Professional Sales - Artistry or Science ?

Believe it or not this topic is a request from a sales manager that remembers me discussing it at a presentation some time ago. It's not new or revolutionary but hopefully provocative.

Professional sales is both an artistry and a science but many salespeople are not convinced of that. So, let's discuss it briefly.

It's an artistry because the salesperson is the artist and each one of us has our own style of presenting ourselves and what we sell. Our style comes from our learning, our background, our experiences, our upbringing, our beliefs, our values, and much more. Some of us are convinced that our style is the only way and not open to change. Some of us are constantly looking for ways to differentiate ourselves. Some of us are on this form of compensation and some of us are on another form. Some of us are satisfied with our level of success ( probably not now ) and some of us are never satisfied. Some of us work for large companies and some of us work for small companies. Some of us have managers / coaches and some of us don't. I could on and on but bottomline there is no one way to do professional sales. Especially now with the technological changes and this screwed up economy. The most important thing to recognize about the previous sentence ? Just because there is no one way to do it doesn't mean that anyone knows it all. Your artistry can be improved / enhanced by your desire to do so.

It's a science because the buyer or buyers have to possess or be convinced that they need your particular product or service more than they need what they got or don't have. It's the salesperson's responsibility to move them across an imaginary line from need ( or perceived need ) to justifying spending their dollars with you. The key word here is "justify". How do you enable them to justify making a decision on your behalf. How you recognize and influence their justification process is the science side of sales and how you do that is the artistry. When you are in the middle of a sales process are you getting acknowledgement of the points which justify in the buyer's mind(s) a decision in your favor ? You can actually watch a buyer(s) sell themselves by the justification points you utilizeif you are really good at closing sales. If you don't see it happening then there is a problem, possibly a misunderstanding, an objection, or other hangups / stalls.

Do you have the skills to handle their meandering's ?

There is a lot to learn about your artistic abilities and the science of the sales process !