This marks the thirty-third book reviewed in this space since 2011 and the mission remains the same: to give you a quick snapshot and enough information to be dangerous. This is primarily meant for the busy professional who finds it difficult to make time for reading. In no way is the intention to create any guilt over not actually reading these books; life is increasingly crazy and we have to make careful choices about how we spend our precious time. (Wait for it.) All that being said, you really should read every page of To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink. Why? Because while technically speaking only 1 in 9 working Americans is called a salesperson, Pink says the other eight folks are also in sales, and we can all improve. And while we may agree that it’s distasteful that the author bothers to include suggestions meant to help creepy car weasels move more inventory, it matters not. We are all selling something every day we draw breath, so we may as well take the time to do it well, to craft our approach when attempting to “move” others. Pink’s book is the ideal read in this regard. A page-turner on selling? Who knew? (The three of you who told me to read it, that’s who!)
Part of the adventure here is that we get to follow along with Norman Hall, fearless Fuller Brush representative. Hall is not just any salesperson for the company; he’s the last one. Decades ago, thousands of Fuller Brush Men (as they came to be known) made millions of attempts every year to sell cleaning-related products to whoever was brave enough to answer the door. The last one standing is Hall, who at 75 years old travels 90 minutes by bus each way to get to his San Francisco territory to be mostly shot down by his business prospects. You think you have it tough? Pink takes this example of the most traditional sales role imaginable and helps the readerunderstand what it really takes to sell in the cold world. You need follow up on a moldy proposal or get a client to agree to a change order or ask if your service contract is being extended, right? You’re likely not trying to sell feather dusters, micro-fiber cloths or moth deodorant blocks to overworked, grouchy office managers. But what the intrepid Hall has is belief, moxie, and stick-to-itiveness. He takes his lumps and keeps walking, about five miles a day in fact. It’s somehow at once insane and inspirational.
This book is loaded with winning ideas. Read it to better understand that you’re likely wearing a sales hat more often than you realize; that Always Be Closing has morphed into the far more-effective model centered on Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity; that so-called perspective-taking will prevent you from being guilty of “distorting clear messages and obscuring more subtle ones”; that children’s TV fixture Bob the Builder is a master qualifier (no, really). Pink also takes the “On a scale of 1 – 10, how likely are you to buy/try/reorder?” move and turns it on its ear. Perhaps you were taught to take the recipient’s numerical answer to this question and ask what he/she needed to see or hear to get to 10. Here you’re encouraged to take the answer and ask why they didn’t pick a lower number. Think about that. Ask someone for a commitment and they say “6.” Then ask them this new, unusual question and watch them talk themselves into being more committed. It turns out the best way to move others is to get out of the way and have them do it themselves. So, scale of 1 – 10, how likely are you to read this book? Why didn’t you pick a lower number?