When I first was asked if I wanted to be in the safety profession, I politely said heck no. I had numerous reasons for not wanting the role, so I gracefully declined. Safety records—ours, and those of other companies like ours—were becoming an issue with customers in operations. We did not meet the standards or criteria those customers were seeking. Additionally, and ironically, we had at that time numerous slots open for sales as well. Our upper management for both areas in our region expressed encouragement for change. The VP approached me for sales, and I quickly declined. He then followed with the question, how about safety? Again, I declined the offer. He explained to me that both positions were critical at that point, indicating it was a great opportunity for either.
At that point, I was the most experienced in safety due to my experience in operations overseas. Safety training, at that time, received greater emphasis overseas. Meanwhile, domestically, safety practices and training were less advanced than they are now. As for the offer of a sales role, I had no experience in sales. Further, I didn’t want any experience in sales. I indicated that I would not be efficient, and I could not sell a glass of water to a dehydrated man in the desert. He then indicated that safety was indeed a sales job, and one that I, against my judgment and my own preference, would be going into for the company. That was a blow to my psyche.
Now, as for my fitness for the role, my background at that point at least had more dealings with safety. I had zero experience in sales.
So, it came about that after years in operations, I opted for safety. Now, 25 years later, I realize that the two occupations have quite a bit in common.
In both areas of expertise, sales and safety, skills must be mastered and applied if one is to be effective. My point is that the job requirements are eerily the same for both jobs in terms of responsibility. Both are performance-driven, and results are expected. Sales personnel must be informed, trained, and adept at procedures and production through multilevel talents.
One of the hardest jobs and keenest aspirations of any safety person is to sell to the employees, through proper protocols, the product of being able to go home safely when the workday is over. We must sell the importance of safety. Even salesmen for contract sales must be able to address the safety performance in order to meet the litmus test of selling the company. Regardless, if it’s a service or a product being offered, salesmen have to sell the benefits of cost savings. And a good safety record is indeed a cost savings.
Meanwhile, both safety and sales must be able to communicate effectively from top to bottom. Safety messaging isn’t one-and-done, it’s an ongoing dialogue that blends psychology, data, and genuine care. By applying these strategies, you’ll transform compliance from a checkbox into a culture in which every person owns safety. And that culture will, ultimately, yield positive points for sales.
Now for the down-and-dirty aspect of how the safety person must overcome arguments in the field. Compliance with all the rules must be sold to the people actually in the field. The hardest task is to sell the benefits of safety before they get hurt. When there is no one watching, who will know if they bypass a safety regulation? After all, they have taken shortcuts hundreds of times and there was no accident. That’s where the most difficult task of getting buy-in exists.
Company sales representatives will be the first to tell you that accidents, straight across the board, cost profitability. Regardless of whether you are a mom and pop or a worldwide organization, the bottom line is the bottom line.
So, the safety person must be able to effectively sell the benefits to the customer (which is the employee) to follow all of the rules for the family, and the company, from the bottom up. Sales personnel, meanwhile, must sell to just the prospective customer the benefits of a safety record, even when the evidence does not support the facts. Both positions are formidable, but I’ve not yet seen a salesman deliver a death message to a family. It is difficult to suggest to a family that everything was done in the company’s power to keep the employees safe. When the unmentionable happens, it is difficult to explain to the family that their loved one took an individual exception to following all the rules.
So, I contend that in order to be an effective safety professional, that safety person must be able to sell safety to the employees more effectively than even a salesperson sells benefits to a prospective company customer. Safety professionals have to be excellent sales personnel. Both jobs are challenging. [Special note: every sales professional I’ve known understood the importance of safety. I am not, in any way, inferring that one job is less important than the other. There is pressure in both.]
In the safety world, there are many types of pressures that are hazardous to one’s health. There is pressure for shortcuts. There is hydraulic pressure and there are other pressures that are dangerous. Maybe in the future we will talk about mental, physical, and spiritual pressure, as well as “pressure to perform,” and “pressure to control,” in our industry.
—Dust
Dusty Roach
Dusty Roach is a safety professional based in Midland. He is also a public speaker on subjects of leadership and safety, and he maintains a personal website at dustyroach.com.
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