11. Is Sales an ART or a SCIENCE?
Sales: Is it Art or Is it Science?
Posted on June 13th, 2008 by Dave Stein
That’s a question I’m often asked about business-to-business selling.
I define science (in this application of the word) as the ability and willingness of a person to follow
a set of processes in order to carry on the business of day-to-day selling. Examples would be formal
planning, the use of checklists, dependence upon research, vigilant qualification, etc. Traditionally,
people who demonstrated such behavior have been labeled left-brained.
With that in mind, then art (again, as applied to selling) is the ability to excel at such things as
interpreting nuances in a customer’s behavior, effectively responding to a question with relevant
examples (and diagrams), making decisions based upon gut feel, counting on instinct and acting
upon hunches as a critical success factor. That’s typical right-brained behavior.
In my experience, and in the opinion of many sales experts I trust,
successful
business to business sales people depend on 80 to 90%
science and only 10 to 20% art.
