Before defining the professional sale. Let’s look at some of the related professions. Below are some definitions of professions/occupations that relate to professional selling from Wikipedia:
- Marketing is defined as a continuous process of planning and executing the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) for products, services or ideas to create an exchange between individuals and organizations
- Advertising is defined as a form of communication that generally attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or consume more of a particular brand of product or service.
- public relations is defined as the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its audiences.
- sales promotions is defined as predetermined actions designed to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand, or improve product availability for a limited time (i.e., contests, point-of-sale displays, discounts, free rides, and sales incentives) .
What about the sales profession?
Note that in the definitions above, the profession is *not* defined as the individual. For example, marketing is not defined as “people who market.” However, the sales profession is often explained as “individuals who sell.” Therefore, sale should not be defined in this way. Also note that the above professions are *not* defined by the activities of those individuals. In other words, the advertising profession is not defined as “placing advertisements on television.” Therefore, sale should not be defined in this way.
Academically, selling is considered part of marketing, however, the two disciplines are completely different. Sales departments often form a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing people who specialize in specific sales roles. While the sales process refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, the definition of a sales “profession” does not exist (so far with this article).
So the questions become:
- Who is “in” the profession and who is not?
- How is selling related to marketing, advertising, promotions, and public relations?
- What shared competencies do people need within the sales profession?
- How do these competencies align with the roles in terms of focus and differentiation?
A definition must provide a meaning. To determine the meaning of the sales profession, it is helpful to determine what the sales profession *should* contain.
The following three principles are necessary for professional selling:
- The focus of the sales profession is on the human agents involved in the exchange between buyer and seller.
- Effective selling requires a systems approach, at least involving roles that sell, enable selling, and develop selling capabilities.
- A specific set of sales skills and knowledge is required to facilitate the exchange of value between buyers and sellers.
Within these three principles, the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) offers the following definition of professional selling:
Professional selling is:
“The holistic business system required to effectively develop, manage, enable, and execute a mutually beneficial interpersonal exchange of goods and/or services for equitable value.”
Note: This definition was published by ASTD in 2009.
What does this definition accomplish?
First, create a definition of world-class sales. An organization that wants to benchmark its sales effectiveness can take advantage of the definition above to gain a clear understanding of strengths and weaknesses. Without such a definition, most sales team adjustments are arbitrary and subjective. By understanding the system view required for sales effectiveness, organizations can look at individual sales team members as well as sales team processes and tools and how they align with the buyer.
Second, enables more consistent performance results through clear establishment of roles regarding who is “in” and who is “out” of professional selling. For example, if you don’t involve a human agent, you’re not in the sales profession; it is a marketing function with a transaction (ie, a “sale”). By this definition, sales operations, sales recruiters, and sales trainers are “in” the profession because they possess unique skills outside of their regular job titles. They possess knowledge and skills that are unique to allow definition.
Third, the definition lays the groundwork for sales talent management/people strategies. With such a definition, sales development employees can create learning solutions that fit the unique aspects of a sales culture. At the same time, front-end and recruitment strategies link more clearly with retention strategies.
Four, helps the organization in an exemplary performance. By setting a standard with such a definition, organizations don’t have to settle for mediocre sales effectiveness. They can use the definition to help bridge the gap between sales capability and sales team competency.