Q.What is salesmanship? Define the term and explain its meaning.

Salesmanship is the personal skill at the heart of every completed sale — the ability to persuade a buyer helpfully rather than force him.

The word means 'the skill of a salesman' (salesman + -ship). Genuine salesmanship is personal (works through direct contact), helpful (guides the buyer to a product that truly suits him) and mutually beneficial (satisfies both sides and wins a repeat customer).

Meaning. The word salesmanship is formed from 'salesman' plus the suffix -ship, meaning 'the skill or quality of'. So salesmanship literally means the skill of a salesman — the ability to convince a prospective buyer that a particular product will serve his interest better than the money he pays for it.

Definition. Salesmanship is the personal, persuasive and helpful effort by which a seller assists or persuades a prospective buyer to buy a product or service, in a manner that satisfies the buyer and benefits both the buyer and the seller.

The three central ideas.

1. It is personal and persuasive. Salesmanship works mainly through direct, face-to-face human contact. The salesman studies the customer, understands his need, and persuades — never forces — him to buy.
2. It is helpful, not manipulative. True salesmanship guides the buyer to a product that actually satisfies his need. Pushing a person to buy something useless to him is not salesmanship; it is mere selling pressure that destroys goodwill.
3. It creates mutual benefit. A good sale satisfies the buyer, who receives a product worth more to him than its price, and the seller, who earns profit and a repeat customer. Salesmanship seeks a lasting relationship, not a one-time deal.

How it differs from selling and marketing. Selling is the broad act of transferring goods for money and includes impersonal methods like advertising; salesmanship is the narrower, personal, skill-based part of selling done by direct persuasion; and marketing is the widest term, covering product, price, distribution and promotion, of which salesmanship is only one part. Thus salesmanship is a part of selling, and selling is a part of marketing.

Students often (i) treat salesmanship as the same thing as selling or marketing — remember salesmanship is only the personal, persuasive part; (ii) describe it as 'forcing' or 'pushing' goods on buyers — genuine salesmanship persuades and helps, it never forces; and (iii) forget the mutual-benefit idea — a good sale must satisfy the buyer, not just the seller.