No one is harder on salespeople than salespeople themselves.

It’s a difficult job and yet each day members of the world’s second oldest profession put themselves out there, braving the slings and arrows of a suspicious, cynical marketplace; providing humanity with product and service options and opportunities toward the buyers’ success. Where would our economies be without salespeople?

Salespeople would be the first to tell you that a HUG would be nice for a change. Therefore March 2013 is officially International HUG a Salesperson Month. So new is this commemoration that Hallmark has no card, no coin of the realm has been struck, no postage stamps printed, nor tee shirts screened in its honour.  Yet postitive recognition of and reaction to salespeople is long overdue.

During March salespeople the world over will become the targets of positive attention. An armistice between buyer and seller will pervade and used car salesmen, the dubious icons of professional selling, shall be revered. International HUG a Salesperson Month shall usher in a new era of evolved selling, globally … an era of mutual respect and admiration between buyer and seller that proudly replaces the outdated, timeworn selling stereotypes with the image of  ‘trusted advisor’  in a true spirit of alliance.

Copy his logo. Request a j-peg or tiff file from Tangent Strategies and promote International HUG a Salesperson Month to your target audiences, to your local media. Include the logo it in all your corresponence. Host networking events in its honour and make it an even bigger event in your town, city and country every March therafter.

To salespeople and employers of salespeople the world over I leave you with this one caveat. The HUG  you receive should not be received lightly nor taken for granted. You are encouraged to live up to its intention and to earn it over the succeeding 365 days. The time for SELLING to evolve to a much higher standard has arrived.   

While an element of International HUG a Salesperson Month may be tongue-in-cheek it heralds in and promotes a more positive interaction between salespeople and their employers and most certainly between salespeople their prospects and buyers, those who receive their e-mails, telephone calls and visits each day.  March is International HUG a Salesperson Month.

HUG one HUG all. Long live the salesperson.