THE ART AND SCIENCE OF SALESMANSHIP
By Donald Hammond
Copyright 2011 by Donald Hammond
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Forward
This book is not just for internet sales but for all sales. It is for all the salesmen and saleswomen (hereafter the name "salesman" will apply to both) making sales face to face or over the internet. The science and art of being a good salesperson does not change.
CHAPTER I
WHAT IS SALESMANSHIP?
Every One Has Something to Sell.
No matter who you are or what your station in life, you have something to sell. Only the parasite of society is not a salesman. The thing to be sold maybe a physical item like an article of food, clothing, or other commodity, while on the other hand it may be the skill or knowledge. In any event it is a complete sale when the salesman has received adequate compensation and has furnished the buyer a satisfactory value for that compensation. Both parties to the sale must be benefited by the exchange in order that it shall be a good sale.
Store Experiences
When you enter a store and have to search for a clerk for assistance and when you do find one and ask for an article and you find the clerk totally indifferent as to whether you secure it or not, how do you feel about that store? If this were the attitude of the proprietor, the business would soon fail. Every salesman represents the owner or the firm in his contact with prospective buyers, and whether his salary is large or small should make no difference in his attitude toward prospects.
The customer frequently finds that the salesman waits for him to determine and describe just what he wants, and if he cannot do so, the clerk lounges behind the counter, looking at him with an expression of pity. If the customer can tell exactly what he wants, the clerk may direct him to the proper location in the store.
No salesmanship is involved in a transaction of this sort. The person behind the counter might just as well be a machine. Such a clerk is a mere order processor. No matter what his salary is, it is too large. Salesmanship is an unknown science to him, and when he has occupied place after place for years, he is no more a salesman than he was at the beginning.
Salesmanship Not a Secret
Many so-called internet gurus of salesmanship intimate in their advertising that they are in possession of some wonderful secret which will be transmitted by them for a consideration. This attitude is unwarranted and unfair. There is no wonderful secret in salesmanship. It is the application of honesty, of good sense, and of a desire to serve, guided by the rules of psychology, and it is nothing more.
Salesmen Not Such by Birth
It is asserted from time to time that certain persons are "born salesmen." The inference one might draw from that suggestion is a great mistake. Whether "poets are born and not made" may be an open question, but salesmen are not such by birth. One person may have certain characteristics which make it easier for him to approach people than it is for another; but almost anyone who has an earnest desire to do so can learn to present his case in an attractive and persuasive way, and to that extent may become a salesman. Of course all will not be equally successful in selling, any more than all are equally successful in any other profession. The fact that one has taken a course in a school of law or medicine does not guarantee him a successful career as a practitioner. It can only give him the necessary tools with which to carve out his career
Salesmanship a Result of Study and Practice
Neither study alone nor practice alone will produce the best results in salesmanship. Theory and practice should be worked out together. Good practice should result from theory. Good theory should result from practice. This looks like reasoning in a circle, but it contains a large element of truth. The salesman who began years ago without any theory and is now successful cannot serve as an example for one who is beginning now, for great advancement has been made in the profession since he started.
Salesmanship Is a Science and an Art
The science of salesmanship includes all the knowledge one can gather from the experience of others and from the application of psychology. The art of salesmanship is the application of this knowledge to the actual process of selling. There is no reason why a salesman should not be as much of an artist in his line as is the painter or the musician in another.
A Sale Is a Psychological Process and Is Made in the Mind
There are several steps in the process of a sale. First, attention; this is sometimes divided into involuntary and voluntary attention. Involuntary attention may be brought about by the merest accident. The prospect passes a store window and happens to glance in that direction; he reads a newspaper or magazine and accidentally notices an advertisement. A visitor to a website sees a banner ad and takes note.
Voluntary attention is given deliberately; the prospect determines to do a search for a given product.
Thereupon follows the third step, that of interest. The article has become attractive now, and the more it is studied the more attractive it seems, until the prospect comes to the fourth step, desire. The prospect may stop here for some time, but if the process goes on, he eventually reaches the fifth stage, viz. determination or decision.
Decision does not necessarily mean that the sale is made. Many decisions are never carried out. The decision may involve sacrifice in deciding in favor of one thing. The prospect may have to decide against other things of the same or of other kinds. There must be one more step before the sale is completed. This is action.
All of these steps may take place in the mind of the buyer. They may be brought about by advertisement, possibly by blogs, perhaps by email, but the most satisfactory way is by actual contact with the salesman.
There Are No Trifles in Salesmanship
Anything which helps or hinders the process above mentioned is important. Human beings are so constituted that what seems important to one is considered a trifle by another. The result is that almost everything is considered a matter of importance by someone. As a salesman is to come into contact with all sorts of prospects and does not know the personal peculiarities of any of them, he must be on the alert, for a matter small in his estimation may lose his prospect's favor and so destroy the good effects of his canvass.
A hardware salesman entered the store of a prospect whom he had never visited. The store was long and narrow, and the proprietor was near the front door. The salesman was smoking a cigar, and continued to smoke after entering the store. The proprietor would scarcely answer questions, and seemed to become more and more out of patience. Presently he broke into a rage and berated the salesman for smoking in the presence of a child. The salesman then saw a young child at the extreme rear of the store. Thus all chance of a sale was lost.
Kinds of Salesmanship
Practically all kinds of salesmanship can be classified as wholesale, retail, agency, and canvassing. Different methods are required for each kind. In wholesale and canvassing, salesmen ordinarily approach the prospect. Usually the retail salesman finds the prospect coming to him, while agency includes some experience of both kinds. The same principles hold in all cases. The rules laid down for one kind of sale will be found to apply to all.
Canvassing is going out to large groups at one time, like canvassing a neighborhood for a candidate for office. A good example is email blasts.
Agency is doing business-to-business sales. They may come to you or you can go to them.
Salesmanship Is Not Trickery
There was a time when the object of the salesman was to trick the prospect as to induce him to take what the salesman had to sell, and to get out of him as large a consideration as possible. In that day the buyer had to watch every word and move of the salesman lest he should be defrauded in the transaction. This was so fully recognized that even in law the buyer was met at the bar of justice with the cold comfort, "Caveat emptor," that is, "Let the buyer beware."
The day of caveat emptor and the ethics which encouraged or even tolerated lying and cheating in business has gone by. Tricks are no longer a part of salesmanship. Most businesses today will discharge a salesman who resorts to misrepresentation or deception,
Forcing a Prospect into a Purchase
The mere fact of making a sale which will cause the buyer to feel after he leaves the salesman that he has been overpowered will bring about not only a repudiation of the sale and a canceled order in all probability, but will also put the buyer in an unfavorable frame of mind toward that salesman. He will avoid the representative and in many cases will be alienated from the house that the salesman represents.
Earning Trust Better than Making a Sale
It sometimes happens that the salesman is doing better by refusing to sell than he would do by making a sale. If he can thus secure the confidence and the future business of a customer, it may be worth many times more than the value of an immediate sale in which the customer is induced to buy something he will afterward regret.
Salesmanship Must Be Up-to-date. Old Methods Must Be Laid Aside
There may have been a time when a salesman could sell his goods by telling questionable stories, furnishing meals, or filling his prospect with intoxicating liquor. Such practices are entirely out of place in up-to-date methods. The salesman may never even come in contact with a prospective customer if it is handled totally on the internet.
But you MUST be ready to speak with customers. Do you ever wonder how many customers those “gurus” who send emails by the truckload lose because they refuse to answer questions? When I receive an email from “do-not-reply” I interpret it as “do-not-buy”.
"Business Is Business" Does Not Mean That It Is Outside Morality
If the expression "business is business " means that business is not a visiting or social association, and also that it is not a means of drawing upon religious affiliations, all well and good; but if the expression is made to cover practices which would not bear the light of the highest kind of ethics or the most searching morality, the sooner it goes out of existence the better. The person who undertakes to make this trite expression cover acts of dishonesty or fraud is behind the times. He has outlived his usefulness in the business world. The sooner he is put on the shelf the better for the community in which he is trying to do business.
Necessity for Clarity In Thinking and Communicating
Nothing is more necessary to the salesman than to make his exact meaning clear. He should know just what his proposition is and just what it means and his whole effort should be to make his prospect know the same. If what the salesman is trying to do is not clear in his own mind, he can never make it clear to anyone else. He must be sure of his ground. He cannot afford to do any guessing. He must not make any statement which can be construed in two ways. There must not be any clouds to obscure the understanding between the salesman and the prospect. Neither of them can afford to throw dust into the eyes of the other.
When you send an email or build a website, you must be clear and concise and know what action you want from the viewer of your message.
Salesmanship Is Service
One can frequently buy an article at a lower price where the stock is poorly kept, where the surroundings are unclean, or where the salespeople are indifferent or impertinent, but the number of people who prefer to do their trading under more favorable surroundings is increasing constantly.
If one looks into a restaurant and sees that the windows are fly-specked, the table linen soiled, the waiters untidy, the floor dusty, and other things in keeping, although he may notice that a meal can be secured cheaply, he is likely to pass by and enter another dining room where the table linen is clean, the waiters neat, the floor well swept, and the windows and dishes spotless, even though he may get no more food and finds it necessary to pay more for his meal. Of course there are those cases where the nasty looking restaurant has such exceedingly good food that nobody cares what the place looks like. These are rare and you should always try to put forth your best side.
We are willing to pay a little more in order to have the articles from which we make our selection arranged in an orderly way, to find surroundings which are clean and attractive, and salespeople who are courteous and willing, and who show a desire to help us in securing just what we want. It is this service which is building the successful businesses today, and the dingy shops with their crabbed, indifferent proprietors or salesmen are being crowded out of our busy thoroughfares into the back streets and alleys.
Websites that are poorly designed and hard to navigate are the same way. Make your website easy to use and pleasant to look at and customers will hang around longer and your results will be favorable.
Four Factors in a Sale
The four factors in a sale are: the salesman, the article to be sold, the buyer, and the process of the sale. These will be taken up in detail as we proceed.
CHAPTER II
THE SALESMAN
Personal Appearance
The salesman should look well. This does not mean that he must be handsome; neither does it mean that he must always wear fine clothes. It does mean that his clothing should be neat, made of as good material as he can afford, up-to date in cut and well cared for. Even if all the customer ever sees is a picture of you on a website or in an email. Make yourself look good.
Personal Cleanliness
The salesperson who must come into contact with people at close range needs to remember cleanliness is not a matter of clothes alone; it should extend to the skin. Perhaps no fixed rule can be laid down as to just how often the salesman should bathe, but it should be often enough to keep him clean. If he is so unfortunate as to be afflicted with some disease that is liable to cause a disagreeable odor, he must be particularly careful.
Odors to Be Avoided
There should never be a suggestion of liquor or tobacco on the clothing, the person, or the breath. The smell of liquor will alienate a large majority of prospects. The odor of stale tobacco smoke on the clothing or the reek of a tobacco user's breath causes nausea to many people, and they will think of nothing else while the salesman is talking.
If the person and the clothing are clean, perfume is unnecessary; if they are not, it is a betrayal. These artificial smells are too often used to cover others which are disagreeable. Overuse of aftershave or perfume can turn a person away as sure as any foul odor.
An odor which is very pleasant to one person may be extremely disagreeable to another. An additional fact must not be overlooked. The prospect may not be feeling perfectly well, in which case any of these unusual odors will be even more offensive. The wholesome odor of cleanliness never offends.
The Salesman's Attitude
In addition to these items of the salesman's personal appearance, there is also an important result to be obtained from his attitude in standing or sitting, and his manner of walking. He should stand erect, not with shoulders slouched forward nor with his torso hanging on one hip. The place for his feet is on the floor, and many a prospect has resented the carelessness of the salesman in putting a foot on a chair or a desk, and so marring the furniture in his office. The salesman sometimes becomes positively grotesque by allowing embarrassment or languor to control the position of his body. He should hold up his head, for by so doing he can talk better and think better, in addition to the fact that he looks one hundred per cent better.
The pockets are for carrying loose articles. One's hands should never be in them any longer than necessary to place these articles in them or to take them out. Toying with the watch, pulling at the ears, rubbing the nose, or in any way handling the clothing or the face indicates a condition of mind that is embarrassed, afraid, or slothful.
In walking one should have a position very near that required in military drill, whether he is going to make it his permanent way of walking and standing or not. It will give him poise and command of himself. While talking with the customer he should keep his body in an erect and graceful attitude, neither stiff nor slouchy.
He should look at the prospect, and not allow his eyes to wander hither and yon while talking.
The Salesman's Mental Attitude
The salesman must have self-respect. Some people do not know the meaning of this term. It is not self-conceit. Self-respect keeps one a fit associate for himself. He determines to be worthy of the confidence of any one, and then lives up to that standard.
The salesman must be courteous. It has been said with a large degree of truth that politeness costs nothing and buys everything. One must manifest the kind of courtesy which will endure slights, and sometimes even insults, without retaliation.
A salesman will sometimes say, "I don't believe I should make a doormat of myself," but usually the one who says that is using that form of expression to cover his failure in the matter of courtesy. If the person to whom one is talking is discourteous or abusive, the farther he goes the more injury he does himself and the less one can afford to meet him on his own ground. An old adage says, "Fighting the devil with fire is the greatest mistake one can make because that is the one element in which the devil is most proficient." Meet the boor with courtesy; answer his rudeness with politeness; reply to his abuse and insults with silence. In following these directions one is not manifesting cowardice nor inferiority. When a yelping cur comes barking and snarling toward you, you do not get down on all fours and yelp and bark in reply. Jangling and yelling are no signs of bravery. The dog that barks loudest is too busy to use his teeth.
The courtesy developed must be the real article, not merely a Friar Tuck species of superficial veneer, which can be assumed in the presence of the prospect and discarded on leaving him. The salesman does not know how soon nor from what direction the reaction will come.
When dealing with rudeness on the internet, take the time to relax before you answer. A swift reply will bring swift regrets. Think out your reply carefully with the emphasis on being polite. The other adage that comes to mind is “choose your battles wisely”. Think about it before you take it on. Is this the battle you want to “die” for? Normally the answer is “no”. If nothing else just be polite.
Poise
Directly in line with self-respect and courtesy comes poise. This is the element which makes it impossible for an untrained person to become too familiar. Shakespeare says, "There's such divinity doth hedge a king." What Shakespeare calls divinity is nothing more nor less than poise. A scene of dramatic action can readily be imagined. Two men are engaged in a fencing duel before an audience. They are in vigorous action. Another is standing at one side inactive. Far greater skill as an actor is required to be the bystander than to be one of the participants, and only a high degree of poise will save him from becoming a mere piece of stage furniture. Again, a certain successful actor is seen standing at the rear of the stage with his back to the audience. He is looking at a picture, and remains in that attitude for a comparatively long time. He is successful in holding his audience in absolute silence because he has poise. Poise is a large element in what is often meant by the expression "blood will tell."
Poise can be illustrated to some extent in this way: A thousand pounds of wood and metal in an unorganized heap is neither beautiful nor artistic. The same wood and metal taken in hand by skilled workmen, and built into the form of a piano with tightened strings and wires, will give forth under the hands of a player an infinite variety of harmony. Poise marks the distinction between the person whose qualities and character are unorganized and the one who is highly organized.
Cheerfulness
An exceedingly desirable quality in the salesman is cheerfulness. Not that he should be forever smiling or grinning. This becomes disgusting to some prospects. But where the long-faced, pessimistic growler will secure one small order, the cheerful, optimistic salesman will take ten large ones.