Salesmanship is an art of winning over the buyer's confidence so that a permanent goodwill may

be built and a lasting satisfaction may be given to him when he goes the product offered to him.
Significance of Personal Selling or Salesmanship

Personal selling is a promotional tool and an element of promotional mix which occupies a
pivotal role in the distribution of goods and services to the existing and prospective buyer. A
salesman is a friend and a guide of the consumer and a supporter and an aid to the producer. A
salesman helps the producer and consumer in the following ways:
It is a Flexible tool
Personal selling is a flexible tool in promoting sales and can adopt to the need of specific buyer.
Salesman can present his ideas or message to fit the needs of the buyer. His presentation is
different in each case tailored to suit the buyer. He can observe the customer's reaction to a
particular sales approach and makes necessary adjustment in his way of presentation right o the
spot.
It Involves Minimum Wasted Efforts
In personal selling, the salesman directly attacks the target market and concentrate on the
prospective customers. A salesman does not waste his efforts if he thinks that the person to whom
he is talking is not a real prospect.
It Results in Actual Sales
Personal selling is complementary to advertising and promotion technique. Advertising and
promotion techniques can only attract attention of the customers and arouse desire to purchase
the goods. They simply create demand. Personal selling converts that demand into actual sale by
persuading the people to buy the product. A salesman answers the doubts of the prospective
buyer and convince aim to purchase the goods.
It Provides Feedback
Advertisement provides information about the product and the producer but does not provide any
information about the tastes and mood of the consumers. The personal selling provides two way
communication between the buyer and seller. Apart from providing information to the buyer
about the product and producer, it provides knowledge about the tastes, habits, and attitudes of
the prospective buyers. Any complaint about the firm or its product may be prospective buyers.
Any complaint about the firm or its product may be registered with the salesman as the basis, the
company can determine the strengths and weaknesses of the marketing programme.
Advantages to Consumers

A salesman helps the consumers in many ways. He informs the customers about the new
products introduced the market, by suggesting to him the use of a product that will best satisfy
his needs by awakening and kindling various needs and convening then into needs. The
purchaser thinks himself an honorable person in whom the producer is interested. If consumer
has any doubt about the product, its use etc., he can ask the seller of the doubt about and remove
it to his satisfaction.
Limitation
Despite the various advantages, personal selling has a number of limitations. First, personal
selling is the costliest element of the promotional mix. Cost per customer is very high because of
one of one nature of selling. Secondly, Personal selling can accommodate only a limited number
of consumers at a given time because he can attend only one customer at a given time. Thirdly, it
is quite ineffective for creating consumer awareness about a product or service. This role is better
assumed by advertising. Finally, Personal selling on the retail level, has poor image in the eyes of
the consumers. It is criticized for lack of honesty, strong pressures sales tactics, poor knowledge
etc.
Step in the process of personal selling (Salesmanship)

The process of personal selling consists of the following steps:

Pre-Sale Preparation
The first step in personal selling is the preparation of sales person. The sales persons must be
properly selected trained and motivated for the job. They must be fully familiar with the
producer, the product, the market and the selling techniques. They must be fully aware of the
motivation and behavior of the people who are the prospective consumers. They should also be
well informed about the nature of competition and the nature of competitors products.
Prospecting or Locating the Prospective Buyers: It refers to locating the potential buyers for
the product and satisfactorial buyers for the product and satisfactorily screen them to make sure
that their sales efforts will not go waste. He should examine the need of the buyers and their
ability of capacity to buy the product. It should always be remembered that every one cannot be a
prospect. A sales person should thoroughly examine the records of the part and resent customers
in his efforts to determine the characteristics of his prospects. He should also tap other sources of
information.
Approaching
Before calling on the prospects, the sales person should try to get information about their
number, habits, spending capacity, motives, etc. He should know what product or brand they are
using. After collecting such information, she should approach the customer in a polite and
dignified way and introduce himself and his product to the prospective customers. He should not

be over-clever or deceptive at this stage. A counter-sales person should be very careful in

attending the customer. If he is busy in attending some other person, he should assure the new
customer that he would be attended very soon. He should be careful in his first impression.
Presentation
The sales person, under this step, has to gain the customers attention. For this purpose, he should
present his product and describe its characteristics in brief. He should understand the attitude of
the prospect and match with his attitude so that he may be able to hold his attention and create
interest in the product. There is no specific approach which will be successful in all cases.
Demonstration
Demonstration is one of the bet methods of presentation. If necessary, the salesperson should
display and demonstrate the working of the product. He should explain and describe the utility of
the product in brief through demonstration so that prospect realizes the need for the product to
satisfy his wants. He should not be in a hurry to impress the customer and should avoid any
controversy. He may suggest uses of the product and may create and impulsive urge to posses the
co-monody, by appealing to human instinct.
Handling Objections
As every customer wants to make a best bargain for the money he is spending, presentation and
demonstration of the product are likely to create some doubts and objections in the minds of the
prospects. The sales person should be ready to clear all doubts and queries if the prospects
without losing his temper. Handling objections tactfully helps in convincing the customers.
Closing the Sale
Making customer agree to buy goods and services means closing the sale. It is not in easy risk.
The sales person should not force the prospect to buy but he should let the consumer feel that he
has made the final decision. He should guide the customer that he has made the right choice.
Some adjustment in price or other concession may sometimes be necessary for a successful
closing. During presentation, the sales person should try a trial close in which he or she asks
certain queries that assume that the prospect will purchase. But later on, he may change his mind
by getting more information. In such cases, sales are lost because of the failure of the salesman
to ask for the order.
Once the prospect has purchased the goods, the salesperson should show and suggest an allied
product. For instance, if a customer purchases a shirt, the sales person should ask him to
purchase the handkerchief, socks, etc.
Follow up
After closing a sale, follow up is a must. It refers to the activities undertaken to ensure the
customer that be has taken the right decision of buying the product. These activities include

installation of the products, checking and testing its smooth performance, maintenance and after
sale service. It helps building long-term relationship with the customer.
Essential-requisites of effective salesmanship

Salesmanship is a highly skilled professional and like any other profession, it demand a very
high degree of proficiency in its practice. Salesmanship is an art of persuasion. Convincing and
bringing amount the viewpoint is the job which the salesman has to do to effect a sale. It is a the
most difficult task to solicit one's approval for a particular product and then ask him to part away
his hard earned money. Salesmanship, thus, sell satisfaction. Unless he satisfied, no one will
accept him as a man who is practicing the art of salesmanship. For practicing this art, one should
know the fundamentals (requisites) of success in the art of salesmanship. The following
fundamental requisites are enumerated here under:
Knowledge of self
One should know himself and his own abilities and personality before embarking upon to do a
particular job. It is important to know own self an own sales personality. It is well known fact
that the customer comes into contact the salesman before he knows other details about the
product etc. The salesman himself should first be saleable. His personality, his distinct qualities,
his cheerful disposition - all attracts the customer. True no sales-personality can be perfect but for
being a successful salesman one should have the following personal qualities:
Knowledge of Product
After knowledge of own self and own sales personality the next fundamental is the knowledge of
the product the salesman is selling. Physical deficiency, if there is any can be quickly forgotten
by the customer, but if the salesman is in a position to show his thorough knowledge of the line
which he is representing, this will satisfy the customer. customers must know bewildered of the
variety, type, design, nature and functions of new products that they have no alternative but to
depend upon the guidance and of the salesman. It is because of this that it is required that the
salesman should fully know the product he is dealing in. He should remove all doubts and
objections of the customers about the entity of the product.
Knowledge of Company
The company and its organizational structure, objectives, philosophy and policies must be known
to the salesman who is going to deal in the product of the company. In fact salesman first sells
himself then his company and then after the company's product. The policy in relation to sales
promotion is of prime importance to the salesman. He approaches his customer with confidence
if he knows his company satisfactorily well. After all he is the representative of the company, and
therefore, he must truly represent the firm.
Knowledge of Competitors

A salesman must have complete knowledge of the competitors products became customers very
often compare the products of difficult manufacturers. Sales person should be aware of the
positive and negative points of competitors products, their sales policies, their brands, and prices
etc. So that he may satisfy the customers well.
Knowledge of Customers
The customer is to be approached. Before he is approached and prospecting is done the salesman
must size-up the prospect as quickly and correctly as is possible. It is because the salesman has to
motivate and that to rightly and satisfactorily. At the same time his aim should be to win him
permanently and positively. Here the training and skill as well his art is put to test. In this test he
can come up with flying colors if he knows him as completely as his professional necessity asks
him to know his customers. The salesman may be pleasing ad smart, the product he is dealing in
may be excellent, the company he represents has sufficient goodwill but if the handling of the
customer is weak and clumsy and will of course no value. A salesman must know atleast as to
what motivates his customer, what is his nature, habits, likings and disliking, what is the nature
of his requirements and how he should proceed with him. This knowledge naturally will help
him a lot in dealing successfully with his customer.
Knowledge of the Techniques of Selling
Knowledge of oneself, owns selling personality, product and its utility, customers and his full
personality will go waste if effective selling technique is not adopted by the salesman in
prospecting, motivating and selling to the customer. It is necessary on the part of salesman to see
that the prospective customer is well attended, his requirements are fully known to him, he is
prepared to help his customers in all the matters and ensure that his customer is fully satisfied.
This is which the selling technique requires from the salesman.

Duties of Salesman:
1. Calling on Customers:
The foremost duty of every salesman, in general, is to call on a customer or customers existing.
Calling on customer means keeping regular touch with existing customers which is also called as
keeping accounts alive. These calls are made either at the office of the customer or house of a
customer or any other suitable place agreed by them. It is not only calling on all the existing
customers in a given area or which is called as a sales territory. It also means opening new
accounts or creating new customers which is an art of converting suspect into prospect and
prospect into a customer.
2. Maintenance and Extension of Sales Territory:
A sales territory is a geographical sea consisting of number of prospects and customers and
suspects too. A salesman is to work even sales territory where he keeps the existing customers
and accounts, creates new accounts by or new customers who are prospects by his art of
persuasion and converting suspects to prospects clearing all fears and doubts and then converting
that prospect into a customer in a territory. A territory may be a city, area, taluka area, district
area, or a division area or even a state. He m c move from city to district and district to division
and state. He is the person who represents his manufacturer, or a wholesaler or even a retailer.
That is, sales are increased.
3. Increasing Sales Line:
A company is not generally dealing in a single product, has a product line and product range. It is
the duty of the salesman to bring it to the notice of customers, retailers and wholesalers of the
manufacturing company's product line or li and product range. This results in well assimilated
diversified sales mix which broadens sales ability, stability. It is because, the overall performance
and profits are increased.
4. Image Building:
The greatest thing in business is credibility, status, the image of sales organisation. Sales has the
crucial role of building the image or status or good will of company. It is done by building the
company's product image, service image, managerial philosophy management objectives and
policies. He is to establish that how his company is different from others and why it is worth
appreciating as the best of all others in the line, area. He is to sell company's vision, goals,
objectives, policies, strategies that go in keeping them satisfied and delighted so that they
demonstrate others that it is worth to do business with this organization than others:
5. Developing Product Knowledge:
It is the world of keen competition and speed. The science and technology are able to bring new
ideas, new products, new processes, new services at much cheaper cost, of superior quality and

in larger quantity. The release of these products and services and ideas are not reaching the
people who are not covered by information communication network. They do not know about
new products and services, their uses change their life styles. It is the sales force which can bring
these products and services to people. In each call they make, present them and speak of their
superiority and benefits convenience and solace these products and services could bring them
within a price range
6. Dealer Counseling:
The sales people are working for manufacturers, wholesaler and retailers as the dealers play a big
role in successful distribution of goods and services. There is need for heavy and effective doses
of promotional activities. In addition to advertisement and publicity and public relations, there
are specific areas of promotion namely POP-point of purchase promotion these relate to window
display, counter display, showrooms and show c and participation in exhibitions and fairs.
Special skills are involved in having a integrated communication package that brings the far
flying customers and the dealers. These specie guide in planning campaign at different levels to
position the products and services. Many times, good products have failed because of bad
presentation and promotion and in some c even average products succeeded very well with a
matching promotional efforts. These salespeople are good campaign counselors.
7. A Good Feedback to the Producers:
Sales people are key people who collect detailed frank, factual information of their needs,
expectations of a product or a service in case of existing products and services and the products
and services they expect from the producers. Salesman are the spokesmen of the consumer the
king-and king pin of any economy. These producers produce products which are wanted by the
consumers who decide quality standards, price range quantity needed. Other associated factors
with products and services. This information vital that all most all decisions are based on this by
the producers, wholesalers, and retailers. That is, salesmen back from the horses month and pass
it on to the producers. It is no' but a primary survey-a major step in research where it covers,
consumers, dealers, pro price, place, promotion to make the dreams of producers to come true
and the resources of the community to be based in the best way. It helps in preparing a
dependable data base v is continuously up dated.
8. They are the Best Trainers:
Every year so many young guys join sales line to make their career in various positions. At the
same time, the aged and willing sales people who made their career-retire. As salesmen in the
field of selling, they have a big role to pay. is, they train new hands on the job to learn the tricks
of the trade. Act as role mode successful sales-people. They share there to tell coach, teach the
aspirants who want to not only fit and fine but want make better performers. This is, the greatest
task they do by building successful sales force and teams for bringing every success to the
organisation on one hand and individuals-their progress and property.
9. Collection of Dues and Credit Information:

Collection of dues is the most delineate and arduous task that challenges his brain and tolerance.
These are the days of credit and since credit has become the breath of modern business one can
not think of surveying without credit. Credit sues are like "hot-ghee" neither one can keep in
mouth nor spit. That is, the point lies in collecting lie dues yet keeping the customer. It is a great
balancing act. Salesman can not compel the person to pay but he has to develop the ability to
impel the customer to pay. It is because, if he loses one customer by enforcing his right to
collect, there is danger of losing other good customers. A disturbed customer can spoil the name
of salesman and the selling house.
Another thing is to know the credit worthiness of prospects who are willing to have business
relation credit rating is done on certain 'C's namely, character, capacity and conditions. That is,
desman is to know about all these C's of a prospect before accepting him as a customer.
10. Participating in Sales Meetings:
Salesman, as a bridge between the outside world mi the organization, is to participate actively in
the sales-meetings that are held in the sales Department from time to time. Meeting provides a
forum for exchange of ideas, techniques, Methods, tricks that enhance the company sales, his
knowledge about various dimensions of his sales career. Attending the meetings will result in
updating his knowledge making fit and fine se handle with confidence any situation he comes
across in his field of sales. He has plus point of developing his capacity to organize his line of
activities as route-sheets, time-table is to sales journey. To that effect, he develops a systematic
and scientific tools, attitude, philosophy in improving his sales efforts for the benefit of himself
and the company at the same time. Thus, meeting is a melting point for overall refinement of his
career.

10 Basic Skills Every Salesman Should Have

Basic Skills Every Sales Person Should Have

In my experience, I am convinced that techniques and methods of sales are
teachable to anyone who has the desire to learn. However, there are a few natural
skills that are of great benefit if they already exist within those that want to be
successful in sales. Without these, success will take a longer time but it can still be
achieved. If there is no desire and dedication to learning or developing these skills,
then the selling will be much more difficult and often very stressful.
Effective Communicator
Communication covers a lot of territory. I am not talking about superb orator skills
here, but the ability to speak clearly and in a manner that is easy to understand.
Sales is all about talking to people and getting them to understand what you are
trying to communicate.
Ability to Listen
Along with speaking, a great salesperson knows when to stop talking and listen.
They never cut someone off while they are talking, because in doing so they would
fail to hear a key element in identifying what that person's needs might be.
Asks Great Questions
Salespeople are naturally inquisitive and know that in order to isolate what the real
need or desire is in the buyer, they need to ask questions that will lead them to the
answer. They naturally ask questions because they have a desire to help solve their
problem.
Problem Solver
Another natural skill is the desire and ability to solve problems. Great salespeople
are always solving problems. The ability to hone in on what the buyer's problem is
and offering suggestions that will effectively solve the problem with respect to what

products or services you sell, generally results with a sale.

Well Organized
I am not necessarily speaking of your personal surroundings, but more with your
thoughts and methods of planning. Sales people have a keen ability to break things
down into smaller steps and organize a plan of action. They know how to analyze
what their goal is and in what order the steps need to be in in order to reach that
goal.
Self-Starter and Self-Finisher
A successful sales person moves forward on their own. They never need anyone to
tell them when it is time to go to work because they know that if they do not work
they will not earn. They are also very persistent to finish what they start. They
achieve their goals, even if they are small ones.
Positive Self Image
Having the attitude that they can do just about anything that they put their mind to
is usually very common among sales people. They do not cower from meeting or
talking to people or trying something new. They rarely allow negatives that are
either spoken to them or about them to effect what they are trying to accomplish
because they know who they are and what they are capable of doing.
Well Mannered and Courteous
The best sales people are very well mannered. You may not realize it, but good
manners is a way of showing respect for others. People are attracted to those that
respect them and mutual respect is fundamental in building lasting relationships
with people..including buyers.
Naturally Persuasive
Another very common inherent skill with great salespeople is that they are very
persuasive or know how to get what they want. They focus on what they want and
they are persistent to keep chipping away until they get what they want. They
almost never give up or give in.
Person of Integrity
A salesperson without integrity will have many struggles which will often include
hopping from job to job. Honesty in sales is so important and it is almost impossible
for this skill to be taught. You or the person you are looking to hire is either a person
of integrity or are not. Be as analytical as possible on the evaluation of this skill.

HISTORY OF SALESMANSHIP
The first clear examples of salesmen, in the sense we think of today, would be in
the nineteenth century across much of Europe. At this time, pedlar men and women
would travel around different areas selling their goods. These goods could be
anything from fresh fruit and vegetables to leather goods and woven baskets. This
is quite possibly the earliest example of cold calling and door to door sales.
These traveling sales people were often reliant upon their ability to sell a large
quantity of items and a large variety of goods in order to make enough money for
food and shelter. Haggling/bartering was common place in this type of sales and
often people would exchange their goods rather than pay money.
Moving on from this, the first examples of a more organized and recognized sales
movement was in the USA during the early twentieth century. This developed due to
a number of factors including a more stable economy, the introduction of credit as
well as a new set of laws to protect buyers and sellers in the marketplace.
During this time there were many hundreds of large companies which developed in
the USA which focused highly on selling. The economic situation and the newly
imposed laws prompted this development and the huge growth of such companies
continued through the coming years.
Moving on to more recent developments, we have the actual recognition of the
salesman as a very difficult and specific role. A good salesman is worth their weight
in gold and companies will pay top salaries to their top sellers. There are many
courses in sales now and big companies will send their employees on such sales
courses to ensure they maximize their ability.
OTHER HISTORY OF SALESMANSHIP

In Birth of a Salesman, business historian Walter A. Friedman traces the history of

salesmanship from its roots in peddling and the door-to-door marketing of Ulysses S. Grants
memoirs and Fuller brushes through the development of scientific selling and marketing by
National Cash Register, Ford, Coca-Cola, and IBM. Friedman is a breezy writer with a good eye
for cultural and social artifact, like the list of 10 things wives could do to help their NCRsalesmen husbands succeed. But he also has an important point to make: that it wasnt just the
genius for making products that propelled the U.S. economy but the knack for creating a demand
for things people never knew they wanted.The Washington Post
Here is an account of how the hawker, the street peddler, the lowly bagman, then the exhausted
and ridiculed Willie Loman figure evolved into the mighty selling and marketing gurus of today,
surrounded and supported by a battery of psychologists, economists, colour consultants, social
scientists, statisticians, advertising experts andyes!philosophers.Financial Times

The history Friedman weaves is engrossing and the book hits stride with entertaining chapters
on Mark Twains marketing of the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (apparently Twain was as
talented a businessman as a writer) and on the shift from the drummerthe middleman between
wholesalers and regional shopkeepersto the department store In Birth of a Salesman,
Friedman has crafted a history of an inherently unlikable process with depth, affection and
intelligent analysis.Carlo Wolff, The Boston Globe
As Birth of a Salesman makes clear, salesmenand womenhave long been a vital force in
driving the economic engine of the United States. Friedman conveys his thesis in a winning
book that begins with descriptions of itinerant peddlers and canvassers in the early part of the
19th century With Birth of a Salesman, he has certainly gone a long way toward fostering a
greater awareness and appreciation of this often-maligned profession.Thomas J. Brady, The
Philadelphia Inquirer
Walter A. Friedmans Birth of a Salesmanshould be required reading for anyone who
watched The Apprentice for more than Omarosas spat of the week. Its a much needed history of
salesmanship in America, and a portrait of capitalism in transition.Jori Finkel, The Village
Voice
In Birth of a Salesman, Walter A. Friedman traces the evolution of the modern salesman from
peddlers, hawkers and canvassers of pre-industrial America.Harold Perkin, The Times
Literary Supplement
[Friedman] perceptively chronicles significant inventions, products, events, and people that
have shaped the philosophy of selling. A historian at the Harvard Business School, Friedman
focuses on the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the eve of World War II, a time when
the concept of salesmanship came to the fore in business. Modern principles for selling were
developed during those decades, he argues, and, except for some tweakings to meet the times,
little has changed since.Peter Krass, Across the Board
This is a carefully researched and closely contextualized study of a relatively neglected, though
central, character in American capitalist society during a period when the economy underwent a
transformation. An archive-based study of the role of salesmen in business and the evolution of
the system of selling which determined their activities contributes much to an understanding of
the history of business A lively narrative describes the development of the selling function in
America, beginning with the activities of peregrinating hawkers and walkers to the burdensome
role imposed by the aggressive marketing regimes introduced by the large, bureaucratically
managed companies.Roy Church, Business History
[A] systematic, yet lively and energetic historyFriedman has written a fine book and it
deserves a wide reading.Burton Folsom, Indiana Magazine of History
I very much enjoyed reading this book. It is well written, well argued, and thoroughly
researched. Salesmen, Friedman argues, helped distribute the products of Americas
increasingly bountiful manufacturing industries, invented new forms of managerial hierarchies,
investigated the psychology of desire, and were in the vanguard of Americas transformation

from a producer to a consumer society. He powerfully shows that the rise of modern business
practices and the emergence of a particularly American culture of consumption can only be fully
understood if we examine the history of selling.Sven Beckert, author of The Monied
Metropolis
Walter Friedmans Birth of a Salesman: The Transformation of Selling in America is an
important book. The modern industrial economy, created in the United States and Europe
between the 1880s and the 1930s, required the integration of large-scale production and
marketing. The evolution of mass production is a well-known story, but Friedman is the first to
fill in the crucial marketing side of that industrial revolution.Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., author of
The Visible Hand and Scale and Scope
With wit and verve, Walter Friedman gives us a cast of memorable characters who turned
salesmanship from ballyhoo to behaviorism, from silliness to science. Informed by prodigious
research, Birth of a Salesman also clarifies the birth of modern marketingfrom an angle that
humanizes its subject through wry, ironic, but serious analysis. This is a pioneering work on a
subject crucial to American social, cultural, and business history.Thomas K. McCraw, author
of Creating Modern Capitalism