Businesses Can’t Have One Without the Other
Some say that creativity and sales go together about as well as barefoot hiking and fire ants. No matter how you try it, someone’s gonna feel pain. After all, creativity requires that you break through boundaries and let your imagination soar to produce something pure and unique. The process of sales involves contracts and signatures and an exchange of money for goods or services.
The two hardly seem to exist within the same reality. And yet, not only do they coexist, but they’re so entangled that one cannot successfully exist without the other. The question then becomes: How can creatives build up enough sales to sustain their work?
The Art of Sales
Sales training experts tell you that sales is an art form in and of itself that requires:
- Ingenuity
- Creativity
- Communication skills
- Persuasiveness
- Personality
- Perseverance
Lo and behold, those are many of the same qualities required of an artist. But just as an artist may be loath to talk about the features and benefits of her work, so the professional salesperson may just as soon cut off her hair as sit in solitude to write a poem or paint a picture.
The fact is that in order to pay the bills and have enough money to buy more paint, the graphic artist must sell her work, the writer must get published and the sculptor must subsist on more than clay. Inventors, architects and designers need solitude to fuel the creative process, while salespeople need more people with whom to interact. Then dare we say that embracing the similarities between the arts of creativity and sales — instead of thinking of them as frenemies — just may be the ticket to a long, successful career as an independent creative.
Twain the Two Shall Meet
Linda has had successful careers in both sales of consumer goods and creative endeavors as a writer. But she really dislikes mixing the two. To grow Ray Access into a successful content provider business, we’ve had to put on the sales hat or rely on others to sell our services. There comes a time when it just takes too much energy to be constantly switching hats — and the matching shoes and outfits. So we let others carry that mantle. We prefer to produce than peddle, though we must say we like the income as much as any high-powered, competitive sales pro.
Perhaps the best solution for mixing creativity and sales is to go the way of the corporate model that keeps creatives locked away to do their things, while the sales stars hit the streets. Let the project managers keep them both aligned and free from the day-to-day bothers of the others. And even if we don’t go all LLC or S-Corp on our businesses, we can at least realize that we need help from each other.
Respecting the Process
As a creative, you may prefer a life of poverty mixed with glimpses of success before you’d ever consider designing to sell. As a go-getter who loves the art of the deal, solitary confinement equals a jail sentence. On the other hand, if you’ve mastered the ability to move between the worlds of creativity and sales, you can probably tell us all about your success at your next IPO or catered launch party.
At the very least, creatives and sales professionals need each other to survive. A sales pro wouldn’t have anything to sell if it weren’t for the creatives who designed the services and products they hawk. And creatives would end up smothered in a room full of beautiful art if it weren’t for the diligent efforts of the salesperson.
Whether you deign to remain a solopreneur, partner up with another creative or seek a spot in a corporate creative environment, you do need to respect the work of the sales artisans who draw on their own brand of creativity daily for the good of the whole — including the creatives. Mutual respect is required to make creativity and sales work harmoniously — if not side by side, then at least in the same realm of reality.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
