Sales

Sales, or the activity of selling, forms an integral part of commercial activity. Mastering sales is considered by many as some sort of persuading "art". On the contrary, the methodological approach of selling refers to it as a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesperson relate his offering enabling the buyer to visualize how to achieve his goal in an economic way.

Selling is a practical implementation of marketing; it often forms a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as salesmen (singular: salesman or salesperson).

The successful questioning to understand a customer's goal, the further creation of a valuable solution by communicating the necessary information that encourages a buyer to achieve his goal at an economic cost is the responsibility of the sales person or the sales engine (e.g. internet, vending machine etc).

The primary function of professional sales is to generate and close leads, educate prospects, fill needs and satisfy wants of consumers appropriately, and therefore turn prospective customers into actual ones.

From a marketing point of view, selling is one of the methods of promotion used by marketers. Other promotional techniques include advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and public relations.

Various sales strategies exist, such as tit-for-tat which is best if ongoing dealings and interactions are expected. This insight is behind so-called consultative sales process which are used by Saturn to sell cars, as well as for some direct Business-to-Business sales.

Several types of sales exist including direct, consultative, and complex sales. Complex sales varies from other types in that the customer plays a more pro-active role, often requiring proposal response to their Request for Proposal (RFP).

Forms

Modes of selling include:

• Direct Sales - involving face-to-face contact
  • retail or consumer
  • door-to-door or travelling salesman
  • business-to-business
• Indirect - human-mediated but with indirect contact
  • telemarketing or telesales
  • mail-order
• Electronic
  • web B2B, B2C
  • EDI
• Agency-based
  • consignment
  • multi-level marketing
  • sales agents (real estate, manufacturing)

Types of sales include:

• Direct sales
• Consultative sales
• Complex sales

Critique of selling

In theory, the purpose of selling is to help a customer realize his or her goals in an economic fashion. However, in reality this is not always the case. Customers can be influenced to purchase a product or service that initially was not of interest to them. Some salespeople are trained in the art of selling customers things they don't need.

Take for example the purchasing of a car: a consumer may have a set of cars in mind (called an evoked set) that she feels match her needs, wants and budget. She may seek the advice of a salesperson given that a salesperson can help her realize the right car given those criteria. This can be a socially useful function; salespeople have specialized knowledge of products that can help consumers make an informed decision. However, a salesperson may also talk a consumer into purchasing a more expensive or perhaps larger car then she needs or can afford. In this context, the salesperson may have usefully helped the customer re-evaluate her needs, thereby establishing a new set of appropriate choices among which included the newer or large car. This again would be a helpful and useful service provided by the salesperson. However, it is sometimes the case that customers purchase a product or service that was not initially intended and remains an inappropriate purchase after the fact. On the other hand, the consumer in this scenario can be held partially responsible for the inappropriate purchase; indeed, "A fool and his money are soon parted." (P.T. Barnum, English proverbs)

This dysfunctional behaviour is encouraged by:

• incentives of salespeople to increase their total number of sales, especially where retailers keep track of sales or offer commission-based salaries
• incentives from the manufactures of products or the companies of service providers to salespeople to sell their products where other similar products offered by competitors are offered
• the incentive to sell a customer a product that is in need of being cleared out, despite the fact that a customer may be better to wait for the new product

References

The Free Compendium of Professional Selling. United Professional Sales Association. URL accessed on Jan, 2005.

See also

• Marketing, promotion, Contract of sale, list of marketing topics, sales techniques
• Vendor-independent solutions provider

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