To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others Quotes
"I spend a significant portion of my days trying to coax others to part with resources."
"Dig beneath the sprouts of your own calendar entries and examine their roots."
"Most of what we think we understand about selling is constructed atop a foundation of assumptions that has crumbled."
"The ability to move others to exchange what they have for what we have is crucial to our survival and our happiness."
"The capacity to sell isn't some unnatural adaptation to the merciless world of commerce. It is part of who we are."
"Selling, I’ve grown to understand, is more urgent, more important, and, in its own sweet way, more beautiful than we realize."
"People usually know themselves way better than I do."
"In a world of information parity, the new guiding principle is caveat venditor—seller beware."
"Honesty, directness, and transparency have become the better, more pragmatic, long-term route."
"When simple, transactional tasks can be automated, and when information parity displaces information asymmetry, moving people depends on more sophisticated skills and requires as much intellect and creativity as designing a house, reading a CT scan, or, say, writing a book."
"For starters, non-sales selling, especially in domains such as Ed-Med, has nothing to do with cash."
"Each of us—because we’re human—has a selling instinct, which means that anyone can master the basics of moving others."
"Attunement is the ability to bring one’s actions and outlook into harmony with other people and with the context you’re in."
"Always be closing. Its simplicity makes it understandable; its alphabeticality makes it memorable."
"Remapped conditions require revamped navigation. So here in Part Two, I introduce the new ABCs of moving others: A—Attunement, B—Buoyancy, C—Clarity."
"Effective perspective-taking, attuning yourself with others, hinges on three principles."
"Extraverts make the best salespeople. Sociable, assertive, lively, and sensation seeking: It’s the ideal profile for moving others."
"Ambiverts are the best movers because they’re the most skilled attuners."
"Talking with each other, one to one, is human beings’ most powerful form of attunement."
"The first thing we hear is panting. That’s followed by the clumpety-clump of four feet on the hallway carpet."
"It is in fact the discovery and creation of problems rather than any superior knowledge, technical skill, or craftsmanship that often sets the creative person apart from others in his field."
"In a world where buyers have ample information and an array of choices, the pitch is often the first word, but it's rarely the last."
"The only way to be heard is to push brevity to its breaking point."
"Good improvisers seem telepathic; everything looks prearranged. This is because they accept all offers made."
"Listening without some degree of intimacy isn't really listening."
"Trouble is, most of us don’t have any method to attack the madness."
"The best pitches are short, sweet, and easy to retweet."
"If you can answer that question, and convey it to others, they're likely to be moved."
"Clarity on how to think without clarity on how to act can leave people unmoved."
"Part of being an innovative leader is being able to frame a problem in interesting ways."
"Understanding that one percent, and being able to explain it to others, is the hallmark of strong minds and good attorneys."
"Never argue. To win an argument is to lose a sale."
"In improv, you never try to get someone to do something. That’s coercion, not creativity."
"Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak."
"There are people who prefer to say ‘Yes,’ and there are people who prefer to say ‘No.’"
"Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?"
"Sales and non-sales selling are ultimately about service."
"The most cost-effective way to prevent these infections is for doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to regularly wash their hands."
"The successful seller must feel some commitment that his product offers mankind as much altruistic benefit as it yields the seller in money."