Increasing Sales Without Selling

The key idea within Daniel Pink's new book, To Sell is Human, is that sales isn't what it used to be, that 'traditional' approaches (including the ABC of 'always be closing') are no longer viable options, and that success in any kind of persuasion or influence now depends on being more human. A recent review by Soundview Executive Book Summaries reflected this nicely

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, author Daniel Pink notes in his new book To Sell Is Human, 1 out of every 10 Americans works in sales. Is that less than before? Certainly. But have the Internet and online shopping brought the sales function to the precipice of extinction, as so many have predicted? Not quite, Pink writes. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data (replicated by corresponding statistics in other developed countries) vastly understates the amount of "selling" going on when we consider what selling, according to Pink, really entails: "persuading, influencing and convincing others."

This is what he calls "non-sales selling." Most people, Pink explains, are involved in non- sales selling, no matter what their profession. Examples cited by Pink include physicians who sell patients on a remedy, lawyers who sell juries on a verdict, teachers who sell students on the value of paying attention in class, entrepreneurs selling to funders, writers selling to producers and coaches cajoling players to play their best. In fact, it's no longer completely accurate to see producing and consuming as the two most important economic activities, Pink writes. Today, much of what we do also seems to involve moving," he explains. "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.When selling is mostly "moving" people, the old rules of selling no longer apply.

This idea of 'moving people to part with resources so that we both get what we want' is completely congruous with the approach FranklinCovey has taken to support those with sales responsibilities for the past 10 year, and to enable this we have also seen that the old rules of selling (which often result in dysfunctional relationships between buyer and seller) no longer apply. 

In essence, the end in mind we focus on is helping a buyer to make a decision in their own best interest. To understand the beliefs they need to hold to inform this decision, we develop skills to mutually explore the key issues, impact, constraints and commercial expectations from their perspective. We also recognise that for a buyer to be open about these elements they need to believe that our intent is to help them succeed (as opposed to selling them our goods or services) and it is in connecting with this idea of intent and conveying this effectively in our dealing with others that FranklinCovey's approach enables the 'humanity' that Dan Pink talks about.