To Sell Is Human Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

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Brief Summary

Selling is a part of all of our lives, no matter what field we work in. To successfully sell you must listen to customers, see things from new perspectives, and recover quickly from rejection.

About the Author

Daniel Pink is an American author, journalist, and television host. He has written six books, including four New York Times bestsellers. He hosted and co-executive produced the National Geographic Channel social science TV series Crowd Control. He was the speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore from 1995 to 1997. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University, where he was a Truman Scholar. He graduated with a law degree from Yale Law School and was the editor-in-chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review.

Topics

Marketing & Sales

To Sell Is Human Book Summary Preview

Key Insights

Can you think of a job that doesn’t require you to sell something?

We didn’t think so.

Though you may not be treading door to door to sell people on a new product or candy bars for a baseball fundraiser, every job has some sort of selling element that’s necessary to the successful running of a company.

In “To Sell Is Human” Daniel Pink explains that as humans, we are all “in sales”. This rings especially true nowadays when most millennials are jumping on the entrepreneur bus and saying ‘buh-bye’ to the 9-5.

Persuading, convincing, and influencing all find their way into every job in the market. It’s not always about money. Sometimes, it’s simply selling an idea.

“The ability to move others to exchange what they have for what we have is crucial to our survival and our happiness.”- Daniel Pink

After reading these insights from Pink, you’ll understand that as humans, our job is to sell. And, he will teach you how to do it right in the modern world.

Honesty and Service

Unfortunately, salespeople usually get a pretty bad rep. They are known for pushing and pushing until they finally get the customer to buy or walk away in annoyance.

The classic example we all think of is the used car salesman who tries to swindle the customer without the appropriate knowledge to buy. However, things have changed since we have the internet, an unlimited resource for information.

Because of the internet, sellers have followed suit and become more transparent with their information, as they know the customer could easily just ‘look it up’ online.

And, because everyone is so honest and forthcoming now, the classic motto “Always Be Selling” has become very outdated.

Understand Others

In order to successfully sell something, it’s important to see things from another’s perspective.

Sellers, to contradict popular belief, are not always outgoing fast-talkers. Someone who is fast-talking to their customers probably isn’t listening to their customer’s needs. The best salespeople are the ones who can be friendly and offer suggestions, yet also sit back and listen to what the customer is saying.

“Extraverts, in other words, often stumble over themselves. They can talk too much and listen too little, which dulls their understanding of others’ perspectives. They can fail to strike the proper balance between asserting and holding back, which can be read as pushy and drive people away.”- Daniel Pink

Attunement means understanding what others are thinking, not what they are feeling. Empathy is understanding how others are feeling. And, though, it is nice to be empathetic, being attuned to what others are thinking is much more important in selling.

People in power tend to stick to their own perspectives, which makes it harder for them to become attuned to others.

A powerful sales tool that helps people to know you understand what they are thinking is mimicry. This is the act of mimicking with small gestures what the other person is doing. Mimicry also includes repeating words and phrases back to the customer during the conversation to make sure they understand that you are both...