Is Selling an Art or a Science?

As more and more companies implement new sales technology solutions into their sales organization, it is evident that there is more science in selling than ever before. With every step forward that we take with new technology, we need to examine our progress in the art of selling.

You may be familiar with an episode of Mad Men where Don Draper makes a smooth pitch for the Kodak Carousel. It takes a little over three minutes to watch. It’s one of the best sales pitches I’ve seen on TV. Click here to access the three minute video clip.

In case you can’t access the video from your office computer, here is the TV script that Don Draper delivered with a great deal of finesse:

“Technology is a glittering lure. But there is the rare occasion where the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash…if they have a sentimental bond with the product. My first job, I was in-house at a fur company, and this old pro copywriter, Greek, named Teddy…and Teddy told me that the most important idea in advertising is “new”…it creates an itch. You seem to put your product in there as kind of a Calamine lotion. We also talked about a deeper bond with the product – nostalgia – it’s delicate, but potent. (Turns on Kodak carousel projector and clicks through slides that show family scenes).

Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine…it goes backwards; forwards…it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It travels the way a child travels, round and round and back home again, to a place where we know we’re loved.”

There are a few surprising facts about this scene. To read the script, it will take you less than a minute. To play the scene, Draper added so many dramatic pauses, that he tripled the delivery time. A lower rate of speech adds to the suspense and it enhances the impact of the message. Of course there are more discoveries that will hit you after you’ve watched the scene several times.

I suggest you play this video during your next sales meeting and ask your salespeople a few questions afterwards:

What makes this sales presentation so compelling?
To what degree is a selling an art? To what degree is selling a science?
(Ask your salespeople to come up with two numbers that add up to 100%).
How can we inject more emotional weight into our presentation?
How can we use more imagery in our sales message?
How can we improve our delivery?
What can we do to create a sentimental bond with our product or service?
What can we do to advance both: the art and science of selling?

Leave your comment: To what degree is selling an art? To what degree is it a science?

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Comments

[Alen Majer]

Very often you can hear how selling is a form of art, how sales people need to be creative and use their imagination, but I am not agreeing with that – sales is more science than anything. Yes you can use imagination and creativity, but after using tools available to you. With the proper tools and techniques you’ll replace guesswork with success.

Best regards,
Alen Majer
Author of Trigger Events

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The second and more recent sense of the word art is as an abbreviation for creative art or fine art. Fine art means that a skill is being used to express the artist's creativity, or to engage the audience's aesthetic sensibilities, or to draw the audience towards consideration of the finer things. Often, if the skill is being used in a common or practical way, people will consider it a craft instead of art. Likewise, if the skill is being used in a commercial or industrial way, it will be considered Commercial art instead of fine art.

[trish bertuzzi]

OMG...@salesdujour... fabulous summary. I will quote you!

[Michael]

The bigger question is "what is sales" and how does it interlock with relationships. If you have no content, you will eventually run out of air. If all you have is content, but nothing else, you won't move people. E-motion is energy in motion and is what ultimately moves people to act. Relationships are built on authenticity and disclosure and those can be tough to fake.

Are you selling to a scientist or an artist - what's the mix. Sales professionals must be good code switchers - the audience is often convinced in myriad ways and one approach will not work for all buyers. Sales is a 100% of both - it's all where the dials are for each interaction and sale.

[Michael Pedone - Online Sales Training]

It's a mixture of both... You need a solid game plan / sales process to follow... a do / say / get this response before saying "this" next type of thing. But science is exact and sales is not... you'll need to be able to think on your feet and interpret what is and what isn't said by the prospect and react accordingly... that's more of an art.

[SalesDuJour]

Sales an artistic pseudo science with a blend of one part art and one part science. Too much art and you are out of the sales process. Too much process and the artistry is lost.

Thanks for a nice post!

[Scott Marker]

Is sales an art or a science, is an age-old question. If both, what is the percentage of each?

The answer for most B2B sales professionals is that it depends on specifics of the industry and the type of sales specific to that industry. However, no matter what industry, type of B2B sales, following proven best practices, process and utilizing a CRM system will “bring more science to the art of selling.”

So, B2B – business-to-business sales, when two or more people are involved, will always be partially an art. The goal for every sales force is to “bring more science to the art.”

Best Regards,

Scott Marker

20-year B2B sales veteran
Publisher and Author