Is sales an art or a science?

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Is sales an art or a science?

If the question of which came first still remains, there's a second question, and not the least, which questions the true parentage of the sale.

Is selling art or science?

Surely you've heard of the "born salesman", that almost superhuman, indomitable, extraordinary being capable of selling everything in his path? Although The Wolf of Wall Street leads us to believe that it is indeed a question of knowing how to sell everything (click here to discover the scene), Alan Cooper, the inventor of targeted selling, explains the opposite. According to him, it's all about selling the right thing to the right person.

how to sell well?

This is where understanding the mechanics, psychology and origins of selling becomes not only essential, but inherent to your success.

‍Somedefinitions:

Art: "A means of obtaining a result". Short and to the point, this definition has the advantage of being accurate.

As you can see, art is a process, or at least the sum of actions that will give you results in a desired area. Which is to say, the art of selling is not so much in the way you dramatize your negotiation, or the words you say, or the tools you use. Art is a whole.

As for science: it's "the know-how that comes from knowledge, experience and skill." In other words, science is a body of data proven by experience. Which is to say, one results from practice, the other from theory. And if there's one thing that life teaches us over and over again, it's that one can't go without the other.

Science for sales :

Business is a bottomless pit of numbers. When it comes to starting a sales process, it's vital to have some, if not all, of them in mind.

Some data:

➡ Offering a customer two different products gives you a 34% chance of closing the deal for each of the two choices. The percentage drops to 10% for a single proposal.

➡ Using images in sales presentations increases your customer's recall rate by 55%.

➡ A salesperson is 21 times more likely to sell within five minutes of acquiring a lead

➡ It takes about six reminders to sell

➡ Behavioral surveys of over 100,000 prospects have proven that the decision to buy is based on sales technique, not the price offered.

➡ Statistically, there are days "made" for selling: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Failing to take these factors into consideration is akin to shooting yourself in the foot before you've even started the marathon that will lead you to closing. Understanding that sales is not simply an art, a gift, an unattainable skill for the average person, means understanding that our brain is a particularly modular and flexible mass. Neuroscience has shown that almost every area of our brain can be shaped. Every day, our brain destroys 10 to 20,000 neurons and replaces them with brighter ones. Depending on the activity you're doing, it adapts and trains these newborns to excel at what you ask of it.

Becoming an excellent salesperson is a real workout: learn, test, force your language, your smile, your adaptability to others, and slowly but surely, you'll become that exceptional being with the extraordinary power of selling.

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Art in the service of sales:

A speech can be convincing, resonant and well-sourced, but if it's not persuasive, it's cooked. That's where most activists' problems lie. They tend to make you understand the importance of the situation, without adding the benefits that will benefit you as an individual. Man is naturally egocentric, whether you like it or not.

When you look at a photo of yourself and your loved ones, which person do you look at first? You do. That's the way we are. If activists took this natural characteristic of our species into consideration, their speech would no longer be simply convincing, it would be persuasive.

What's the difference between convincing and persuading?

When you convince, you raise awareness. When you persuade, you move people to action.

Example: Many of us are aware of global warming, but how many of us align our thoughts with our actions? You see, we haven't been persuaded, for the simple, bad reason that this problem doesn't affect us in any specific, personal way.

Ecology - sales, same battle.

Your prospect will certainly be aware of the picture you paint, but it's up to you to persuade him that it's time to change. Fortunately, the solution lies in the palm of your hands, so all you have to do is unfold your range of possibilities and give your prospect what he wants.

Art is everything that science can't give you: empathy, persuasive speech, emotion, in other words, humanity.

Should we neglect one and settle for the other? Certainly not. Take the figures and data provided by science, turn them into a perfect concoction, feed yourself with them, adjust your smile, and set out to meet your future customers.

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