Whether salesmanship is an art or science ?

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. Various authors have given various definitions of salesmanship.

According to 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 buyers”. Stated a little differently, it is ability to induce others to accept a benefit at a fair price, the benefit being the services rendered.

One group opines that ‘salesmen are born’. The third group says that ‘salesman are born and made’. At this juncture it is necessary to decide as to whether it is an art or science.

An art is a skill in performance acquired by study, observation and experience. It is knowledge made efficient by skill and experience. Hence singing, dancing, acting, writing etc. are considered as arts. Art can be developed to a great extent by the application of skill and effort. Viewed from this angle salesmanship can be considered as an art. Further, success is an art required certain talent and the development of the talent by practical knowledge and experience. To be a successful salesman also practical application of the knowledge as in other subjects of arts is highly essential.

Science has been defined ‘a systemized knowledge ’. Science is a branch of knowledge based on laws of nature or built on derivations from facts or deductions from self-evident truths. It confirms to certain laws, theories and techniques. The laws of science have universal applicability. In other words, they are true under any situation, at any time or any place on earth.

Hence mathematics, physics, chemistry are regarded as science. Salesmanship may be considered a science. Salesmanship is a specialized knowledge that has its own standard principles and theories. It has developed a systematized knowledge of its own just like the other subjects of science. However, this rules and principles can not be applied to each and everyone in the world since all human beings are not equal. No doubt a customer can be convinced by a particular line of approach and behavior of the salesman. But such approach can not be applied to all customers and if applied may not be successful in each and every case. This is so because the process of handling customers can never be reduced to unchangeable laws. Thus salesmanship is not exactly science compare able to physics or mathematics. It is a science based on human psychology. It can be considered a social science like sociology or economics.

Therefore, we can conclude that salesmanship is both an art and a science. There exists some definite rules and principles in salesmanship as in science. Salesmanship requires certain technique, skill and knowledge. However the method of implementing these rules and principles is an art by itself. A salesman requires certain talent and personality which can be acquired only through experience and regular practice.

Whether salesmanship is a profession- At present there remains a wide controversy whether salesmanship can be described as a profession or not to answer this question we will turn our attention towards the characteristics of a profession so that we can know whether salesmanship can be called as profession or not . A true profession has the following characteristics:

1. There must be a formal structure of specialized knowledge.

2. There must be a set of standards for admission and disqualification.

3. Service to other before self interest otherwise called ‘service first, profit last’ must exist.

If we apply the above tests, we can find that salesmanship has not yet become a true profession like law, medicine etc. like other professions salesmanship has not got a readymade knowledge for application in each and every circumstance. Similarly, a salesman can not claim to have mastery over his own field. Therefore, salesmanship of today can not be unhesitatingly called a profession. A great deal remains to be done before it achieves the status of a true profession. It is however, capable of growing into a profession. In advanced countries like America and England salesmanship has been recognized as a profession. In the near future salesmanship may achieve regular professional status and recognition in India.