In his book, “To Sell is Human” Daniel Pink explains how everybody sells in some capacity. He says that 8 out of 9 people in the workforce are in some kind of sales position because they must know the art of persuasion. He says that normal workers move others by persuasion and influence. On page 40, Pink defines sales as “the ability to influence, to persuade, and to change behavior, while striking a balance between what others want and what you can provide them.”<\/p>\n
Daniel Pink was interviewed for Forbes magazine regarding his book. In the article, the interviewer asked him several questions.<\/p>\n
The first question he asks pertains to the fact that selling has a bad reputation and yet is still vital in the everyday workforce. Pink responds saying that selling earned that reputation long ago because sales used to take place in a world where the seller had much more information than the buyers. This lead to consumers getting ripped off by salesmen trying to make a buck and the term “buyer beware.” Today however, information is much more readily available to consumers which balances out the equation.<\/p>\n
Further, the interviewer asks Pink which sales tactics do not work as well as they used to in the past. One thing that Pink points out is that sellers used to always know more than the buyers. Sellers used to be able to make up things about their products to help sell. Nowadays, consumers can look up for themselves and be educated about what they are buying before they buy it.<\/p>\n