To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink was the first sales book I decided to read this year. I am very happy I read this one before any other, because it contains one key tenant about sales in the modern age: informational abundance has transformed sales into a profession of informational parity that increases the seller’s risk.
The time of the sleazy, rip-you-off salesman has passed. Mr. Pink says they can no longer exist for two big reasons. One, the informational symmetry of our society, crystallized by the internet, allows buyers to be more educated about the products they’re buying. The information that consumers gather is used to make more informed purchases, and avoid bad deals. The example Mr. Pink gives is used cars. Prior to the internet the car knowledge of the average consumer was very limited. This allowed the people who knew a lot about the product, the sellers, to make one sided deals where they benefited much more than the customer. Now, websites like Kelly Blue Book ensure that the customer has a basic knowledge of the vehicle. This knowledge parity restricts salesmen from making one sided sales.
Secondly, the internet changes the risk complex for sellers. In the past if the sleazy, rip-you-off salesman ripped someone off the buyer will badmouth the seller to their family and neighbors. In this situation the salesmen would only lose access to a couple clientele. The internet changes that. Now if a salesman rips someone off the buyer will go to their entire social network and complain. Thousands of people can see “sleazy, rip-me-off salesman ripped me off!” and know to avoid him. That is thousands of sales gone after one bad one. For sellers the risks has never been greater. This leads to a key phrase of the book: seller beware. In the past the seller had all the power because of the informational asymmetry. Now the seller must be more aware then ever because that asymmetry no longer exists.
In part two Mr. Pink goes on to give a couple behavioral recommendations he calls: “The New ABCs of Sales.” First is “attunement.” Pink defines attunement as: “the ability to bring one’s actions and outlook into harmony with other people and with the context you’re in.” After he defines it he gives some examples of how to bring oneself into closer attunement with another person. The second behavioral recommendation is “buoyancy.” To Pink buoyancy is simply the ability to remain emotionally optimistic despite the constant rain of rejection, rebuffs and refusals. After he defines it he gives some examples of how to remain buoyant before, during and after a tough day of selling. Lastly, C is for clarity. Essentially clarity is broadly defined as clarity of purpose. Pink doesn’t give a specific definition. He only provides a broad sense of what he thinks clarity is. I believe clarity to be a catchall term Pink uses to cram many sales behaviors into the book he did not want to leave out. Ironically, that cramming makes the definition seem somewhat unclear. The exercises are good for gathering a general sense of what Pink means when he says clarity.
The third, and final, part looks at the change of traditional sales processes to accommodate the new informational parity. Pink describes how to make a pitch, improvise on your feet and be a better servant. Each of these processes undergoes minor changes but in essence is the same as they always have been.
The first part of Mr. Pink’s book is incredible. Mr. Pink’s thesis will be of incalculable value as I move forward in the reading of sales books. The idea that informational parity now exists has the potential to clarify thousands upon thousands of people’s flawed sales processes. His thesis will help me sort out the good strategies from the bad strategies. I will not have to waste time practicing outdated selling techniques that will hurt my bottom line in the long run. The rest of the book is essentially the consequences of that change. Parts two and three are how to behave, and the changes of a couple common processes, under the new framework. Most importantly Mr. Pink has given me a template by which I can judge other works. Mr. Pink closes part one saying: “Honesty, directness and transparency have become the better, more pragmatic long-term route.”
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