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Sunday, December 3, 2017

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving OthersTo Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So this "read" was not my finest moment. I was on a flight over the Pacific, and this audio book was available as an entertainment option. A few hours into it I was pretty beat, and I ended up finishing it after I arrived at my hotel, but overall I can say that I was of varying mental states during this one, so that is underlying my opinion here.

This book had a bit of a slow start, and a meandering feel to it. I liked the subject, the content, and the various ideas it brought up, but it just seemed to wander from story to story in an effort to make the intended points. It reminded me of the style of the books I have read by Chip and Dan Heath, and not ironically, Pink praises those same books (Switch and Made To Stick) in this one, so he obviously has an appreciation for their style, and has a similar style himself. I was also not as taken with either of those books.

About selling, I agree with Pink's assertions. Selling is about serving, the act is closer to improv, i.e. thinking on ones feet, than a scripted monologue. Also, I appreciated his ideas regarding problem identification vs problem solving. All of that was great. What was hard for me was the application of it all. Maybe it was due to my circumstances when I listened to it, but I feel like I would need to put a lot of effort into sitting down and deciding what to apply from this book and how to apply it. The best I can come up with is to suggest my VP of Sales read it, and see if he comes up with something actionable from it.

So overall, yes it is a good read, and the content is great. If you like the works of the Heath brothers, then this is right up your alley. Otherwise, keep a notebook and pen handy as you listen and try to figure out how to apply what you learn as you go, because you are kind of on your own there. (I'll edit this if I ever re-read it in a better mental state and find it to be different. YMMV.)

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