salespeople
Americanplural noun
Usage
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.
Etymology
Origin of salespeople
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But those cases all involved human decisions -- executives, salespeople or engineers who made choices and cut corners.
From Barron's • May 11, 2026
Palantir CEO Alex Karp touted the company’s “ staggering growth” despite “a hiring discipline that is too rare in the software industry today,” highlighting that it only has 70 salespeople.
From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026
Stanley espoused an evangelical capitalism that focused on its employees’ personal growth; it recommended salespeople read Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
“I’ve seen my share of less savvy investors who have had brokers and insurance salespeople put their IRAs into deferred variable annuities,” says North Vale, N.J.-based financial adviser John Coumarianos.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 20, 2026
What Golomb is saying is that most salespeople are prone to a classic Warren Harding error.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
