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Direct Sales Strategies: The Art of Selling and The Sales Presentation

Guest post by: Jon Gilge

Article Overview: Selling can be broken down into its parts, and much can be learned from doing so, but to put those parts together in a convincing sales conversation requires the artful skill of a true sales professional. Without that art, the science of selling is just a collection of parts that will fail to engage the prospect and compel them to buy.

Direct Sales Strategies: The Art of Selling and The Sales Presentation

I was recently asked the following question by a student of mine:

"Is selling, especially one-call close selling, an art or a science?"

The following was my answer, which you may find helpful as you seek to find balance in your sales approach between a strict adherence to a selling system and a more fluid interaction with your potential customers.

In its essence, selling is an engagement between the salesperson and his prospect, much like music is an engagement between musician and audience and a painting is an engagement between artist and viewer. While one can scientifically analyze visual art or music and break it down to its constituent parts; the rythm, the notes, the color, the contrast, it cannot be recreated from those parts except through the skillful manipulation of the artist.

In the same way, selling can be broken down into its parts, and much can be learned from doing so, but to put those parts together in a convincing sales conversation requires the artful skill of a true sales professional. Without that art, the science of selling is nothing but a collection of parts that will fail to engage the prospect and compel them to buy.

Therefore, sales will always primarily be an art because the almost infinite variability of the sales interaction will not allow for a process of rigidly fixed steps that one could classify as a science. It will, however, allow for the application of appropriate steps to the interaction, as they are needed to move the prospect through the buying process. In this is the art; knowing when to apply the science that is the elements of selling- the particular skills, statements, responses, and questions- to the situation, and how exactly to do so.

This artful application of the components, or the lack thereof, is the cause of the vastly different level of engagement created by an artist and a novice both using the same components. A novice musician playing the same notes on the same instrument as a true artist will create music of lesser quality, just as a novice salesperson will create a less compelling sales interaction than a true sales professional using the same questions, statements, and responses. The true sales artist will know how to assemble them in the proper order, use them at the right time, convey them with the right tone, and deliver them with the proper emphasis, and in doing so create the level of engagement that motivates people to buy.

But while selling is an art, there is much that can be learned from the science of selling- the close examination of the parts that great salespeople assemble to make great sales conversations. Much like a painter studies color and contrast, and a musician the notes and the rhythm of the masters, so too can sales people examine the parts of the profession and learn from them. This is where the learning must begin, but not where it ends. The art will always be in in the way that those parts are put together, and the difference between the master and the novice will be the skill in doing so to the desired effect on the audience.

As a sales trainer, the most significant challenge is not teaching salespeople what to say, but how and when to say it. I can assume that the same is true for someone teaching painting or music- that it is not hard to teach someone what notes to play or colors to use, but that it is difficult to teach the organization of the components into a engaging work of art. This is not a process that can be accomplished over a short period of time. It takes time, repetition, analysis, rehearsal, and a good deal of experience.

As you approach your personal sales development, my advice is that you don't consider yourself finished when you know what to say, but continue on until you have learned how to create art from the words.

I hope this examination of the question of selling as an art or a science will help you on your journey toward become a true artist in the profession of selling.

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Article Tags: sales presentation, sales strategies, sales techniques, the art of selling



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