No. 4 April 2013

Daniel Pink says in his new book “To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others,” that “in the U.S., 40% of the time we spend at work, even in a non-sales job, is spent in a ‘non-sales selling process’ involving persuading, influencing, motivating and convincing others, in ways that don’t necessarily involve the purchase of a product in the end.” 

For example, you could be pitching an idea to your boss, or trying to motivate employees to get on board with a new initiative, or getting a customer to act on your recommendations.  These “selling activities” go on all the time in the workplace.

Pink notes how “for an increasing number of businesses, there are no salespeople – or at least, no dedicated salespeople with that job title.  Instead every aspect of delivering the product or service is part of the sales process, built on the simple idea that if customers are served well, they will do more business in the future and refer friends, family and colleagues to do the same.”  As a result, everyone in the business should have a skillset that includes service and at least some selling or persuading skills.

Pink says “the world is shifting from ‘caveat emptor’ – where the buyer must be wary of being taken advantage of by a more knowledgeable seller – to a world of ‘caveat venditor’ where the seller must beware because businesses that serve buyers poorly will lose referrals and growth to those that treat their customers well.” 

“More than ever, effective sellers must be aware and understanding of the needs, concerns and interests of the customers they are working with.”  Pink suggests “this skill of ‘attunement’ and being able to see the world from the perspective of the customer will be a key selling skill for the 21^st century.”

Pink also gives credence “to how the ‘science’ of selling, motivating and persuasion really works.”  For example, “we find recommendations and statements more convincing when they rhyme; granular numbers are more credible than coarse numbers (i.e. we think devices with a battery life up to 120 minutes will last longer than those with a battery life up to 2 hours!); and we work harder when we feel a more personal connection (i.e. radiologists catch problems more often on X-ray scans that are accompanied by a picture of the patient.)”

Reading “To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others,” won’t make you a super salesperson.  But it will help you manage the selling challenge you and I face every day in our businesses.  Remember that we use critical selling skills each time we persuade, influence, motivate or convince our employee’s, co-workers or bosses to agree with our conclusions and beliefs.

Did you know a loyal customer is worth a whole lot more to you over time than a satisfied customer?  Customer satisfaction remains a “must-do,” but the most important questions are ”Would the customer recommend you to someone else?  Would they “hire” you again?”  Don’t forget that the value of a returning loyal customer is huge especially when compared to the cost of obtaining a brand new customer and earning that person’s loyalty.

I wanted to share a few very interesting thoughts from Thomas Friedman’s March 5 Blog about today’s college students and how the business world views them. Talking about college students, Friedman said, “the world does not care what you know.  Everything is on Google.  The world only cares, and will only pay for, what you can do with what you know.  Therefore it will not pay for a C+ in chemistry, just because your state college considers that a passing grade and was willing to give you a diploma that says so.  We’re moving to a more competency-based world where there will be less interest in how you acquired the competency – in an online course, at a four-year college or in a company-administered class – and more demand to prove that you mastered the competency.” 

Don’t forget Friedman’s simple but very true statement: “The world only cares and will only pay for what you can do with what you know.”   Bet on it.