Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Fine, kind of boring. Felt pretty self-evident, mostly. All about developing a good mix of listening to the other person and understand yourself/product well enough to push back.
I have always hated sales. I am who Dan Pink wrote this book to, because I have always found sales not only the most disingenuous and phony profession, due to the fact that the vast majority of products out there overpromise and underdeliver, but also creates shallow individuals always looking for an angle, and all of the false friendship and kindness that comes with it. DESPITE my deep cynicism going in, I was profoundly touched by this book. Daniel Pink is an incisive writer with a simple premise, we are all salesmen. If we are not directly selling products to others, then we are selling ideas, to our bosses, our kids, our friends, etc. We are selling ourselves, and hoping that others will buy. Non-sales selling drastically increases in importance in a knowledge-based economy, such as the one we live in, along with the connected world globalization has given us. The final moral: selling is what you make of it, and there is a better way, from the original caveat emptor to the current caveat venditor. Because those we sell to have far more information that in the past, shady sales tactics are rarely viable, it is now about true service and quality. It has given those who sell a way to reach an ideal win-win scenario by selling something that they truly believe in, going the extra mile as a seller, all while building deep and lasting relationships.
This was fascinating. Forget the out of date image of a sales person being a slick man in a polyester plaid suit trying to sell a lemon on a used car lot. This book is about human behavior, motivation, and about how EVERYONE "sells" (if you're a parent trying to convince a child to do their homework, that's selling. If your job function has nothing to do with sales, but you're trying to convince others in your company to take a certain action, then that's selling).
I listened to the audio version of this book, but intend to buy a hard copy as I want to highlight and take notes.
I listened to the audio version of this book, but intend to buy a hard copy as I want to highlight and take notes.
I like the sample cases with real examples to apply his illustrations. It's funny to realize that we are all in sales these days. Better to embrace it, improve upon it, and make our work better for everyone.
This book took me f o r e v e r to finish- I think it's an interesting topic but for some reason I wasn't hooked. I liked Drive a lot better.
Dan Pink's works are always inspirational. This book is no less. I suspected that we all had a bit of a salesman in us, now Mr Pink shows us how to harness that and learn how to move and motivate people. Nothing underhanded - its all about being human.
This book was well researched, as Pink's always are. For me, it fell into the trap that so many non-fiction books do: relaying research, and failing to signpost action points.
I work now in direct sales selling (personal training services), and for years worked in non-sales selling (education). I don't consider sales a dirty word, because I am helping people to solve a problem - not trying to convince them of some shit they don't need.
Therefore sales books which try to convince me that direct sales positions aren't a sleazy job miss the mark because I don't think they are sleazy to begin with - unless you're being a sleaze about it.
Better than most NF in the area, but still just alright.
I work now in direct sales selling (personal training services), and for years worked in non-sales selling (education). I don't consider sales a dirty word, because I am helping people to solve a problem - not trying to convince them of some shit they don't need.
Therefore sales books which try to convince me that direct sales positions aren't a sleazy job miss the mark because I don't think they are sleazy to begin with - unless you're being a sleaze about it.
Better than most NF in the area, but still just alright.
I like pop psychology books that provide a serious and accurate review of research while applying it to some phenomena, like, for example, interpersonal persuasion. I love Cialdini's classic book "Influence" and was hoping for a spin on the same topic from "To Sell Is Human." I was disappointed to realize that Pink's book was written for the lowest common denominator of consumer, someone with little interest in the background research who seeks only quick uncomplicated sound bites.
My first clue that this book wasn't for me was the slim size of the paperback volume, coupled with the large text size. Between the number of pages and the number of words per page, it was unlikely there'd be a lot of meat in this book. I found the content extremely heavy on the anecdote and light on the supporting research. I didn't finish the book, although I did skim to the end, and even so I felt my time had been wasted by interacting with it.
I'll caveat that I work in the psychology field and so will be more critical than a reader without this background, but still. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. If you want to learn how to strengthen your persuasion skills, pick up "Influence" instead.
My first clue that this book wasn't for me was the slim size of the paperback volume, coupled with the large text size. Between the number of pages and the number of words per page, it was unlikely there'd be a lot of meat in this book. I found the content extremely heavy on the anecdote and light on the supporting research. I didn't finish the book, although I did skim to the end, and even so I felt my time had been wasted by interacting with it.
I'll caveat that I work in the psychology field and so will be more critical than a reader without this background, but still. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. If you want to learn how to strengthen your persuasion skills, pick up "Influence" instead.
Really interesting way to look at sales and even my own career
Lot's of good research and practical advice. The material presented sits with me much better than traditional "old school" selling techniques, and explains why the differences are necessary (in short: information asymmetry isn't usually a thing anymore). I particularly liked the "Sample Case" wrap ups to each section.