charismatic salespeople.

But I don’t know of any #farmer who has reached any level of success without determination and passion. pic.twitter.com/QPhbSybzP4

— Mbali Nwoko (@MbaliNwoko) July 30, 2020

People; “I HATE SALESPEOPLE”

Like… okay but who do you think is generating revenue for you? Magic genies?

— Josh Roth (@Josh_G_Roth) July 30, 2020

 

 

Try using salespeople!

True or False? 

Salespeople only refers to people who sell directly to retail customers.