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Why AI will always be closing in on sales jobs

The question is no longer whether AI can sell – it is how many of its human peers will survive the takeover

Summarise
    • Within the vast universe of selling, entire constellations of tasks have become more transactional than relational, and these are precisely the areas where AI is now making its most aggressive inroads.
    • Within the vast universe of selling, entire constellations of tasks have become more transactional than relational, and these are precisely the areas where AI is now making its most aggressive inroads. PHOTO: PEXELS
    Joyce Hooi

    Joyce Hooi

    Published Wed, Nov 19, 2025 · 07:30 AM

    ALEC Baldwin is the reason I have avoided sales-related careers like the plague. If you’ve watched him berate three sulky and underperforming real estate salesmen in Glengarry Glen Ross, you’d understand.

    “Put that coffee down! Coffee’s for closers only,” Baldwin’s character snaps at one of the trio during his verbal tirade in the 1992 movie’s iconic scene.

    “A-B-C. A-always, B-be, C-closing. Always be closing! Always be closing!” he roars – unhelpfully circular advice for some poor saps struggling to meet their sales target.

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