PDF Summary:To Sell Is Human, by Daniel H. Pink

Are you a salesperson? You might be surprised to learn that the answer is “Yes.” Hate it or love it, in the modern world, we’re all selling something, and the value of sales skills has never been higher.

To Sell Is Human explains the history, evolution, and significance of sales. It challenges commonly held assumptions by redefining the meaning of sales, re-evaluating the purpose of the salesperson, and showing you how to effectively harness sales skills to create purpose, growth, or “movement” in your life (whether it be for personal or professional gain). Using our guide, you’ll build on your inherent sales instincts to develop confidence, build connection, and generate success in your life.

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The Power of Optimism

Beyond simply boosting your morale, optimism significantly increases your ability to sell. In one study, MetLife, which hired thousands of salespeople per year, gave their new hires both an “optimism test” and a sales aptitude test. In the first year, new hires who passed both tests achieved an 8% higher success rate than those who only passed the aptitude test. By the second year, this percentage increased to 31%. Even more importantly, those who scored high on the optimism test but low on the aptitude test achieved a 21% higher success rate in their first year than those who passed just the aptitude test, and by their second year, this rate jumped to 57%.

Pink recommends building optimism into three stages of the sales process: your preparation, your handling of the sales conversation, and your evaluation afterward.

Prepare: Question Yourself

To prepare for a sales interaction, Pink advises asking yourself targeted, positive questions that help you focus on your sales goals. This boosts your confidence and motivation, and done consistently, it leads to better long-term results.

For example, before a potential sale, ask yourself, “How can I best be of service to this buyer?” Or, “How can I show the buyer this purchase is worth it?”

(Shortform note: Sales experts note that when you use interrogative self-talk to prepare for a sales interaction, it’s important to focus your questions within categories that sharpen your understanding of your buyer’s specific needs. The goal is to know exactly who you are, who your buyer is, and what value you bring to the transaction. This builds both confidence and optimism.)

Maintain: Communicate Positivity

After building optimism into your preparations, the next step is to maintain it during the sales process. It’s important to create a positive environment during a sale, both internally (for the seller), and externally (for the buyer).

Research indicates that there is a “golden ratio” of positive to negative experience. When you experience three positive sensations to one negative sensation, your well-being improves. When you experience 11 positive sensations to one negative sensation, your well-being decreases. A healthy ratio of positive to negative sensations makes the buyer more receptive, and more likely to take positive action (like make a purchase). Additionally, as a seller, when you feel positively about your product, as well as the sales process, you can more easily connect with the buyer. This increases buyer trust.

Put this information into practice by creating a friendly atmosphere, communicating positive information with a minimum 3 to 1 (and maximum 11 to 1) ratio to negative information, and speaking with conviction about what you are selling. For example, if you’re selling a car, share a number of positive aspects of the car, and then throw in a negative. Smile often, and speak highly of the across-the-board quality of the cars you sell.

(Shortform note: While there is little doubt that positive experiences improve well-being, there is doubt about the legitimacy of the golden ratio rule. According to some researchers, there is no scientific evidence that the mathematical formula the golden ratio theory is based on can be applied to feelings and well-being.)

Evaluate: Reflect With Optimism

After you complete a sales interaction, reflect on what went well. Studies show that the way we describe an experience after the fact influences how we feel about it. To reflect positively, Pink recommends starting with these three assumptions when describing a sales experience.

• Negative experiences are temporary.
• Negative experiences are circumstantial.
• Negative experiences are not personal.

Victim Mentality Versus Growth Mindset

In a sales context, a victim mentality based on negative thought patterns is detrimental and ultimately leads to chronic learned helplessness. When you see yourself as a victim, you prevent sales success because you begin to feel powerless and expect failure. A growth mindset leads to flexible optimism, supporting sales success by creating a sense of empowerment, confidence, and optimism.

A growth mindset looks like:

• An emphasis on effort

• A foundation of self-discipline

• A resilient attitude

• A sense of ownership

• A willingness to take creative initiative

Contemporary Selling Step 3: Focus

The third component of Pink’s modern sales model is creating focus, or helping customers get clarity on their needs. This entails finding problems, drawing the customer’s attention to them, and offering solutions.

For example, say you’re a tutor and a life coach. Your tutoring client is a 12-year-old boy who can’t get his grades up. You notice that he’s very smart, and you realize his grades are only low because he doesn’t have self-discipline skills (you’ve found the problem). You offer to provide him with life coaching instead of tutoring (an effective solution). His grades quickly improve.

Focus in the Midst of Noise

Your biggest challenge as a seller is to cut through the “noise” and get to the heart of your buyers’ needs. Noise can be anything that distracts from what you’re offering (examples include services that are more exciting or create a stronger sense of urgency, or any other ways buyers can spend their resources elsewhere). Create an environment for your buyer that helps them to focus on you and what you’re offering. One way to do this is by directly acknowledging and demystifying the noise upfront. For example, if you’re selling a cell phone service, you might identify each of your competitors by name and briefly note the ways they don’t serve your buyer’s needs.

Pink identifies several ways of creating focus for a customer.

#1: Problem Finding

While the traditional sales approach is about making the sale (problem solving), Pink’s method is about helping buyers clarify their needs (problem finding). You can enhance your problem-finding skills by being thorough, asking good questions, considering multiple perspectives, and staying adaptable.

For example, when you work with a new buyer, get to know them by asking questions. You can use the information you discover to help your buyer focus on their needs and decide on a solution.

(Shortform note: According to Einstein, identifying a problem is more important than solving a problem, because solving a problem requires little imagination—just the ability to engage in trial and error and to use logic. Identifying a problem requires creativity and asking innovative questions, and it unlocks new possibilities that didn’t seem to exist prior to the identification process.)

#2: Creating Contrast

Research shows we understand things more clearly when we see them in contrast with other things. You can help buyers develop focus by showing them multiple potential paths they can compare, or by using an unfavorable option to highlight the benefits of a more favorable one.

For example, if you’re selling a car, have multiple cars ready to show to the buyer, including one of lower quality than the others, which you can use to highlight the benefits of the other cars.

The Contrast Principle: Influencing Focus

In The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini explores how comparison shapes the way we perceive things and how that can be harnessed for sales success. According to Cialdini, when we experience two things at the same time or one after another, we automatically compare the value of the second to the value of the first. Our opinion about the second item is heavily influenced by the way we perceive the first item. For example, if you’re buying curtains, and the salesperson first shows you a set that you find ugly, followed by a set that you’d consider average on their own, the second set will seem better looking in comparison to the first set. You’re more likely to buy the average set than you would have been had they been the only option you were given.

#3: Selling Experience

Another way to help customers focus is to sell experiences rather than products. Experiences facilitate connection and opportunities for joy or growth. Framing a sale through the lens of experience focuses a buyer on how they will benefit and is more likely to get them emotionally invested in making a purchase.

For example, rather than selling a “cellphone,” sell a “tool for staying connected to the people you care about.” This keeps the buyer focused on the purpose of the phone and how it will bring them a positive experience.

(Shortform note: Experiences often resonate more than products because experiences are easier to relate to: You’ll connect more meaningfully to your buyer if you emphasize your experience with it (for example, “I have a passion for photography, so having the largest storage option on my phone allows me to hold onto all those memories”). Additionally, modern buyers care more about what they do than about what they own (for instance, 72% of millennials prefer experiences to products).)

#4: Providing a Path

People are more inclined to act when they have a path to follow. Pink recommends providing buyers with a clear path to solving their problem (ideally one that requires the least amount of effort possible).

For example, a therapist doing a consultation with a potential client can assess their therapy goals, then provide them with a structured timeline for meeting those goals. To keep it simple, she can offer them a package of sessions instead of having them pay as they go. Giving them clear steps and a clear time frame makes them more likely to commit to working with her.

The Power of the Call to Action

A call to action makes it easy for the buyer to take an immediate, specific action. When you don’t include a call to action, or steps the buyer can take, in your sales pitch, you are more likely to lose a sale or a customer. There are two lines of thinking that lead to this pitfall:

• Assuming that the buyer has enough clarity and motivation to take action on their own.

• Fear that a call to action is too aggressive and will push the buyer away.

Even if a buyer knows what they want, always give them clear information and directions. This will ensure a smooth closure of the sale. Rather than overwhelming buyers, having a clear, simple path to take relieves them of the pressure to act from uncertainty.

The New Paradigm: Say Goodbye to Sales and Hello to Service

Pink argues that the contemporary sales method is ultimately about providing a service to others. This means you should sell with the intent to improve someone else’s life.

He identifies two underlying steps to service-oriented sales.

Step #1: Make It Personal

Often, salespeople try to be impersonal and “professional.” However, this creates distance rather than connection between you and your customer. Instead, Pink recommends making the transaction personal by showing your passion for the product—you’re sold on it and want others to benefit from it too. You come across as focused on service rather than profit, making your pitch more credible. Making sales personal in this way improves both your success and your service.

For example, if you’re selling cell phones, but you’re not really passionate about it, you’ll see potential buyers as a means to an end (profit). In contrast, if you really love selling phones, you’ll see potential buyers as people you can help. This will automatically improve your service.

Why Serving the Customer Matters More Than Ever

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people into social isolation, fear, and distrust. Under those circumstances, being of service through home delivery and digital contact became more than just a sales strategy, it became a customer lifeline. Here are five reasons service matters:

• Service to the customer creates a sense of stability.

• It supports human connection.

• It provides high value.

• It reduces stress for clients.

• It creates meaningful customer experiences.

Step #2: Make It Purposeful

Pink advocates taking the new sales model a step further by connecting what you’re selling to a broader purpose. Studies show the desire to serve is innate. You are most successful when you believe you are serving not just yourself or the buyer, but a larger purpose. He recommends thinking about how your service can improve society as a whole and framing it that way to potential buyers.

For example, if you’re a teacher, remind yourself that you’re not only getting a paycheck, or improving the lives of the people you’re educating, but you’re also preparing those people to take what they learn and improve the world.

The Service-Based Sales Model

The service-based model is an increasingly popular approach to sales easily applied to any niche. According to life coach Linda Luke, the key aspects of service-based selling are as follows:

• Start: Begin with attentive listening and asking well-thought-out questions.

• Evaluate: Assess your client based on their needs.

• Recommend: Recommend solutions that meet their needs.

• Value: Know the value of your service and be able to articulate that value to buyers.

• Interest: Assess how interested they are in what you have to offer.

• Commitment: Negotiate a transaction that meets both your needs.

• Extend: Go above and beyond to be of service and maintain communication beyond the initial transaction.

Focus on these components to provide the most mutually beneficial transaction for all involved.

Bonus Step: Enlarge Your Service Mindset

Pink explains that when you upsell, or convince a customer to buy an add-on or higher-cost product, you’re generally serving your own best interest. Your mindset is, “What can others do for me?” In contrast, when you “upserve” (to use Pink’s term), you’re helping buyers to meet needs they didn’t know they had. This is a mindset of, “What can I do for others?”

For example, say you’re selling a phone. Your buyer is elderly and needs something simple. If you’re focused on getting more money from her, you might try to sell her a high-tech, expensive phone with lots of features, because it will get you a commission. But with a service mindset, you’ll help her find the most reliable, easy-to-use product for her needs, even if it means you make less money.

Why Is Service-Oriented Selling So Effective?

Service-oriented selling works because it builds trust. Sales trust is a dynamic in which the buyer believes in you as an authority and believes you care about serving their best interests. This trust matters for three reasons:

• Trust supports a long-term seller-buyer relationship.

• Trust affords you the benefit of the doubt when you make mistakes.

• Trust keeps your buyers coming back and helps you get new ones.