To sell is human. This is both the title of his book and the idea that Daniel H. Pink himself is trying to sell. This idea that everyone is a salesman. You might not have a job in “sales” per se, but every day we are all engaged in what he calls “non-sales selling” - persuading, convincing, and influencing others. For instance, right now I may not be trying to close a sale, but I am trying to convince you that spending the next couple minutes of your time reading an article, about a book you’ve never read, will ultimately be a beneficial use of your time.
In his book the author outlines how the conventional definition of sales is now baseless, having been constructed upon a foundation of assumptions that in today's world crumble. Sales and selling in the traditional sense have always been viewed as predatory or distasteful. Popular culture is pervaded by negative sales figures - the oil-slick salesman looking to take in unsuspecting customers, the hard-nosed businessman obsessed with “closing” at any cost, or the door-to-door menace looking to persuade and harass at every opportunity.
These salesmen always have a particular set of characteristics - extroversion or a unique, innate skill for selling that gives them a leg up on the common man. Implicit in this idea of selling is an imbalance of power that leads to a sales con, or a type of tenacity intended to wear down the resistance and nerve of potential customers. These characteristics always place the salesman as an antagonist. Someone whose purpose in selling is never aligned to the needs of those he is selling to but is rather meant to benefit himself.
In the world of technology where so many options are available this power structure has been rendered obsolete. There is no longer an imbalance of information that traditionally gave the salesman an advantage over his target, and with so many options available the power now lies with the buyer rather than the salesman. With so much information at our fingertips you can no longer depend on the sales con, now you have to move people to part with resources - not to deprive, but to leave them better off in the end. In this way the traditional sales dynamic has been replaced by a larger construct of “selling” in which we are all actively engaged. And for Daniel Pink, this act of selling extends far beyond commerce.
An example is people who create apps. They are engineers, but they’re also required to consider customer needs, how the app will be used, and how to make the product exciting and unique enough that someone will be moved to buy it. Hence an engineer is actively engaged in “non-sales selling” even if sales isn’t a part of his job description, or even if his personality doesn’t align with the archetypical salesman.
This is just one example of how moving others is now critical to professional success, and in the world of marketing, its importance cannot be understated. We now have to move people with marketing efforts. Engage with them and build a relationship with them to get them to respond positively to a business or product. By reading this book Daniel Pink hopes that you will not only become more effective at moving others but that you will also see this act of selling in a new light.
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