2. • Introduction
• Definition
• Features of salesmanship
• Scope of salesmanship
• Modern Concepts of salesmanship
• Utility of salesmanship
• Elements of Salesmanship
• Salesmanship: Art or Science
• Salesmanship: A Profession
• Qualities of Salesmanship
3. Salesmanship is one of the skills used in personal selling, as defined by
Stroh, “it is a direct, face-to-face, seller-to-buyer influence which can
communicate the facts necessary for marketing a buying decision; or it can
utilize the psychology of persuasion to encourage the formation of a buying
decision”.
Salesmanship is seller-initiated effort that provides prospective buyers
with information and motivates or persuades them to make favourable buying
decisions concerning the seller’s products or service. The salesman of today
has to react and interact in any different ways to many different people.
Apart from the knowledge of the product, a salesperson has to be a
psychologist with one prospect, a human computer with another, an adviser
with another, and at the same time a friend with some buyers. Salespersons
must adjust their personalities on every call. Salesmanship may be
implemented not only through personal selling but through advertising. Thus,
advertising has been described as “salesmanship in print.”
4. According to W.G Carter, “Salesmanship is in attempt to induce people to
buy goods.” According to the National Association of Marketing Teachers of
America, “It is the ability to persuade people to buy goods or services at a
profit to the seller and benefit to the buyer.”
According to Knox, “Salesmanship is the power or ability to influence
people to buy at a mutual profit, that which we have to sell, but which they
may not have thought of buying until call their attention to it. Salesmanship is
the ability to persuade people to want they already need.”
According to Prof Stephenson, “Salesmanship refers to conscious efforts
on the part of the seller to induce a prospective buyer to purchase something
that he had not really decided to buy, even if he had thought of it favourably.
It consists of persuading people to buy what you have for sale in making them
want it, in helping to make up their minds.”
5. Personal selling or salesmanship is a distinct form of promotion or
communication. As a highly specialised activity, it has its own unique features.
The world of commerce has changed dramatically over the last three decades.
Now businesses or business houses compete in the global markets using
highly sophisticated communication, transportation and management
information systems.
The important features of Salesmanship are:
Personal Selling is Oral Presentation
Personal Selling is the Ability to Persuade
Personal Selling creates and retains Customers
Service First to any thing Else
Personal Selling works for Mutual Gain
Personal Selling is an Educative Process
Personal Selling is a Creative Process
Sales Person is the Ambassador of the Firm
6. 1. Personal Selling is Oral Presentation: As a specific method of communication,
it is two-way as it involves direct face to face contact between salesman and the
prospect. The result of such interaction depends on how deep each has gone into
another and reached the height of common-understanding. The main task
involved in personal selling is one of matching up specific products with the
specific requirements of consumers in question so as to bring about transfer of
ownership. Thus, it is a direct approach to dispose the goods and services.
2. Personal Selling is the Ability to Persuade: Fundamentally, the essence of
personal selling is the interpretation of product and service features is terms of
benefits and merits to the buyer of persuading the buyer to buy the right kind of
quality of the product. Salesmanship believes in persuasion and not pressure.
Persuasion is the heart of personal selling, and, therefore, the art of persuading
others is the bug-gun at the command of any creative salesman. It is the wit-act,
accumen, skill of understanding human desires and convincing them to buy and
not to compel them to buy. in effect it is to do with impelling the prospects and
customers rather than compelling them.
7. 3. Personal Selling creates and retains Customers: The greatest asset one can create
is this world of highly competitive business is not land and buildings, plant and
machinery, nor even bank or cash balance but the “Satisfied Customer”. A true
salesmanship stands this test. That is, it creates and maintains a class of satisfied
customers. It is a matter of building long-term partnership for mutual gain. In other
words, true sales person sells not goods and services but the company or the firm he
represents. lt is one of building the reputation or goodwill of the firm. Reputation or
the goodwill is the reflection of good dealings between the firm and the customers
through sales persons and salesmanship. A creative sales person is the liaison who
makes or mars the very super structure of selling house.
4. Service First to any thing Else: The real salesmanship, in its true sense,, stands for
service. Sales-person is one who is to serve the masters of his own namely, producers,
distributors and customers. He serves the producer by relieving him of the
botherations of selling thus making firm to concentrate on production and production
problems; he serves his distributors by making distribution easier, cosier and smooth
by his mere presence. He is the lubricant in the entire machinery of distribution; he
serves the most real master ‘Customer the King’-by rendering highly personalised
service by facilitating him to select the best product or service as he sees them
through their eyes. He is the decision-maker for his “Big Boss”.
8. 5. Personal Selling works for Mutual Gain: Salesmanship is founded on the basic idea of
mutual gain to the two parties of the exchange process. He is the link between the two-
ends of exchange namely, the buyers and sellers. In this game of exchange, it is the other
man who gains much than what he gets for his service. The employer expects him to
create, maintain and extends the sales with profits on one hands, and the customer with
ever-increasing and sustaining satisfaction on the other. The role of a salesman is very
delicate and making to the parties to the exchange where every one stands to gain. A good
salesman does not bring loss to his boss and dissatisfaction to his Big Boss-namely,
customer as he converts his ‘needs’ into ‘wants’.
6. Personal Selling is an Educative Process: Salesmanship is an educative process. People
may have money to buy good products. Education denotes ‘Know Why’ ? It is the process
of acquiring background knowledge of a given subject. It is person oriented. Some people
go to the extent of telling that a successful salesman sells a fridge to Eskimos and magic
tonic or comb to bald-headed persons. This is wrong. People may have money to buy
goods and services; they might be belonging to the specific life-style. Yet they may not be
aware fully of what exactly need in terms of goods and services to match their life-styles. A
true salesman is one who brings to the notice of the goods and services that are meant for
a particular life-style. Education is the process of making people to learn and understand
formally what they are expected to know as to how their life can be made attractive,
alluring and what goods and services make than achieve the given life-style or styles. It
makes them to learn and unlearn the essentials of successful life and learning.
9. 7. Personal Selling is a Creative Process: Creativity is an aptitude-a state of mind-
a fruit that distinguishes firm from others. The psychological process of creativity
is very complex so much so that it is attributed to divine power. However,
creativity is the outcome of logical, mental or intellectual stages that make up
creativity. The logical steps in the creative process are preparation, incubation,
illumination and verification. Here, salesmanship is a creative process because he
creates demand out of something or sometimes nothing on which he en-cashes.
Look at the following picture as to how a creative salesman really creates on
opportunity and en-cashes on it, a course with the benefit to the buyer and profit
to the seller.
He is a very keen observer, cool listener and has a practical bent of mind as to
how to create a problem into an opportunity.
8. Sales Person is the Ambassador of the Firm: Salesman is rightly called as the
ambassador of his company. Customer though interested in meeting the higher
authorities, it is rarely possible. It is the salesman who meets him on regular
basis. It is because he looks after a specific sales territory and meets the
customers on regular basis, say weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly.
10. The scope of salesmanship is very vast and is not confined merely to selling
goods to customers. It includes many things in its orbit, like transport, repairing,
teaching, painting, banking, ‘legal, medicine, insurance, and so on.’ With the
advancement of science and technology its scope is increasing day by day. The scope
of salesmanship has got no limit. It is a skill which is essential in every sphere of
activity. In deep sense, every one of us is a salesman. Whenever a person convinces
another person of the truth and correctness of his point of view and wins his support,
he acts as a salesman. In this sense, a diplomat or a professor or a lawyer can act as a
salesman, though this type of salesmanship is intangible. Thus, salesmanship is not
restricted to selling alone. The skill is applicable to a number of diverse situations.
Salesmanship in its higher levels includes the subject-matter of product
knowledge, knowledge of customers, training and control of salesman, organization
and management of sales departments, etc. Advertising and publicity are integral part
of sale because they help in popularizing the products and services.
Thus, salesmanship has been developed from a mere selling activity to
specialized science and art. It covers today a wide arrange of activities and offers wide
scope for development in future.
11. I - Manufacturer’s Salesmen
1. Missionary Salesmen:
They are also known as Creative Salesmen or Pioneer Salesmen. They are
employed by manufacturers and do the work, of missionary nature. They
create demand for the products. They usually develop goodwill. They call on
distributors- wholesalers, retailers, customers, in order to educate, train and
induce them to promote the products. Manufacturers of medical supplies use
this type of salesmen to promote their products.
2. Merchandising Salesmen:
They assist dealers by giving suggestions on display, store- layout, service
facility etc. They arrange wide publicity and conduct demonstration for dealer
salesmen, by even working along with them. They are largely involved in drugs,
medicines, grocery etc. There is a wide scope for this category.
12. 3. Dealer-Servicing Salesman: These salesmen call on retailers in their territory
and visit them often. They bring samples of new products, take orders and
make up window display.
4. Sale Promotion Salesmen: They are also known as Retail Salesman. They are
specialised in promotional work. They are representatives of medical firms or
publishers. They may not take spot orders but they try to convince people like
doctors about the new drug, research work, testing, result etc. They create
demand by calling on customers,
5. Technical Salesmen: They are trained technically. They provide technical
assistance to company’s customers on matter connected with the product, its
quality, its design, its installation etc. Generally these types of salesmen deal
with computers, equipment’s, machinery items, chemical products etc.
II - Wholesaler’s Salesmen
Products reach the hands of customers through a number of channels, the
main channel being wholesalers. They are the nerve-centres of distribution
between manufacturers and retailers. These salesmen are mainly concerned
with retailers through whom the products are to be marketed.
13. Salesmanship is the art of selling a product or service. It is the art of
convincing the customer to buy a certain product or service. In the competitive
modern day world the importance and utility of salesmanship has been increasing
day by day.
In the competitive modern day world the importance and utility of
salesmanship has been increasing day by day. The salesman of today is the key
figure in the business world of manufacture and distribution. Salesmanship is
university accepted as an essential service. One could well imagine its utility which
ranges from the producers, society, consumers, Govt. and the salesman himself.
Following are the important Utility of Salesmanship:
To the producers
To the society
To the consumers
To the Government
To the salesman
14. (1) To the producers: Good salesman helps producers to increase production and
earn more profit.
(2) To the society: As good sales force helps the producer to produce and earn
more, it also benefits the shareholders by way of higher dividends, employees get
more salary and bonus and ultimately the slope of more employment arises.
(3) To the consumers: A good salesman helps the consumer to get standard at a
moderate rate and also the consumer also very often enjoys a number of
services.
(4) To the Government: Salesman helps producers to produce more and sell more
goods and services. With the increase of production and sale, the govt. is able to
get more revenue by way of various taxes, duties, levies like income tax, sales tax,
excise duty, etc.
(5) To the salesman: The salesman himself is benefited directly or indirectly.
Generally a salesman is paid both a monthly salary and commission which is
linked with sales. A sincere and hard –working salesman therefore increases his
income by selling more and earning more by way of commission.
15. “Salesmanship” is the art of winning hearts of consumers to dispose the firm’s
products and services. It is the act of persuasion. It is the science of understanding
of human instincts and paving the way to their fulfillment. It is the art of stressing
the appropriate values of firm’ s products and services to fit the individual and
varying needs of different buyers called on. It is the ability of a person to persuade
the people to buy the goods and services for mutual gain namely, satisfaction to
the buyer and profit to the seller. It is the art and science of serving the clientele.
Following are the elements of salesmanship
Mutual benefit
Salesmanship is a persuasion
Creation of permanent customers
An educative process
Winning of buyer confidence
Link between the buyer and the seller
A creative process
Aiming to serve producers, distributors and customers
Discourages unnecessary arguments
Customers are always right
16. 1. Mutual benefit- The price of the product or service must be reasonable for
both the buyer and seller. As a matter of fact, salesmanship should benefit
both the buyer and the seller. It is not the art of making a profit at the cost of
the buyer. Salesmanship helps the buyer in obtaining the maximum return
(satisfaction) for the money he spends and at the same time, it provides a
reasonable profit to the seller. This is possible when price charged is higher
than the cost and buyer gets qualitative goods at reasonable price.
2. Salesmanship is a persuasion: Salesmanship involves the ability to
influence or persuade people. It is the art of persuasion not pressure, which
is highly essential. In fact, persuasion is the soul of modern salesmanship.
Modern salesmanship does not rely on pressure tactis or compulsion to force
a sale.
3. Creation of permanent customers- Modern salesmanship does not sell
duplicate, fake products to customers. Cheating the customers by inferior,
spoilt or unusable goods have no place in modern sales because it can never
create a permanent customer. Rather, good salesmanship guides the
customers in buying something which will give them utmost satisfaction.
17. 4. An educative process- Salesmanship is an educative process. It educates people about
their needs. Very often people are not aware of their needs or the way in which they could
satisfy them. Salesmanship performs the function of educating the customers about their
needs and their satisfaction. It also provides information about the products available, their
special features, their utility in satisfying needs of customers.
5. Winning of buyer confidence- Modern salesmanship does not use doubtful methods of
influencing buyers. Misrepresentation, cheating, dishonest no place in modern
salesmanship. There is not attempt to take undue advantage of the ignorance and
innocence of buyers. On the contrary, modern salesmanship aims at winning the confidence
of buyers by providing a solution to the buyers’ problems.
6. Link between the buyer and the seller- Salesmanship always acts as a link between two
parties, the seller and the buyer, looks after the benefit of both the parties. It makes sure
that the seller gets benefit (profit) as a result of the sale and the customer must also derive
benefits by purchasing the product.
7. A creative process- Salesmanship is responsible for creation of demand through a
problem solving approach. It starts with customer’s knowledge. It studies customers’ needs
and problems and then suggests a solution to these. It demonstrates how the product or
service can satisfy the need or solve the problem. Such an approach needs a lot of
creativity, initiative and empathy.
18. 8. Aiming to serve producers, distributors and customers- The salesman helps the
producer in disposing off his products at a profit. He creates demand for new
products at a profit. He creates demand for new products. While for the distribution
process smooth, easy and meaningful. For consumers, the salesman helps them to
buy wisely.
9. Discourages unnecessary arguments- When prices are fixed; there is no scope for
bargaining or unnecessary arguments. But customers argue when prices are not
fixed. Therefore, in the process of salesmanship, care should be taken to avoid
unnecessary bargaining with customers, because it leads to dissatisfaction. The aim
of salesmanship should always be to build upon an empire of good will, but not to
impair it by dissatisfying customers.
10. Customers are always right- Salesmanship should always give utmost important
to the viewpoint of consumer and consider him as always right. A salesman should
always look a purchase from buyer’s angle. Whenever a customer tells about the
merits and demerits of goods, the salesman should give due regard to it. This is so
because he pays the price uses the article and takes decision. He is in a better
position than salesman. His knowledge regarding the product is practical. However,
salesman should not accept any arbitrary statement blindly without protest.
19. Art is making of the knowledge more efficient by applying skill. Art is
skill. Art is a practical science. Art is a knack for doing something which is
acquired by study, practice and special experience. If science is knowledge,
then art is action. Bioscience we know a thing; by art we do that thing. An art is
skill in performance acquired by study, observation and experience.
Art is the practical side of skill. It is a knack for doing something which
is acquired by study and practice. Science makes a man perfect and arts makes
a man exact. Art is difficult to learn. It can be studied easily by the person who
has the skill. A salesman must possess the skill and it can be acquired and
developed.
Every customer is an individual, but individuals are different. And a
salesman has to diagnose the customer by efficient dealings, of course by using
his skills. A salesman must have necessary knowledge and skill to face the
various types of customers. Exact human behaviour is unpredictable,
uncontrollable and un-understandable. Therefore, we can say that
salesmanship is an art.
20. Science is a body of systematized knowledge. When calling anything as a
science, it must be able to build up a body of laws or principles. The characteristics and
behavior of facts are analyzed systematically and laws are formulated. Science is a
system of facts and principles concerning a subject.
Science is defined as an accepted knowledge that has been systematized and
formulated with reference to the discovery or operation of general law. The principles
or the set of generalization, universally accepted, are called laws of that science. It is the
knowledge of research, discovery and experience and the principles are universally
accepted.
Salesmanship is a systematically arranged and specialized knowledge. It has its
own rules and principles. Salesmanship is a science based on human psychology. A
salesman has to study the psychology of the consumers. He must have knowledge
about their behavior. He must have knowledge about the different characteristics of
goods which he has to sell.
As such, he requires a systematic knowledge of those goods. As a science,
salesmanship tries to follow certain basic principles, approach, demonstration and
concluding a sale etc. All these have to be followed systematically. Thus we may say that
salesmanship is a science.
21. A certain degree of skill or specialization is required for a profession.
Professional people such as lawyers, doctors, writers and actors get along with their
clients. Some people say, “Salesman are born, but not made.” Others feel,
“Salesmen are mostly made than born.” Still others assert, “Salesmen are born and
made.” There are certain qualities-emotional, physical development etc., that are
born qualities.
With pleasing personality and through convincing approach, prospects can
be made attractive. But for a good salesman, personality alone is not enough.
There are specialized institutions imparting training in salesmanship. A professional
usually considers ‘service’ as its aim. He offers his service to his employer, whose
profit is increased. Again the profession requires skill. The skill is present in the
salesmanship.
A professional man secures the best regards for the mastery of his subject.
In the era of stiff competition, personality alone will not make a sale. Training
makes one a good salesman. Thus, salesman is nothing but a skillful dealer with the
public and he converts them into customers. The knowledge of four fundamentals-
prospect, product, personality and organization together with mastery over sales
process makes salesmanship a profession.
22. The success of a business undertaking largely depends upon
the efficiency of its salesman. In the modern age of cut throat
competition, a person possessing desired qualities can prove to
be a successful salesman.
Essential qualities of an effective salesman are:
• Personality
• Cheerful disposition
• Mental ingredients
• Courtesy
• Patience and perseverance and
• Complete knowledge about the self, product, company and
the customer
23. 1. Personality: A good salesman should possess a good personality. What
fragrance is to a flower is personality to an individual. It is the ability to impress
others. A charming personality always creates a good impression. He should
possess good health, attractive appearance and impressive voice. He should not
suffer from physical handicaps like stammering and limping etc.
2. Cheerful Disposition: He should have a smiling face. It is rightly said that ‘a
man without a smiling face must not open a shop. In order to impress upon the
customers he should always be cheerful and sweet tempered. He should be
properly dressed as the dress greatly enhances the personality.
3. Mental Ingredients: An individual cannot be a successful salesman unless he
possesses certain mental qualities like imagination, sound judgment, presence
of mind, foresightedness, initiative and strong memory. These qualities are of
great help to a salesman in dealing with customers having different nature and
temperament. He can successfully tackle the customers. The mental
qualities are very helpful in creating permanent customers for the product.
24. 4. Courtesy: A salesman should always be polite and courteous towards his customers. It
costs nothing but wins permanent customers for the product. He should help the
customers in making the right choice or in selecting the products. This will definitely help
in winning over the confidence of the customers.
5. Patience and Perseverance: A salesman comes across different type of customers.
Some of them purchase nothing but waste time by asking irrelevant questions about the
products. Under such circumstances, he should not loose temper but give patient
hearing to the customers. He should not get tired with his customers soon. He should try
time and again to convince the customers. Customer is supreme for him and he should
not leave any stone unturned to give full satisfaction to the customers.
6. Complete Knowledge About The Self, Product, Company And The Customer: A
salesman should clearly know about himself. He should try to find out his limitations and
make constant efforts to overcome them. At the same time, he should know his strong
points. While dealing with the customers he should exhibit his plus points and avoid
displaying the weaknesses. He can remove his weaknesses by undergoing proper
training. There is no denying the fact that salesmen are made and not born. He should
possess the full knowledge about the product so that he may properly answer the
questions of the customers at the time of sale. The buyer depends to a great extent on
the salesman especially in case of a new product.
25. 1. The principal duty is to make sales of products or services.
2. He has to do the assigned duty (travelling).
3. He has to make collection of bills relating to sale.
4. He has to make report-Sales made, Calls made, Services rendered,
customers lost, competition and any other matters, relating to firm.
5. All complainants must be satisfied peacefully.
6. He has to attend sales meetings.
7. A salesman with his experience must supply information in order to solve
problems relating to product or the firm.
8. He must maintain a good relation with the customers.
9. He must assist the customers to make good selection.
10. He must develop a goodwill for the firm and the products.
11. He must have cooperative habits.
12 He takes periodic inventories of the stocks.
26. 1. Establishing good relationship with a variety of people.
2. Learning quickly and adapting smoothly.
3. Planning ahead and efficiently managing his time and efforts
4. Working hard to achieve his goals, dedicating himself to provide long-
term service, rather than having a get-rich-quick attitude.
5. Communicating clearly both in speech and in writing.
6. Thinking analytically and learning to break problems down to their basic
components.
7. Producing constantly both in quality and quantity rather than
performing erratically.
8. Persisting steadily his goal and not giving up easily.
9. Possessing and living up to high moral characteristics that enable people
to admire,, respect and trust him.
