To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

I am not sure where to begin with how wrong this book is. It is obvious that the author has never sold anything.I have actually taken people’s hard earned money for 25 years so please let me explain why the author is way off base.My dad tried to convince me the benefits of working for one company for 30 years. My wife ties to convince me daily about sex and many other things. The author would have you believe my mom and wife are salespeople. They are not.My dad and wife are regular people that are insecure at times, filled with fear, frozen to inaction and afraid to make hard decisions. When my dad, my wife, my neighbor have to buy a car, they are under stress. When they claim that a car salesperson is bad they are really saying how much they hate buying a car, not how much they loathe salespeople. Like anything else, people are egocentric, they are not spending five seconds thinking about the salesperson. They are simply recasting and rationalizing their fear away from themselves.A salesperson knows this. An author that thinks he knows how to sell does not.I stopped reading when the author tried to convince me that Ed-Med is the new dominant new sales category. That is like saying your Uber driver made the sale. Wrong, the Professor, the Doctor, the Uber driver are making good on a transaction already done. They are not selling.I consider the author’s claim to be especially ridiculous given how had I compete every day for dollars that the govt throws at Ed-Med. Missouri’s State Budget is $27B. 50% of that goes to Health Services. 25% of that goes to Education. The taxes that people and corporations pay to bolster that advance spending on Ed / Med is money they can’t spend on services/products that I have sold for 25 years. I wish I could wake up tomorrow “selling” as the author suggest to people that have $20B in their pockets. I wish my service were so easy to sell that somebody could just Uber it my way.Selling is number one profession that non-salespeople think they can do well. Salesforce.com created the open season on salespeople and so many of the misinformed are filling the air with nonsense. I look forward to the coming Saleforce.com bubble.

I came across this book in a group reading project. We are all in sales and regularly read all sorts of books, from self-improvement, to habit trainings, to sales. This is by far the worst book we have picked up.The author makes many good points throughout the book that can be useful to “move others”, or sell. But with each good point he compromises his knowledge of selling by trying to obliterate tried and true practices.Good sales people solve problems. And as mentioned in the book, great sales people can find problems people didn’t know they had. If he could have stuck to that idea, and built on it, tying in ethically sound, traditional sales, it would have come across better. At this point I’m glad the book is finished so we can move on to something that has a greater impact.

Fits a certain genre of canned, cocktail-party social science. Pink skims scholar.google until he finds that one article to use. He then takes that article out of context to back up some trivially obvious point.The first several chapters could be summarized in a page or two. Repetition at its worst. It takes so long to get to the useful meat of the book that you've probably already fallen asleep by the time you get to the idea of pitching.

This was my first Daniel Pink book (I also own "Drive," but haven't read it yet), and I was extremely impressed/satisfied with it.Awesome sales book. I especially liked how he spent the first third of the book talking about how pretty much everyone in the world today is in some form of selling. You might not see yourself as a "traditional salesman," but whatever you're line of work is, your survival/success will depend on how well you can "move people" (i.e. get them to part with their resources, such as time/money/energy, in exchange for some value you can provide to them).I'm following this book up with "Instant Influence" by Pantalon, which Pink references and recommends as additional reading in this book.Disclosure: I've read most of the classic books like Influence by Cialdini, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Bettger, Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff, etc. and still found this one to be extremely helpful.The measure of any book is the value you can get out of it - i.e. what can you apply to your life/goal from the author's work/recommendations. I definitely found quite a few ideas that I could apply to a venture I'll be undertaking in the very near future (fundraising for a new hedge fund).

What is selling? Most of use see it as a dirty word. The truth is that we are all sales-people. Yes, are. The author, Mr Daniel Pink, explains the definition of selling "moving others into taking actions"This we do at home with our children to convince them to do their homework, to convince your boss to give you a raise, pitching your startup to investors, pushing your team to grow our business and many more. We are almost all the time selling.Why as entrepreneur you should read this book? Do you feel that the traditional way of "always closing" is hard work, feeling bad, you post phone sales? Forgetting the follow-up call?You are not alone, many startups I talk to have no idea on sales (They hope it all come automatically)How to see sales differently and successfully? The book explains ideas and techniques to understand the sales process in a fresh way.- Upselling vs Serve-selling?- What is a sales pitch To close the deal or to sart a conversation?- How to add clarity to your sales pitch to ending up closing more deals?- Who are better in sales, extraverts or introvert? Interesting to know when you hire new staff- Asking the right questions vs giving the right answers?- and much more.Enjoy the reading and grow your business today

Are you skeptical of five star ratings? They often look like they were written by the author's allies or undiscerning readers. Yet, To Sell Is Human deserves the full five stars.If you're in business, you may have noticed that the Internet has changed selling. Buyers now have smartphones with anywhere, anytime access to information. Thanks to social networks, they can share their thoughts instantly --- and the world listens.Yet sales training still seems so 1990s (or 1980s). The Internet means more than replacing faxes with emails, and building squeeze pages to answer objections. The trainers have had trouble adapting. Take a look at how they use social media. Are they showing ongoing generosity or just trying to get you on an email list?Dan Pink has the knack of spotting the future (e.g., A Whole New Mind). He's taken the time to research how selling has changed. He's developed an easy-to-remember framework that holds together surprisingly well (the new ABCs).What's more, Dan gives solid, practical DIY tips on how to sell today. Since we're all in selling, don't you want to get better? To Sell Is Human is a must read, a must re-read and a must act-upon. Highly recommended.

So let me first say I am not the most experienced guy when it comes to using jewelry or earrings. I am thrilled that this comes with such a huge array of options and colors considering the cost! However, within 5 minutes of opening the package I managed to break one. I had no idea that "screw-on" earrings were even a thing until I snapped one in half while trying to pull them apart and then FINALLY realized that the backing actually rotates on/off. I wish they could have just included a simple paper showing each earring type. It's also quite difficult screwing the stud earrings on/off if you're like me and suffer from clammy hands. Overall I would recommend these as long as you know how to actually use them!! Don't be like me and make the same mistake. 😂

The media could not be loaded.  All of them are SO CUTE 😍 I'm in love! The gold ones are so pretty. Before I bought them, I was concerned that the gold would look cheap, but no! The gold tone is perfect and not too brassy. The loops are a tiny bit bigger than I was expecting, but I LOVE the look of them. The crosses are super well-made, too. The only thing that I was disappointed with was the posts being a little bigger than the standard earring, so I couldn't put one in my cartilage without it hurting a bit and feeling cramped. Not sure if it's the plating over the rod that made it thicker, but it didn't fit that hole 😅 Anyway, cute and very worth what you pay!

The media could not be loaded.  Really nice tbh

BY far my favorite pairs of earrings! You really get your bang for your buck. Arrived on time and has a nice clean Finnish. None have broken/ turned green yet so I’m beyond happy about that

Great earrings, ain’t no complaints. There’s so many options in color and design and for a cheap price. I’ve worn them everyday and they don’t irritate my ears what so ever. Would def recommend

My boyfriend loves them!

If your looking for something durable these are definitely it. I would say this is a really great pack and some are just too thick for my liking but that’s me personally other than that they are in style and a lot of pairs come in a pack which is exceptional. I had gauged ears before got them surgically closed up and these earring give me some issues with weight but that it from my experience overall I enjoy wearing them and the color doesn’t fade and the gold is great it does not tarnish or make your skin green, the gold is a solid color choice. Highly recommend!

Doesn't infect my ears, so that's wonderful! These are thick & sturdy. Not all have backs, they screw together. Kinda cool but kinda tedious to put in. I like the variety and have worn them all. Pre-washed with alcohol just to be safe. Good purchase for the cost.

There is a crack in one of my core beliefs. The crack was created by reading Dan Pink's book.Here's the Core Belief: Selling is for people who are tough skinned.I'm not tough-skinned.I don't need to learn how to sell.SUMMARYPink begins the book by defining "sales" in the traditional way, that 1 in 9 of us makes a living by pushing products and services.It has always been clear to me that ABC (always be closing) is the ideal and that I could never sustain the effort to pursue a client so passionately and so persistently. Now I see that I'm part of the 8/9 that is not the "obvious" sales person, but rather I'm in the "persuader class" -- so we teachers are all persuaders and we are always trying to find new ways to ask people to part with resources (time, attention and effort) to achieve something else.TEACHERS: If you want to see details, then read on. Otherwise, just buy Pink's book. It's worth $20 to get a lesson plan for our students.If you teach the 7 Essential Skills for competing in the global economy (the Tonhy Wagner list), then you need this book.=====The idea of a global community connected on the web is clearly a "haves and have nots" situation. The hotel wants to charge $28 U.S. for a 24-hour use and there's an outside contractor that offers in-hotel machines at $9.60 for an hour.IMBALANCE between sellers and buyers...Dan Pink's book TO SELL IS HUMAN is becoming more and more relevant for my teaching aims. I can see that my students need Pink's viewpoint to help them navigate the older attitude toward sales (which is largely described by "the used car salesman.") "Caveat emptor" attitude reigns here in Australia. Pink describes the new environment of "caveat venditor" seller beware... because the buyer has access to just as much info as the seller.I recommend Pink's description of the imbalance that "always be closing" generates and he offers three new ABCs: A_______(attunement), Buoyancy and Clarity.attune students to the buyer (listen, don't constantly close)be upbeat and positive (buoyant) in the ocean of rejectionbe clear about what is important and balance the positivity with data about how they are actually performing in the marketYou can find a good summary of the TO SELL IS HUMAN on the Internet and Pink offers the first chapter. Perhaps in four or five years it will be generally recognized that this book is REQUIRED READING FOR EDUCATORS.I thought that Pink had gone corporate, wanting to turn us all into marketing agents for brand X, but I misinterpreted the author's intent. He has been writing a series of connected books.Free Agent Nation: Pink described in 2001 the rise of the independent contractorA Whole New Mind: he described the capacity that we all (especially independent contractors) need to develop in ourselves to compete with Asia.He described the work (the niche) that automation and abundance offer us to grow into.Drive: "How to motivate ourselves and others" is what we independent contractors need to understand... Dick Clark claims that Pink is overgeneralizing about "what motivates others" beyond money, but I like the idea that we can move people by appealing to Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.To Sell is Human: It is clear that we independent contractors can create business for our skills. We need to prepare people to persuade others to part with time, attention and effort to do something else (which is the heart of selling).In other words, these four books are part of a curriculum. Dennis Yuzenas gets it. His focus on "building skills" at Oxbridge Academy has resulted in dozens of students who are focused on the Tony Wagner list of skills.I have a friend who told me, "I read the Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Monthly because smart people will tell me what is important." That's how I look at Dan Pink's oeuvre. He has set up a curriculum that we all can choose to reach for.=========I'm writing this message in the lobby of a hotel in Sydney. Import duties cause books to cost $40 when the hard cover might be $25 in the USA. Fewer people will have access to Pink's ideas and that's why I'm leaving my copy of the book over on this side of the Equator. I recommend that people in the USA make a friend in the Southern Hemisphere and send a copy of TSIH to a teacher there.I also need to send a copy of TSIH to Enrique's school Highland Park High School to go with the growing shelf of "cool books from Florida" (my name for the collection of books that I left in the school to attract the students who might be curious).This somewhat disjointed email documents how disruptive Dan Pink's writing is. I have resisted reading his new book since Dec. 10. That's 70 days of resistance since I first read the free chapter in December.It has always been clear to me that ABC (always be closing) is the ideal and that I could never sustain the effort to read so long and so persistently. Now I see that I'm part of the 8/9 that is not the "obvious" sales person, but rather I'm in the "persuader class" -- so we teachers are all persuaders and we are always trying to find new ways to ask people to part with resources (time, attention and effort) to achieve something else.Attention, Effort and Time is another triplet composed by Pink, to go withAsia, Automation and AbundanceAutonomy, Mastery and PurposeTeachers, if you have this book on your desk, if you write key page numbers on the edge of the book and encourage your students to read about the new ABCs, attunement, buoyancy and Clarity, then you will have done your job well..... the job of preparing kids for the future.

Arthur Miller created the archetype of the insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman in his Pulitzer-Prize winning play, Death of a Salesman. I have my own Willy Loman story.When I was in high school, I earned extra money by lugging around a sample case of candles and selling door to door. There were, of course, the easy marks; my parents and the next-door neighbors. Beyond the comfortable confines of my immediate neighborhood, it was a teenager's view of hell - doors slammed, fingers wagging no from behind lace curtains, and the one-hour pitch that led to "I'll have to think about it."Like most Americans, I have a rather dim view of salespeople. In fact, it is usually ranked among the most distrusted professions along with stock traders, politicians, dentists, and lawyers.Which is surprising, because Dan Pink, the author of the new book, To Sell is Human; the Surprising Truth About Moving Others was a lawyer. Pink, the author of such best sellers as A Whole New Mind and Drive takes a fresh and engaging look at the art and social science of selling. In fact, his thesis is that in one way or another, we are all salespeople.Pink begins with some provocative statistics - the result of his study with Qualtrics, a research and date analytics company. The study, What Do You Do At Work?, revealed "that people are now spending 40 percent of their time at work engaging in non-sales: selling - persuading, influencing and convincing others in ways that don't involve anyone making a purchase. Across a wide range of professions, we are devoting roughly twenty-four minutes of every hour to moving others."The book makes a compelling argument that "we are all in sales now" because while the existing data show that 1 in 9 Americans work in sales, the new data reveal so do the other 8 in 9.In all of his books, Pink (Like Malcolm Gladwell) uses behavioral economics and science to illuminate a subject - in many ways, counterintuitive to what many of us believe.For example, he cites a 2008 experiment where researchers simulated a negotiation over the sale of a gas station. (I assume this was before the great financial meltdown.)"Like many real-life negotiations, this one presented what looked like an obstacle: The highest price the buyer would pay was less than the lowest price the seller would accept. However, the parties had other mutual interests that, if surfaced, could lead to a deal both would accept."Pink continues, "One-third of the negotiators were instructed to imagine what the other side was feeling, while one-third was instructed to imagine what the other side was thinking. (The remaining third, given bland and generic instructions, was the control group.)"The result? The empathizers (feeling) struck many more deals than the control group, But the perspective takers (thinking) did even better: 75% of them managed to fashion a deal that satisfied both sides.The authors of the study, Adam Galinsky, Joe Magee, M. Inesi add Deborah Gruenfeld and another study by William Maddux showed that "Empathy...was effective but less so, and was, at times a detriment to both discovering creative solutions and self-interest."Pink also dispels the myth that extroverts make the best salespeople in today's economy and that the "Ambivert" - someone who is somewhere between an extrovert and an introvert is the rising star in moving people.If you're familiar with the classic Alec Baldwin uber-salesman scene in David Mamet's Glengarry, Glen Ross you'll know that the ABC scribbled on the chalkboard means, "Always be closing." (For movie fans, Mamet wrote that scene for Baldwin and is not in the original play).Pink has rewired and rethought the ABC of the new world of selling and it's Attunement, Buoyancy, and Clarity. Like his other books, he complements each idea with relevant case studies, strategies and a number of insight exercises.He offers six successors to the standard elevator pitch. Shows you why problem finding may be a smarter strategy than problem solving, and how skills in improvisation can dramatically improve how to move people.All of which makes To Sell Is Human - a delightfully useful read. Essentially, Pink is reframing what "selling" is all about. We are all salespeople because everyday we are selling ideas, positions, and strategies to other people. I highly recommend it.I know Dan personally and marvel how there are very few pictures of him without a purple shirt and he doesn't disappoint in To Sell Is Human. So, I requested a preview copy and bought my own Kindle version as well.I first met him at a book signing at BIF (Business Innovation Factory) and what impressed me is that he didn't simply sign books; he had short, meaningful conversations with everyone. I think he's a reluctant salesperson. Dan is more interested in sharing information and ideas than selling you a product or service.And ultimately, that's the foundation of the new age of sales - how to move others, by moving yourself.And for anyone wishing to sell candles door to door, the Pray Hands cylinder candle was a big hit.

This is a great book. It started off slow but once you get into the meat of the book you will not be able to put it down. I found myself highlighting so many passages from the book. Can't wait to read back over my highlights! Definitely worth the purchase!!

Good deal.