The Art and Science of Selling

by Tim Connor

At first glance you might wonder why I call selling both an art and a science. Well, consider;

Successful art requires creativity, passion, patience, imagination, uniqueness, effort, practice and the desire to be of serve others.

Successful science requires, investigation, persistence, a willingness to fail, the ability to withstand challenge, knowledge and pursuit of the unknown.

So, when you combine the traits of both - guess what you have? A definition of what it takes to succeed in sales.

But, you ask – selling isn’t all that complicated it’s just offering products/services to prospects/customers and answering their questions and showing them the benefits of buying. If that is your definition of selling I suggest you consider a career at Wal-Mart. To be successful in an industry such as Manufactured Housing, you need more!

Selling requires specific and careful analysis, in-depth people skills, tremendous product and industry knowledge, attitude control, mastery of selling skills and the ability to lose again and again and keep at it. If you are not willing or able to develop these traits then I doubt that you will ever become a “significant” success in this profession. Yes you may survive and maybe even have a few good months or years due to timing, or luck but without the above skills, traits and behaviors you will have a very slim chance at excellence.

Just look at the super stars in any other profession whether medicine, food, travel, the media or any other industry. The stars have achieved success, recognition, credibility and even fame and how? By developing the skills and attitudes necessary for consistent achievement. Success in sales of manufactured homes or in business to business within the manufactured housing industry are no different.

Sure you can probably earn a comfortable living as an average performer but to reach the stars requires the will, patience, effort and faith to hang in there year after year or even day after day.

I have known many sales superstars during my career and I was always amazed at how much effort, practice, and research they put forth as well as the tremendous among of knowledge they possessed that they acquired over the years – note - I said years and not says or months.

Excellence in any profession is a unique combination of the above traits in art and science. To only develop one set of skills or behaviors, say the art, yes you will bring all of those characteristics to the table but you will lack the vital skills in the science arena that will ensure your success and vice versa.

So how can you develop and refine the necessary traits in both disciplines to ensure success? Simple but not easy. Here are a few things to consider;

-Read more (anything to do with the manufactured housing industry, or your clients, products or services) become an expert or “go to person”.

-Study human behavior (Psychology books, take seminars etc).

-Practice a specific certain trait every day and every week until you have all of the required skill to be effective no matter what the circumstances.

-Ask people for feedback on your performance and for suggestions, guidance and council.

-Set specific career time-lined goals to develop ”mastery” in all of the critical sales areas; prospecting, presentation, closing, service etc.

-Open yourself up to improvement, feedback and even criticism.

-Get creative and open to change and new ideas, techniques and approaches.

-Master the fundamentals

These should keep you busy for a few weeks but remember – if you just read this, file it away and do nothing or are not following any of the above suggestions even before you read this – beware – failure might just be around the corner. # #

(Editor's Note: Tim Connor is a member of MHSpeakerTrainer.org)

Tim Connor is the author of the best seller Soft Sell which has sold over 1,000,0000 copies; one of the top international sales books of all time. Since 1981, Tim has given over 4000 presentations in 23 countries on a variety of sales, management, leadership and business relationship topics. He has worked with some 200 factory built housing, log homes and supplier companies to boost their results. Tim is the new Business Development and Ads Sales Manager for MHMSM and MHProNews and the hot, new MHLivingNews.com. Tim's personal site is TimConnor.com. Call Tim for your business to business advertising, business to consumer ads, marketing, website and other management or business development needs. Tim can be reached at 704-895-1230 or his email address This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it