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This is a blog dedicated to the art and science of selling. How many of us grew up planning a career in sales? How many college class catalogs have a course called "Sales 101"? (Please don't confuse sales with marketing in the course catalogs.) How much study have we given to this rewarding profession?



Facts are, the overwhelming majority of sales people "fell" into sales. Unless we work for a larger company with professional development budgets, most of us have never had formal training in the profession. And let's face it, most sales people simply "wing it" on the sales call. None of this is good for our success or profession.



This blog looks to promote more art and science into the profession of sales so that your results, either as an individual contributor or as a sales leader, become better, more predictable and sustainable. Many years of b2b sales experience and management experience give me a vast reservoir of sales and leadership wisdom to share with you. I am glad you came and I hope you contribute.

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Friday, May 7, 2010

Is Selling The Same as Persuasion – Part II?

Let’s replay those definitions from last week’s post:

To sell:
“A recommendation to sell a particular security.
The process of liquidating an asset in exchange for money.”

To persuade:
“To prevail on (a person) to do something, as by advising or urging: We could not persuade him to wait.
To induce to believe by appealing to reason or understanding; convince: to persuade the judge of the prisoner's innocence”.

It is amazing to me how each definition is so narrowly defined. Sales Pro’s sell more than “securities” and do more than “liquidate assets”. I hope I never catch one of my Sales Pro’s liquidating assets! According to the definition of persuasion, one can only prevail “on a person”? I persuade my dog all of the time, through much urging, to use the bathroom outside. I must admit, I am not always successful.

Some big pieces are really missing here. “To sell” is more than a single act. It is a process, a series of steps, each step performed at an appropriate time with expertise, rigor and finesse (i.e. the art and science of selling).

Persuasion, as defined above, does not necessarily cover the sales process and therefore does not make selling and persuasion equal. Show me a sales person who, during the sales process, only “advises”, “urges”, “appeals to reason” and “convinces”, and I’ll show you a sales person who typifies the very low end of our profession, the ones who give us all a bad reputation. There is no room in persuasion for listening, empathy and probing, the very acts embodied in good selling.

Sure, there is always a point or two in the sales process where we may have to perform the act of persuasion, but persuasion is not selling. Selling is a far greater cause. It is a process that combines art and science, and a bit of persuasion here and there. If you throw too much persuasion onto your sales process, you will have thrown a bit too much flame on the beef and ruined a perfectly good steak. Selling is sometimes persuasion, but persuasion is never selling! What’s for dinner tonight?!

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