Modern-Day Sales and Marketing Blog

Is security sales (and selling) an art or a science?

By Chris Peterson| May 11, 2015 12:43:30 PM | 0 Comments

salesartorscience

This is a good one to start the week with!

Two conclusions that have generally been adopted on this topic:

  1. Selling is an art that can only be performed by good looking, outgoing people with 1000s of contacts.  These people don't need a process - they're artists and a process limits them.
  2. Salespeople are inefficient and should be measured in the same manner that a shop floor technician or software developer is measured. 

I disagree with both of these perspectives.

It is my opinion that selling is a science that is performed by artists.  The good ones have been the handsome socialites forever, but it’s not a requirement.  Any talented sales professional will perform exponentially better if they follow an intelligent strategy and a repeatable process that allows them to focus on one thing: influencing their customers.  I don't advocate turning sales professionals into operations people - I believe in programs that enable sales professionals to be themselves - assertive, extraverted, competitive, technical … whatever.  However, incorporating a plan that enables them to fully utilize their natural talents.      

What do you think, does process benefit salespeople? 

Has an "operations-type" tried to force a process on you that reduced your performance?  What made this experience unsuccessful?

What positive experiences have you had from an improved sales process?   What made this experience successful?

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