From the bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind comes a surprising – and surprisingly useful – new book that explores the power of selling in our lives.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. Every day more than fifteen million people earn their keep by persuading someone else to make a purchase.
But dig deeper and a startling truth emerges:
Yes, one in nine Americans works in sales. But so do the other eight.
Whether we’re employees pitching colleagues on a new idea, entrepreneurs enticing funders to invest, or parents and teachers cajoling children to study we spend our days trying to move others. Like it or not, we’re all in sales now.
To Sell Is Human offers a fresh look at the art and science of selling. As he did in Drive and A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink draws on a rich trove of social science for his counterintuitive insights. He reveals the new ABCs of moving others (it’s no longer “Always Be Closing”), explains why extraverts don’t make the best salespeople, and shows how giving people an “off-ramp” for their actions can matter more than actually changing their minds.
Along the way, Pink describes the six successors to the elevator pitch, the three rules for understanding another’s perspective, the five frames that can make your message clearer and more persuasive, and much more. The result is a perceptive and practical book – one that will change how you see the world and transform what you do at work, at school, and at home.
Daniel Pink: Why ‘To Sell Is Human’
Adam M. Grant interviews Daniel Pink about the ideas in his book, To Sell Is Human, including why people mistrust salespeople, what the new ABCs of selling are and why questions may be the greatest selling tool.
Daniel Pink | Knowledge@Wharton on YouTube.
To Sell Is Human Quotes
“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.”
“The purpose of a pitch isn’t necessarily to move others immediately to adopt your idea. The purpose is to offer something so compelling that it begins a conversation, brings the other person in as a participant, and eventually arrives at an outcome that appeals to both of you.”
“In the new world of sales, being able to ask the right questions is more valuable than producing the right answers. Unfortunately, our schools often have the opposite emphasis. They teach us how to answer, but not how to ask.”