To Sell is Human

We're all in Sales now. Each day millions of people earn their keep by convincing someone else to make a purchase. They sell planes to airlines, oil shares to sheiks, cars to drivers. They sell consulting agreements, magazine subscriptions, time-shares, double glazing, broadband, fitted kitchens, car insurance, life insurance, pet insurance! Some work in fancy offices with glorious views, others in dreary cubicles, but most look exactly like you. In fact, each and every one of us spends time trying to persuade others to part with resources - money, time, attention - though most of the time we don't realise we're doing it. Parents sell their kids on going to bed. Spouses sell their partners on mowing the lawn or putting the cat out. We sell our bosses on giving us more money and more time off. And in astonishing numbers we go online to sell ourselves on Facebook, Twitter and in Match.com profiles. In this new book from the bestselling author of Drive, Dan Pink explores the ways in which we can all improve our sales skills, in every area of our lives and identifies the three personal qualities and four essential skills necessary to move people. Relying on science rather than platitudes and analysis instead of exhortation, Dan builds on his own sales experience and on the profiles of some of the world's best salespeople - and makes us look again at our own sales skills.

Review: Pink is rapidly acquiring international guru status . . . He is an engaging writer, who challenges and provokes * * Financial Times * *

Provocative and fascinating -- Malcolm Gladwell * * on Drive * *

A gifted writer who turns even the heaviest scientific study into something digestible - and often amusing - without losing his intellectual punch * * New York Post * *

Pink's ideas deserve a wide hearing. Corporate boards, in fact, could do well by kicking out their pay consultants for an hour and reading Pink's conclusions instead * * Forbes * *

Daniel Pink has issued a bold and persuasive call to bring our understanding of human motivation out of the realm of folklore and into the realm of science ... Drive will make you rethink everything you do to motivate yourself and those around you -- Richard Wiseman, author of 59 SECONDS and QUIRKOLOGY

Less a book about the conniving tricks of this slippery trade, and more of a human guide to how sales might work and be successful in the 21st century -- Ben East * * The Observer * *

Pink is clear and thoughtful - he sells his arguments beautifully * * Evening Standard * *