Selling is helping people to do what they're already inclined to do.
Interpretation
Selling is about facilitating a customer's natural desires.
This quote by Daniel H. Pink emphasizes that the essence of selling lies in understanding and aiding customers in fulfilling their existing inclinations or needs. Rather than forcing a sale, effective selling involves recognizing what the customer is already interested in and guiding them towards a solution that meets those needs, thereby creating a mutually beneficial transaction.
In practice
In a sales training workshop, a facilitator can use this quote to highlight the importance of understanding customer needs.
While complying can be an effective strategy for physical survival, it's a lousy one for personal fulfillment. Living a satisfying life requires more than simply meeting the demands of those in control. Yet in our offices and our classrooms we have way too much compliance and way too little engagement. The former might get you through the day, but only the latter will get you through the night.
Succeeding makes us feel good. But beating someone else makes us feel really good. Comparing ourselves to others and coming out on top creates a sense of entitlement. And when we feel entitled, we cheat more because, of course, the rules don't apply to awesome people like us.
When we make progress and get better at something, it is inherently motivating. In order for people to make progress, they have to get feedback and information on how they're doing.
We have this myth that extroverts are better salespeople. As a result, extroverts are more likely to enter sales; extroverts are more likely to get promoted in sales jobs. But if you look at the correlation between extroversion and actual sales performance - that is, how many times the cash register actually rings - the correlation's almost zero.
Too many people hold a very narrow view of what motivates us. They believe that the only way to get us moving is with the jab of a stick or the promise of a carrot. But if you look at over 50 years of research on motivation, or simply scrutinize your own behavior, it's pretty clear human beings are more complicated than that.
Greatness and nearsightedness are incompatible. Meaningful achievement depends on lifting one's sights and pushing toward the horizon.
Selling is something we do for our clients - not to our clients.
Selling is essentially transference of feeling.
Music is a big factor in helping the illusion of the film come to life. The same way music brings back different periods of our lives.
We now know that something between 85 and 90 percent of most software product features are unwanted and unneeded by customers. That is an enourmous ammount of waste of time and money that ends up on the floor.
Corporate responsibility extends not only to the customers, the resources and the workers of the present, but also to those of the future.
I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if that is helping others, I can at least know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth.
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