The next book in my “Book Notes” series is To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink. A #1 New York Times business bestseller, the book asserts that it will “change how you see the world and transform what you do at work, at school, and at home.” As before, I am sharing some of the main points as I make my way through the book.
Chapter 1 – We’re All in Sales Now
Pink begins the chapter talking about the Fuller Brush Company that “made nearly fifty million house-to-house sales calls in the United States” in 1948. Although it declared bankruptcy in 2012, Pink says the “salesperson” is still very much alive because we are all involved in “non-sales selling.” “Non-sales selling” is “selling that doesn’t involve anyone making a purchase.” Pink claims we are all involved in “persuading, influencing and convincing others.”
Quotes from the chapter:
- But today, much of what we do also seems to involve moving. That is, we’re moving other people to part with resources—whether something tangible like cash or intangible like effort or attention—so that we both get what we want.
- The salesperson isn’t dead. The salesperson is alive. Because the salesperson is us.
Chapter 2 – Entrepreneurship, Elasticity, and Ed-Med
Chapter two starts off discussing how a rise in entrepreneurship has meant a rise in sales. Pink gives an example of a chef that left the restaurant industry to found his own pickle company. Now, as an entrepreneur, he must fill multiple roles including sales. The second part of the chapter is about the rise of elasticity, or having varied skills, in companies. Employees without elastic skills are disadvantaged in today’s world. Lastly, Pink examines the role of “moving” in both education and the medical field. He says teachers must get students to buy in to their subjects in the same way medical professionals must get patients to agree to treatment.
Related quotes:
- They must wear several hats—often at the same time—and one of these hats is the selling cap.
- “It’s about leading with my ears instead of my mouth,” Ferlazzo says. “It means trying to elicit from people what their goals are for themselves and having the flexibility to frame what we do in that context.”
- “People usually know themselves way better than I do.” So now, in order to move people to move themselves, she tells them, “I need your expertise.” Patients heal faster and better when they’re part of the moving process.
Chapter 3 – From Caveat Emptor to Caveat Venditor
Pink opens with a study that revealed “pushy” was the most frequent adjective thought of when participants thought of the terms “sales” or “selling.” Using used car sales as an example of the market, Pink suggests that while there has been information asymmetry in the past, with all the information on the internet, it’s now caveat venditor (seller beware). He says that a buyer and a seller looking at a computer at CarMax is the embodiment of information symmetry. Finally, Pink states that sales is not a natural talent, because we all have the talent.
A couple of related quotes:
- The belief that sales is slimy, slick, and sleazy has less to do with the nature of the activity itself than the long-reigning but fast-fading conditions in which selling has often taken place.
- Indeed, much of what we believe about sales derives not from the inherent nature of selling but from the information asymmetry that long defined the context in which people sold.
- To [Darvish] the ideal salespeople are those who ask themselves, “What decision would I make if that were my own mom sitting there trying to get service or buy a car?”
Andrew T. Daniel 