What is Sales? A Quick Guide to Sales

Sales is an activity between two or more parties the buyer receives product, service, or assets in exchange for money. Typically, sales are between seller and buyer, in which goods or assets are exchanged for money or other assets.

Every organization has a sales team, which is broken into different teams. This team focuses on selling products or services, the region they are selling for, and their targeted audience. A person who sells goods or services on behalf of an organization or owner is called a salesperson. Their target is to reach out to the customers who have shown interest or find fit for the product or services. The process includes prospect, preparation, approach, presentation, overcoming objections, closing the sale, and follow-up.  

1. Types of Sales
2. Types of Sales Role
3. Quality of a Salesperson 
4. Types of Sales Methodologies 

Types of Sales

• Inside Sales: The inside sales team engages the customer remotely. They offer products and services by selling them through phone calls, email, video calls, etc. They need to connect with the customers from their own desk, but it is not like a regular 9-6 job. They may need to connect with the customers from anywhere at any time.

• Outside Sales: Outside sales involve face-to-face meetings, events, seminars, conferences, etc. The outside sales also include door-to-door sales. Thus they need to travel a lot. They are also known as “field sales.” The orders placed from outside sales are large as compared to inside sales.

• Direct Sales: Direct sales involve selling goods and services directly to the customers in a non-retail environment. In direct selling, distributors eliminate the intermediates from the supply chain. These types of marketing are used by network marketing representatives and real estate professionals. 

• E-commerce Sales: E-commerce sales refers to the selling of goods and services through online mediums. Companies use internet technology to sell their products and services to the customer via the internet. They target customers by advertising their products on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, etc. For example, Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, Shopify, etc., are examples of E-commerce sales.

• B2B Sales: B2B stands for “business-to-business,” which describes companies that sell their product or services to another company rather than individual consumers. The B2B sales have more transactions as they have long and complex sales processes.

• B2C Sales: B2C stands for “business-to-customer,” it describes the selling of goods and services to an individual customer, such as retail sales. The process is simple and effective with a lower price point. Due to the lower price, it has a shorter cycle as compared to B2B sales.

• Consultative Sales: Consultative sales refers to making relationships with the customer and understanding the needs of the customer before offering the product or services. This builds a healthy relationship between the buyer and the seller, which helps sellers to focus on the benefit of the customer instead of solely focusing on the product offering.

Types of Sales Roles

1. Sales Director: The sales director manages the team of managers and ensures there is no bottleneck problem. They also focus on company goals.
2. Sales Manager: They handle the team of Salespeople of a company or an organization. They also guide and mentor all the members of the team.
3. Sales Representative: The representatives are inside and outside salespeople. They sell services and goods to businesses, organizations, customers, etc. 
4. Sales Associate: Sales Associate is a B2C position in which a salesperson sells the product directly to the customer.

Quality of a Salesperson 

1. Hunger: As a salesperson, you don’t have to focus on the target that you have to get, but you need to think beyond that. Try to generate as many leads as possible to get more out of it.
2. Networking: These individuals should build good relationships in their community or different business relationships. This helps to connect with new people and increase your reach for future growth.
3. Confidence: Confidence is a key skill. They should be able to speak confidently about the product and services they are selling. They should also answer customer questions with a positive approach.
4. Communication Skill: Communication skills are important in every field. If you are selling any product or service, then you need to have good communication skills and stay away from jargon and hard-to-understand concepts.  
5. Patience: Many times, it takes lots of time to close a deal successfully. So, you need to have patience and give your best to close the deal.
6. Passion: Everyone can’t be a salesperson. You need to have good communication skills and be ready to go beyond the limits. Being passionate about something is the most important.
7. Empathy: Showing empathy helps to build up the relationship between the customer and the seller. It builds trust with the client or the customer. Empathy helps to determine what the customer wants.

Also Read: 7 Soft Skills Every Salesperson Needs

Types of Sales Methodologies 

1. Transactional Selling: This is a short-term sale process in which the customer is aware of what he or she is looking for so the individual doesn’t waste time in understanding customer needs and they make the quick sale.
2. Solution Selling: In this methodology, the individual creates a complex solution for the business problem that incorporates products, services, and technology. The salesperson gathers knowledge and understanding about the customer’s environment, industry and business. 
3. SPIN Selling: In this process, the salesperson asks four questions from the buyer that are based on Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff. It helps to focus on the needs of prospects and then go into the product pitch.
4. Social Selling: In this, the individual targets social media platforms to generate leads for the company by targeting prospective customers.
5. Inbound Selling: In this methodology, the salesperson acts as a consultant and meets the prospects and solves their problem statement.
6. Needs-oriented: They used to ask questions from the buyer in order to know their problem statement and then pitch the solution in the form of product or services accordingly. 
7. Aggressive Selling: In this, the salesperson tries to convince customers by telling them how the product or service can be beneficial to them.

The primary goal is to create solutions for the customer and increase the company revenue. To become a good salesperson, you need to have qualities and characteristics which are developed with experience, learning, and training. If you are a fresher or want growth in this field, we hope you find this guide useful which covers all the basic concepts. You can also take up the Advanced Certificate Program in Sales and Sales Management and upskill today!