“The old approach has outlived it’s usefulness:” Dan Pink talks to Blue Sky about sales, leadership and making it human

“In the new world of sales, being able to ask the right questions is more valuable than producing the right answers.” 

So says Daniel H. Pink – New York Times bestselling author, writer for Harvard Business Review and Wired, and, according to Thinkers50, one of the 50 most influential business thinkers in the world – in his most recent book To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. Pink’s previous books A Whole New Mind and Drive have had a profound impact on the leadership and development world, and To Sell Is Human – a powerful mix of social science, research and stories – promises to do the same for sales. 

Pink’s assertion that “we’re all in sales now” reflects the urgency of its mission. His research has shown that not only are one in nine workers in sales, but we all spend 40% of our work time selling something, whatever our role: “not just objects, but ideas and techniques. We are persuading, negotiating and pitching, like lawyers selling juries on their verdict or public figures selling their personal brand on Twitter”. 

As his video on ‘the new ABCs of selling’ brilliantly demonstrates, a job that was once “a task for slick glad-handers who skate through life on a shoeshine and a smile” has been utterly disrupted in a world where customers have an abundance of reviews, ratings, and comparison websites at their fingertips. Deception and patter no longer cut the mustard; instead, fairness, honesty, trust and a passion for authentic human service are the watchwords of the new sales elite. 

As Pink puts it, “If the person you’re selling to agrees to buy, will his or her life improve? When your interaction is over, will the world be a better place than when you began? If the answer to either of these questions is no, you’re doing something wrong.” 

In other words: if you don’t make it feel human and easy, you won’t make the sale. 

With this in mind, we asked Dan to give us his opinion on how both leaders and those on the sales front line can start to make it feel more human. 

BS: Great to speak to you, Dan. What’s your advice (or some of it, anyway) to leaders who are trying to create an environment where their people sell in a more human way? 

DP: Start small. We have a tendency to want to change everything right away. But many times, the more effective strategy is to try one thing, see if it works, refine it as necessary, then try it again at a larger scale. Also, it’s important for people to keep in mind why they’re doing this. Yes, it’s to create a more humane setting. But it’s also because it works. 

BS: Your ABCs are so straightforward. Why do you think lots of sales people still focus on the wrong things? 

DP: Learned behaviour. If I do something one way on Tuesday, the odds are very strong I’ll do it the same way on Wednesday. What many people haven’t realised is that the old approach, which made sense at the time, has outlived its usefulness. Today, when buyers — of anything — have lots of information, lots of choices, and lots of ways to talk bad, selling, persuading, influencing requires a different approach. 

BS: What makes a good ‘human’ interaction for you? 

DP: If both sides are listening — truly listening, rather than waiting for the other side to stop talking. Selling, I’ve grown to understand, is more urgent, more important, and, in its own sweet way, more beautiful than we realize. It is part of human nature.