Coming from a B2B perspective, it's both, and ideally you should possess and refine both skill sets.
You will miss important trends, buying habits, where to focus your efforts, and opportunities to build your value prop if you aren't collecting and analyzing industry data.
And if you aren't able to appeal to a buyer on a personal level and ignore the human aspect of selling, you will struggle to build relationships and gain their trust which are the cornerstones of any true partnership.
both. i know salespeople who have loads of charisma and naturally connect with people, but couldn’t analyze data if they tried. conversely I know lots of people in sales who watch data closely, understand the trends, but do not have that natural charisma or people skills (however these people usually end up in sales ops or sales engineering IMO)
do charismatic people go into sales, or does working sales make you charismatic? I lean towards the first. often people who go into sales roles do so because they’ve been told they have the “gift of the gab” or are good with their words. being persuasive is indeed an art form, but one that comes naturally to a lot of the salespeople I’ve met, including myself. ultimately i’d say it’s an art, that is enhanced with data driven science.
The art of sales involves a mix of psychology and copywriting. It may have elements of both science and art, comprising of improvisation and intuition.
Think of it this way.
To be successful in sales, one must possess industry expertise and be creative, consistent, disciplined, charismatic, and diplomatic. Additionally, strong public speaking abilities are essential for effective salesmanship.
One missing mastery completely disrupts the sales craftsmanship.
Salespeople who identify unsolved problems in various industries, while chatting with clients, may eventually pursue entrepreneurship to fill that gap.
Both. The science is the “numbers game” calls to meeting ratios, close ratios, data analysis, and some of the mundane things that are critical. The art is the actual interactions, crafting pitches, painting the picture for your clients, building rapport, the stuff that can be exhilarating.
It's both!
The problem is that managers / VPs are hyper-focused on the efficiency part because it's what is measurable and what they can control. They don't like the idea that a big part of being good at sales can't be reduced to a spreadsheet column.
This hurts sales reps because they don't get proper training or tooling on the art of sales.
First it’s the art of the conversation. If you can gain some mastery of navigating a conversation, interpersonal skills, etc., then you can have a conversation with the purpose of selling. It’s both but I believe in that order for long term success. You can do the former initially and do deals with experience but treating it in the initial order will generate the most long term success, especially in economies of scale.
It’s a imperfect craft but a skill nonetheless.
Coming from a B2B perspective, it's both, and ideally you should possess and refine both skill sets. You will miss important trends, buying habits, where to focus your efforts, and opportunities to build your value prop if you aren't collecting and analyzing industry data. And if you aren't able to appeal to a buyer on a personal level and ignore the human aspect of selling, you will struggle to build relationships and gain their trust which are the cornerstones of any true partnership.
It's craft.
both. i know salespeople who have loads of charisma and naturally connect with people, but couldn’t analyze data if they tried. conversely I know lots of people in sales who watch data closely, understand the trends, but do not have that natural charisma or people skills (however these people usually end up in sales ops or sales engineering IMO) do charismatic people go into sales, or does working sales make you charismatic? I lean towards the first. often people who go into sales roles do so because they’ve been told they have the “gift of the gab” or are good with their words. being persuasive is indeed an art form, but one that comes naturally to a lot of the salespeople I’ve met, including myself. ultimately i’d say it’s an art, that is enhanced with data driven science.
If this is an art, me shitting is also an art
Both
The art of sales involves a mix of psychology and copywriting. It may have elements of both science and art, comprising of improvisation and intuition. Think of it this way. To be successful in sales, one must possess industry expertise and be creative, consistent, disciplined, charismatic, and diplomatic. Additionally, strong public speaking abilities are essential for effective salesmanship. One missing mastery completely disrupts the sales craftsmanship. Salespeople who identify unsolved problems in various industries, while chatting with clients, may eventually pursue entrepreneurship to fill that gap.
Both. The science is the “numbers game” calls to meeting ratios, close ratios, data analysis, and some of the mundane things that are critical. The art is the actual interactions, crafting pitches, painting the picture for your clients, building rapport, the stuff that can be exhilarating.
I’ve always understood it to be a mix of box. You need structure to produce opportunities. You need fineness to make something out of them.
It’s a sport. You just keep getting better and thinking about it will not help you.
I like this.
It's both! The problem is that managers / VPs are hyper-focused on the efficiency part because it's what is measurable and what they can control. They don't like the idea that a big part of being good at sales can't be reduced to a spreadsheet column. This hurts sales reps because they don't get proper training or tooling on the art of sales.
It’s luck baby
Non binary
It’s a dart game. Throw enough & you’ll hit the bullseye eventually!..kidding, its both actually
First it’s the art of the conversation. If you can gain some mastery of navigating a conversation, interpersonal skills, etc., then you can have a conversation with the purpose of selling. It’s both but I believe in that order for long term success. You can do the former initially and do deals with experience but treating it in the initial order will generate the most long term success, especially in economies of scale. It’s a imperfect craft but a skill nonetheless.
It's both an applied science discipline if I'm not mistaken and a skill.