science

The Art of the Sale

The Art of the Sale is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Art of the Sale rather than just read about it. In short: The Art of the Sale - Learning From The Masters About The Business Of Life is a non-fiction book by the author and journalist Philip Delves Broughton. He also authored the bestseller Ahead of the Curve.

Key takeaways

The Art of the Sale belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Art of the Sale to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Art of the Sale from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Art of the Sale - Learning From The Masters About The Business Of Life is a non-fiction book by the author and journalist Philip Delves Broughton. He also authored the bestseller Ahead of the Curve. The book was published by Penguin Press in 2012. It analyses the role of persuasion in everyday life and the qualities of effective salespeople. The author had international travels to learn the art and science of selling. The book deals with the importance and the cultural influence of sales and role of sales as social discourse, as the means to generate revenue. BBC Radio in Peter Day's World of Business interviewed the author of the book.

Summary The subject of selling things isn't covered in most MBA programs of Harvard Business School.

References

External links Book review, [1], 28-April-2012. Book review, [2] Book review, [3], 15-February-2012. Book's website at [4].

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Art of the Sale

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Art of the Sale claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Art of the Sale before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Art of the Sale ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Art of the Sale

In research: The Art of the Sale appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Art of the Sale in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Art of the Sale is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 non-fiction books, Business books, Economics and finance book stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Art of the Sale outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “The Art of the Sale” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study The Art of the Sale in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Art of the Sale means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Art of the Sale out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Art of the Sale in simple terms?

Why does The Art of the Sale matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Art of the Sale?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Art of the Sale.