“Some of you, no doubt, are selling in the literal sense—convincing existing customers and fresh prospects to buy casualty insurance or consulting services or homemade pies at a farmers’ market. But all of you are likely spending more time than you realize selling in a broader sense—pitching colleagues, persuading funders, cajoling kids. Like it or not, we’re all in sales now.
And most people, upon hearing this, don’t like it much at all.
Sales? Blech.
… I’m convinced we’ve gotten it wrong…
This is a book about sales. But it is unlike any book about sales you have read (or ignored) before. That’s because selling in all its dimensions—whether pushing Buicks on a car lot or pitching ideas in a meeting—has changed more in the last ten years than it did over the previous hundred. Most of what we think we understand about selling is constructed atop a foundation of assumptions that has crumbled. …
By the end of this book, I hope you’ll see the very act of selling in a new light. Selling, I’ve grown to understand, is more urgent, more important, and, in its own sweet way, more beautiful than we realize. The ability to move others to exchange what they have for what we have is crucial to our survival and our happiness. It has helped our species evolve, lifted our living standards, and enhanced our daily lives. The capacity to sell isn’t some unnatural adaptation to the merciless world of commerce. It is part of who we are. As you’re about to see, if I’ve moved you to turn the page, selling is fundamentally human.”
~ Daniel H. Pink from To Sell is Human
Dan Pink is a brilliant writer. His books have been translated into over 35 languages and have sold over 1 million copies in the US alone.
We featured another one of his New York Times bestsellers called Drive. That one is all about “The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.”
This one, as per the sub-title, is all about “The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.”
The super-short story? Although only 1 in 9 of us technically earn our living as “salespeople,” we’re ALL in sales. In other words: To sell is human.
The book has three parts: Part One is called “Rebirth of a Salesman” in which we explore the fact that we’re all in sales now. Part Two moves on to the new “ABCs” of sales (aka “How to Be”) while Part Three gives us a snapshot at the nuts and bolts of “What to Do.” (Get a copy here.)
Of course, it’s packed with Big Ideas. I’m excited to share a few of my favorite Ideas you can apply to your life TODAY so let’s jump straight in!
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