To Sell is Human
To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Persuading, Convincing, and Influencing by Daniel Pink
🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences
More of our lives are spent on the idea of 'moving' others or non-sales selling
Selling is innately human and this is a skill we should all better understand and practice
The idea that sales is negative is a myth - selling is now more broader and wider - our view on sales needs to adapt
🎨 Impressions
This book had some useful practical tips, however was not a revolutionary insightful book. Although the book made me think more about how I use sales in my own life (despite not being a salesman), I found the stories, experiments and chapters a bit boring and a mismatch in an illogical order.
Who Should Read It?
If you don't think you need to improve your sales ability or if you think the idea of sales doesn't exist in your life - this book will challenge that thought. If you want practical insights into specific ways to improve how you influence, persuade and sell ideas to others - this book has several.
✍️ My Top 3 Quotes
In the past, the best salespeople were adept at accessing information. Today, they must be skilled in curating.
To sell well is to convince someone else to part with resources—not to deprive that person, but to leave him better off in the end.
One of the most effective ways of moving others is to uncover challenges they may not know they have.
📒 Summary + Notes
Selling is human and we are all selling
The ability to move others to exchange what they have for what we have is crucial to our survival and our happiness. It has allowed our species to evolve, lifting our living standards and enhanced our daily lives. The capacity to sell isn't some unnatural adaption to the merciless world of commerce. It is part of who we are. Selling is fundamentally human.
Physicians sell patients on a remedy. Lawyers sell juries on a verdict. Teachers sell students on the value of paying attention in class. Entrepreneurs woo funders. Writers sweet-talk producers. Coaches cajole players.
In reality a lot of us our selling in some way all the time. We are not stalking customers in a furniture show room but we are doing 'non-sales' selling. We're persuading, convincing and influencing others to give up something in exchange for what we've got.
In a large study, it found that peoples activities at work were devoted upwards of 40% to moving people and that we consider it critical to our professional success.
Some pointers on selling
Perspective-taking - attunement is the ability to bring ones actions and outlook into harmony with other people and with the context you're in.
Action point: good opening liner in conversation is 'where are you from?' instead of 'what do you do?'
Amazon when having meetings, leave a chair empty to remind them of the customer, who is really the most important person in the room.
The purpose of a pitch isn't necessarily to move others immediately to adopt your idea. The purpose is to offer something compelling that it beings a conversation and eventually arrives at an outcome that appeals to both of you.
Always spiral upwards by asking 'yes and' instead of 'yes but'
Pitch ideas:
One word pitch - define the one characteristic they want most associated with their brand around the world and then own it. Eg the word 'search' springs Google to mind.
Question pitch - if you have a strong point use a question - people come up with their own reasoning for agreeing.
Rhyming - one liners that rhyme perform better - adds smoothness which we equate to accuracy which enhances reason.
Subject line pitch - these should either have utility or be curious. People are likely to read if related to their work but also if there was some uncertainty with the content. People opened useful messages for extrinsic reasons (there was some purpose) and curious messages for intrinsic reasons. They should also be specific.
Twitter pitch - share message in small number of characters.
Pixar pitch - follows the format of: Once upon a time......Every day.....One day.....Because of that.......Because of that.......Until finally......
An example: Once upon a time there was a widowed fish named Marlin who was extremely protective of his only son Nemo. Every day, Marlin warned Nemo of the dangers of the ocean and implored him not to swim too far. One day in an act of defiance, he ignores his fathers warnings and swims into the open water. Because of that, he is captured by a diver and ends up as a pet in a fish tank at a dentist in Sydney. Because of that, Marlin sets off on a journey to recover Nemo, enlisting other sea creatures help along the way. Until finally, Marlin and Nemo find each other , reunite, and learn that love depends on trust.
When creating a pitch think about:
What do you want them to know
What do you want them to feel
What do you want them to do
