Chapter 1 – We’re All in Sales Now

The notion that the internet would render salespeople obsolete has been persistent, but it hasn’t quite materialized in the way some expected. While the sales landscape has undoubtedly transformed with the advent of the internet, smartphones, and e-commerce, the human element of persuasion and influence remains as crucial as ever. In fact, between 2000 and today, the number of sales jobs has increased, and the U.S. workforce in sales has remained steady; 1 in 9 Americans work in sales.

Indeed, the skills associated with sales—such as persuasion, communication, and negotiation—are not confined to traditional sales roles. They are pervasive across various professions and even in our personal lives. Selling involves effectively communicating value and influencing decisions, whether convincing a patient to adhere to a treatment plan, persuading a jury to reach a verdict, or enticing potential funders to invest in a startup. These skills are essential in navigating everyday interactions in the workplace, social settings, or personal endeavours. Entrepreneurs woo funders, writers sweet-talk producers, coaches cajole players. Regardless of our profession, we regularly deliver presentations and make pitches. We attempt to persuade the boss to allocate additional funds from the budget or the human resources department to add more vacation days. Many of us also spend our spare time selling, whether it’s handmade crafts on Etsy or heartfelt causes on Donors Choose. We now leverage online platforms to sell ourselves—on Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and Match.com profiles. Instead of rendering salespeople obsolete, technology has expanded their capabilities and the reach of selling. The ability to effectively sell ideas, products, and oneself remains invaluable in the digital age.

A study by Gallup titled ‘What Do You Do at Work?’ found that people spend about 40% of their time at work engaged in non-sales selling—persuading, influencing, and convincing others. We devote 24 minutes of every hour to moving others. People consider this aspect of their work crucial to their professional success. The study also reveals a startling fact: not only do 1 in 9 Americans work in sales, but so do the other 8 in 9. Whether in traditional sales roles or engaging in non-sales forms of persuasion, we’re all in sales now.

Chapter 2 – Entrepreneurship, Elasticity, and Ed-Med

Entrepreneurship: Brooklyn Brine is a pickle company with one owner and ten employees offering fourteen varieties of pickles. It exemplifies the rise of small entrepreneurs, representing the first of three reasons more individuals find themselves in sales. Large organizations typically rely on specialization, where roles are divided among departments. A two-person company may not require a dedicated H.R. department, but a larger organization certainly does. In contrast, small businesses necessitate wearing multiple hats simultaneously, one of which is the selling cap.

For instance, Jones, the owner of the pickle company, dedicates his time to moving products and others. He works tirelessly, often seven days a week, meeting distributors, sharing the company’s story, and persuading stores to carry his products. When he’s in the storefront, he influences employees to perform their tasks diligently and skillfully. His aspiration isn’t solely about financial gain but also about maintaining an honest product in an honest company, which demands a balance between traditional and non-sales selling. Such is the multifaceted life of an entrepreneur, where proficiency across various domains is imperative.

The “What Do You Do at Work” survey reveals that a significant % of respondents, 38%, work for themselves or run their businesses, even if only on the side.

Contrary to expectations, technological advancements have not rendered salespeople obsolete; instead, they have empowered more individuals to become sellers. Platforms like Etsy have enabled small businesses and artisans to access a broader market. At the same time, the app economy, fueled by smartphones, has generated half a million jobs in the U.S. alone. Additionally, technologies such as Square, PayHere, and GoPayment have simplified credit card transactions, allowing individuals to accept payments directly on their mobile devices.

Elasticity: In many enterprise software companies, the conventional sales model involves salespeople reaching out to potential customers to generate new business. However, Atlassian adopts a different approach. Potential customers initiate the relationship by downloading a trial version of the company’s products and can then seek support from Atlassian’s staff. Unlike traditional sales tactics, Atlassian’s support staff focuses solely on assisting customers in understanding the software without pressuring them to commit or offering time-limited discounts. They believe that the value and integrity of their assistance can encourage hesitant buyers to make a purchase. At Atlassian, creating exceptional software involves more than just coding. It entails understanding customer needs and product usage and crafting something distinctive and compelling enough to drive sales. They embrace the philosophy that every one a customer interacts with effectively becomes a salesperson.

In the past, organizations were highly segmented, with skills often fixed within specific domains. However, in today’s dynamic business environment, skills are no longer rigid, and individuals are expected to adapt and contribute beyond their designated areas.

Companies like Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, can go from being a legend one day to a laggard the next. Retail video rental may be a cash cow until Netflix disrupts the industry entirely. The business cycle fluctuates unpredictably from unsustainable highs to unbearable lows, resembling a satanic roller coaster ride.

Ed-Med:  The Ed-Med sector, encompassing roles from community college instructors to proprietors of test prep companies and from genetic counsellors to registered nurses, has become the largest job sector in the U.S. economy and is rapidly growing globally. In the United States, Ed-Med has contributed significantly more new jobs in the past decade than all other sectors combined.

Both educators and healthcare practitioners play pivotal roles in moving people. To sell effectively is to convince someone else to part with resources—not to deprive them but to leave them better off in the end.

For instance, an algebra teacher aims to persuade students to invest resources like time, attention, and effort in learning to leave them better off when the term ends than at the beginning of the course. Similarly, in healthcare, a physical therapist helping someone recover from an injury requires that person to allocate resources—once again, time, attention, and effort—because doing so, despite the pain, will leave the patient healthier than if they had kept those resources to themselves. Professionals in education and healthcare essentially engage in sales, albeit in a non-traditional form known as non-sales selling. Their work involves convincing individuals to invest resources for their well-being, underscoring the transformative impact of their roles in these vital sectors.

Chapter 3 – From Caveat Emptor to Caveat Venditor

What do people think of sales? When asked, I got a list of adjectives and interjections that people offered: slimy, difficult, annoying, pushy, challenging, necessary, yuck, hard, sleazy, aggressive, boring, uncomfortable, manipulative, fun, essential, dishonest, scary. Of the most commonly mentioned words, only five have a positive connotation, while the rest are negative.

Historically, information asymmetry between buyers and sellers has been a source of distrust and suspicion. If the seller knows much more about the product than the buyer, the buyer gets suspicious. What’s the seller concealing? Am I being hoodwinked? If the car is so great, why is he getting rid of it? As a result, the buyer may be willing to pay only very little – or forgo purchasing the car altogether. When sellers know more than buyers, buyers must beware. In a world of information asymmetry, the guiding principle is caveat emptor – buyer beware.

However, the advent of the internet and access to vast amounts of information has shifted this imbalance. Buyers can now research products, sellers, and prices extensively before making a purchase. They can check sellers’ credibility, consult online forums for reviews, and verify vehicle histories, among other things.

While buyers may not be fully informed in an ideal sense, they are no longer as vulnerable to asymmetrical information as they once were. This shift has implications for sales practices, as the traditional perception of sales as slimy and sleazy becomes outdated. In a world of information parity, buyers and sellers must be cautious, leading to a new guiding principle: caveat venditor—seller beware.

In the old days, customers drove from dealership to dealership, collecting what intelligence they could. Today, the buyers are more informed and have done extensive research before they show up. Back then, the factory invoice of a car was locked in a safe. The seller didn’t know the cost of the car they were selling. Today, the customer is telling the seller. In today’s world, sellers are no longer protectors and purveyors of information; they’re the curators and clarifiers of it—helping to make sense of the blizzard of facts, data and options. It’s now a collective collaboration. If the customer has any questions at all, I’ll say let’s go to chevy.com and figure out the answer together.

As long as flawed and fallible human beings walk the planet, caveat emptor remains useful guidance. I heed this principle, and so should you. But the fact that some people will take the low road doesn’t mean that lots of people will. When the seller no longer holds an information advantage, and the buyer has the means and the opportunity to talk back, the low road is a perilous path.

Chapter 4 – Attunement  

In the 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin schools four middle-aged men on how to sell. He writes the first three letters of the alphabet, “A-B-C,” and explains A – Always, B- be C – Closing. Always be closing. Successful salespeople, like successful hunters, never relent in pursuing their prey. They have one single goal: Pushing the transaction to a conclusion – your conclusion and getting the person across the table to sign on the dotted line. The simplicity of this principle and its alphabeticality make it memorable. It worked well in the old world, where buyers had minimal choices and information asymmetry was prevalent. When all of us are in sales, none of us has much of an information edge, and hence, we now use the new ABCs of moving others: A – Attunement, B- Buoyancy, and C- Clarity.

Attunement (Effective Perspective Taking) – The ability to align one’s actions and mindset with those of others and the surrounding context is crucial in effectively interacting with and influencing people. It hinges on three key principles:

1. Increase your power by reducing it– Power leads individuals to anchor too heavily on their vantage point. Start your encounters assuming that you’re in a position of lower power. When you have fewer resources, you will be more attuned to the context around you. This helps us to understand others’ viewpoints more accurately and, as a result, effectively persuade them.
2. Use your head as much as your heart – Perspective-taking is a cognitive capacity; it’s mostly about thinking. Empathy is an emotional response; it’s mostly about feeling. Both are crucial. Traditional sales and non-sales selling often involve competing imperatives—cooperation versus competition, group gain versus individual advantage. Pushing too hard is counterproductive, and feeling too deeply isn’t necessarily the answer either. Perspective-taking seems to enable the proper calibration between the two poles, allowing us to adjust and attune ourselves in ways that leave both sides better off. Empathy can help build enduring relationships and defuse conflicts. Although empathy is valuable and virtuous, perspective-taking is more effective when it comes to moving others. It’s more beneficial to get inside their heads than to have them inside one’s own heart. 
3. Mimic strategically – Mimicry, or the tendency to mirror others’ behaviours and expressions, is a natural human phenomenon. We often do what others do – mirroring back their “accents and speech patterns, facial expressions, overt behaviours and affective responses. Strategic mimicry (when a colleague crosses her arms or takes a sip of water – do the same) can enhance rapport and cooperation, leading to more positive outcomes in negotiations and interactions. Waitresses who repeated diners’ orders word for word earned 70 percent more tips than those who paraphrased orders. Customers with servers who mimicked were more satisfied with their dining experience.

Similarly, subtle touches or physical contact can also influence behaviour and perception. Restaurant servers who lightly touched patrons received larger tips. Similarly, when salespeople lightly touched prospective buyers, those buyers rated them far more positively than they rated salespeople who didn’t touch them.

The Ambivert Advantage

Individuals high on extraversion are characterized as sociable, assertive, lively, and sensation-seeking. thus making them the best salespeople. Moving others requires interacting with others—and social situations, which can drain the energy of introverts. Extraverts’ comfort with other people also means they don’t shrink from making requests, and such assertiveness helps, whether you’re convincing a prospective client to hire your public relations firm or asking a stranger to switch seats on a train. Extraverts are friendly and gregarious, which means they’re more likely to strike up the lively conversations that lead to relationships and, ultimately, perhaps, to sales. Finally, extroverts seek stimulation by their very nature and the energy and enthusiasm that bubble up can be infectious, not to mention conducive to many forms of influence and persuasion—sociable, assertive, lively, and sensation.

Studies conducted by Adam Grant found that while introverted sales reps earned an average of $120 per hour and extroverted ones earned $125 per hour, ambiverts earned significantly more, averaging nearly $155 per hour. The highest-earning salespeople (averaging $208 per hour) in Grant’s study were those with an extraversion score of 4.0 at the midpoint, indicating a balanced approach.

The study found that extroverts often stumble over themselves. They talk too much and listen too little, which dulls their understanding of others’ perspectives. They can fail to strike the proper balance between asserting and holding back, which can be read as pushy and drive people away. Introverts, on the other hand, are too shy to initiate and too timid to close a sale. Introverts are geared to inspect, while extroverts are geared to respond. Ambiverts, however, can strike the right balance. They know when to speak up and when to shut up. They achieve harmony with a broader range of people and a more varied set of circumstances. They find the optimal balance between assertiveness and restraint.

In summary, attunement involves:

• Understanding and adapting to others’ perspectives.
• Utilizing cognitive and emotional empathy.
• Strategically employing mimicry and physical touch to foster rapport and cooperation in interpersonal interactions.

Chapter 5 – Buoyancy

Buoyancy – The ability to remain resilient and stay afloat amid the ocean of rejection is an essential quality in moving others. It has three components which apply before, during and after any effort to move others.

Before: Interrogative Self-Talk

The hardest part of selling for a salesman occurs before his well-polished shoes even touch the streets. Just getting out of the house and facing people is the stiffest challenge—it’s confronting that big, unknown, faceless person for the first time.

While most sales gurus recommend telling yourself you can do it (to keep you bobbing in an ocean of rejection), social science shows a different, more nuanced reality. Humans often engage in self-talk, which can be positive (I am strong) or negative (I am weak to finish this race; I’ve never been good at math). Whether it’s chest-thumping or ego-bashing, this self-talk tends to be declarative, stating what is or what will be.

Bob the Builder, a familiar character from children’s television, exemplifies a unique approach to self-talk that can be surprisingly effective. In contrast to the typical positive or declarative self-talk, Bob engages in questioning self-talk to motivate himself and his team. His signature phrase, “Can we fix it?” encapsulates this approach.

Social scientists have found that while positive self-talk is generally beneficial, questioning self-talk can be even more effective. Instead of making statements or declarations, asking questions prompts individuals to consider possibilities, strategies, and solutions. In Bob’s case, asking whether they can fix a problem encourages proactive thinking and problem-solving among his team members.

Researchers asked one group of people whether they would solve the puzzles and the second group to tell themselves they would. The self-questioning group solved nearly 50% more puzzles than the self-affirming group.

There are two key reasons why interrogative self-talk is so effective.

1. The act of asking questions prompts individuals to consider strategies and resources necessary for success. This process encourages deeper reflection and planning, leading to more effective action. 
2. Interrogative self-talk can evoke intrinsic motivations for pursuing a goal. By reflecting on the reasons for their actions, individuals are reminded of their internal motivations, which are often more powerful than external pressures. 

During: Positivity Ratios

Conventional wisdom suggests that negotiators shouldn’t necessarily be nasty and brutish but should remain tough-minded and poker-faced.

In a study, participants were presented with the same terms and conditions for a catering service. However, the delivery of these terms varied among three groups. The first group received a friendly and inviting presentation, with the speaker smiling often and nodding in agreement. The second group experienced an antagonistic and intimidating delivery, while the third group received a presentation delivered in a monotonic, pragmatic manner. Surprisingly, those who heard the positive-inflected pitch were twice as likely to accept the deal as those who heard the negative one, even though the terms were identical.

Negative emotions narrow people’s vision and prompt behaviour toward immediate survival. Positive emotions, however, broaden people’s ideas about possible actions, making them more receptive and creative. Negative emotions help us see trees; positive ones reveal forests.

The Golden Ratio of Positivity

• 1 to 1 Ratio – Individuals with an equal balance of positive and negative emotions showed no higher well-being than those with predominantly negative emotions. 
• 2 to 1 Ratio – Individuals with a ratio of positive to negative emotions of 2 to 1 did not report higher happiness levels than those with negative emotions.
• 3 to 1 Ratio – Once positive emotions outnumbered negative emotions by a ratio of 3 to 1— for every three instances of feeling gratitude, interest or contentment, they experienced only one instance of anger, guilt or embarrassment – people generally flourished.
• 11 to 1 Ratio – Once the ratio hits 11 to 1, where positive emotions heavily outweigh negative emotions, there is a diminishing return on well-being. Excessive positivity can lead to self-delusion and hinder self-improvement. Appropriate negativity is essential. Without it, behaviour patterns calcify. Negative emotions offer us feedback on our performance, information on what’s working and what’s not and hints about how to do better.

Healthy positivity ratios are a calibration between two competing pulls: levity and gravity. Levity is that unseen force that lifts you skyward, whereas gravity is the opposing force that pulls you earthward. Unchecked levity leaves you flighty, ungrounded and unreal. Unchecked gravity leaves you collapsed in a heap of misery. However, when properly combined, these opposing forces create buoyancy, allowing you to stay afloat.

After: Explanatory Style

How people interpret their day, particularly how they explain its worst aspects, can significantly impact their success.

Learned Helplessness – All creatures, whether they walk on two legs or four, respond systematically and predictably to external rewards and punishments. After extended experiences in which they were stripped of control over their environment, some individuals just gave up. Even when conditions returned to normal, and they once again possessed the ability to seek gain or avoid pain, they didn’t act.

Explanatory style can be thought of as a form of self-talk that occurs after (rather than before) an experience. People who give up easily and become helpless even in situations where they can do something explain bad events as permanent, pervasive, and personal. They believe that negative conditions will endure a long time, that the causes are universal rather than specific to the circumstances, and that they’re the ones to blame. For example, if their boss yells at them, they interpret it as “My boss is always mean,” or “All bosses are jerks,” or “I’m incompetent at my job” rather than “My boss is having an awful day and I just happened to be in the line of fire when he lost it.” A pessimistic explanatory style can diminish performance, trigger depression, and turn setbacks into disasters.

If people with a downbeat explanatory style suffer, do people with an upbeat style thrive? Research conducted by Seligman and Schulman demonstrated the impact of explanatory style on the pessimism-optimism spectrum. Agents who scored in the optimistic half of the explanatory style sold 37% more insurance than those in the pessimistic half. Similarly, newly hired salespeople who scored pessimistically quit at twice the rate of those with an optimistic explanatory style.

In summary, individuals with an optimistic explanatory style —who saw rejections as temporary rather than permanent, specific rather than universal, and external rather than personal—sold more insurance and survived in their jobs much longer. Optimism is a catalyst that can stir persistence, steady us during challenges, and stoke the confidence that we can influence our surroundings.

Chapter 6 – Clarity

Researchers conducted an experiment involving two groups tasked with allocating unexpected money for retirement. One group interacted with a digital representation of their future selves (“Me Later”), while the other group interacted with an avatar representing their current selves (“Me Now”). Afterward, they were asked to allocate the money among various options (1. Buy something nice for someone special 2. Invest in a retirement fund. 3. Plan a fun and extravagant occasion. 4. Put it in a checking account. ) The results were striking: those who saw images of their future selves allocated significantly more money than those who saw their current selves. The “Me Later” group allocated an average of $172, while the “Me Now” group directed only $80 on average, half that of the former.

This experiment addressed the broader concern of encouraging people to save more money for retirement by leveraging the psychological impact of visualizing oneself in the future. Clarity plays a vital role in this process—it enables individuals to see their situations in fresh and revealing ways, helping them identify problems they didn’t realize they had. Traditionally, effective salespeople are seen as skilled problem solvers. They excel at assessing prospects’ needs, analyzing their predicaments, and delivering optimal solutions.  

Finding the Right Problems to Solve

Those most inclined toward creative breakthroughs in art, science, or any field are often adept problem-finders. They sift through vast amounts of information from various disciplines, experiment with different approaches, and are willing to switch direction in the course of a project. 

They often take longer than their counterparts to complete their work. Sales and non-sales selling depend more on artists’ creative, heuristic, and problem-finding skills than technicians’ reductive, algorithmic, and problem-solving skills.

Recognizing this shift, the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, now offers a course titled “Problem Finding, Problem Solving.” Its instructor says part of being an innovative leader is being able to frame a problem in interesting ways and to see what the problem is before you jump into to solve it.”

Today’s top sales professionals differ from their predecessors in two key ways. First, in the past, the best salespeople were adept at accessing information. Today, they must be skilled at curating it—sorting through the massive troves of data and presenting the most relevant and clarifying pieces to others. Second, in the past, the best salespeople were skilled at answering questions (in part because they had information their prospects lacked). Today, they must be good at asking questions—uncovering possibilities, surfacing latent issues, and finding unexpected problems.

Finding your Frames – Unique Selling Proposition – What differentiates it from its competitors? 

 A cornerstone of effective marketing lies in crafting a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that distinguishes a product or service from its competitors.

An anecdote shared by Reeves and colleagues illustrates this principle vividly. En route to their Madison Avenue office, they encountered a blind man soliciting donations with a sign stating, “I am blind,” yet his collection was meagre. Reeves proposed adding four words: “It is springtime, and I am blind.” With this alteration, the donations surged, transforming the man’s demeanour from despondent to joyful.

Clarity hinges on contrast. The beggar’s sign prompted park-goers to empathize with him by starkly contrasting their reality with his.

The Contrast Principle.  

We often gain a better understanding of something when we compare it with something else rather than seeing it in isolation. Contrast operates within and often amplifies every aspect of persuasion. That’s why the most essential question you can ask is, “Compared to what?” You can raise that question by framing your offering in ways that contrast with its alternatives and, therefore, clarify its virtues.

Here are five frames that can be useful in providing clarity to those you hope to move: 

1. The Less Frame – Everyone loves choices, yet ample research has shown that too much of a good thing can mutate into a bad thing.  In a study, researchers set up a taste-testing booth featuring various jam flavours. Initially, the booth offered 24 varieties of jam for sampling. After a few weeks, they changed the setup to offer only six varieties. Surprisingly, the results showed that only 3 percent of consumers who visited the booth with 24 varieties made a purchase. In contrast, at the booth with only six varieties, 30% of consumers made a purchase. This significant increase in sales—resulting in a tenfold rise—highlighted the impact of reducing consumers’ options. Framing people’s options in a way that restricts their choices can help them see those choices more clearly instead of overwhelming them. Less is more. 
2. The Experience Frame – Research has consistently shown that people derive significantly greater satisfaction from purchasing experiences than material goods. Respondents overwhelmingly reported that experiential purchases made them happier than material purchases. This is attributed to the fact that we tend to adapt quickly to material changes; what initially brings us joy eventually becomes mundane. In contrast, memorable experiences, such as hiking on Canada’s West Coast Trail, linger in our minds and are often associated with higher-level joys rather than minor annoyances.  Experiences also provide us with stories to tell and opportunities to connect with others, which in turn deepen our identities and boost overall satisfaction. Therefore, when selling a product, framing it in experiential terms is more likely to lead to satisfied customers and repeat business. For example, when selling a car, it’s more effective to focus on the experiences the car will enable—such as exploring new places, visiting old friends, and creating lasting memories—rather than just emphasizing its features like rich Corinthian leather seats.
3. The Label Frame– Researchers conducted an experiment where classrooms were randomly assigned to three groups. Over the course of a week, students in one group were consistently praised by teachers, janitors, and others and were told that they had one of the neatest classrooms in the school. In the second group, students were instructed to maintain cleanliness without additional praise or labelling. The third group served as the control. After the experiment, investigators measured the litter levels in the classrooms and compared them to pre-experiment levels. The results were clear: the group that had been consistently labelled as “neat” exhibited significantly cleaner classrooms compared to the other groups. Merely assigning this positive label to the students—framing their behaviour in comparison with others—had a noticeable effect on their behaviour, leading to elevated cleanliness levels.
4. The Blemished Frame – Three marketing professors investigated whether a negative aspect could positively impact persuading consumers. They presented information about hiking boots to two groups: one group received only positive information about the boots, highlighting features like orthopedic soles, waterproof material, and a five-year warranty. The other group received the same positive information but with an additional negative aspect: the boots were available in only two colours.  Surprisingly, many participants who received this small dose of negative information were more inclined to purchase the boots than those who received exclusively positive information. For this effect to occur: (i) People processing the information must be in a “low effort” state, meaning they are not intensely focused on the decision-making process, perhaps due to being busy or distracted. (ii) The negative information must follow the positive information, not vice versa. Therefore, when making a case for someone who isn’t meticulously analyzing every detail, it can be effective to present all the positives while adding a mild negative. Being transparent about a minor flaw can enhance the perceived value of the offering. 
5. The Potential Frame –When selling ourselves, the frame that emphasizes potential rather than past achievements may be more effective. Research conducted on Facebook ads for the same comedian, Kevin Shea, revealed that ads stating he “could be the next big thing” generated significantly more click-throughs and likes compared to those stating he “is the next big thing.” This counterintuitive finding suggests that people often find potential more intriguing than past accomplishments because it introduces an element of uncertainty. Potential engages individuals to think more deeply about the person being evaluated, leading to a more intensive processing of information. This deeper engagement can result in the generation of more compelling reasons why the individual is a good choice.

Therefore, when selling yourself, it’s essential not to focus solely on past achievements but also emphasize the promise of what you could accomplish in the future. Highlighting your potential can captivate the interest of others and lead to greater consideration of your value proposition.

Finding an Off-Ramp – The letter that provided students with clear instructions on how to act had a significant impact. When students received a letter containing a concrete appeal, a map, and a location for donating, even those deemed least likely to contribute showed a remarkable response. Twenty-five percent of these students contributed. What motivated them wasn’t solely the request itself but rather the provision of an off-ramp for taking action. By offering a specific request and a clear pathway to fulfill it, the least likely group ended up donating food three times the rate of the most likely group, who hadn’t been given such clarity on how to act.

This underscores an important lesson: clarity on what to think is insufficient without clarity on how to act. Providing individuals with clear guidance on how to translate their thoughts into actions can significantly increase their likelihood of taking positive steps.

Chapter 7 – Pitch

The Elevator Pitch – The concept behind it is simple: if you unexpectedly find yourself in an elevator with the big boss, you should be able to succinctly explain who you are and what you do before the doors open on your floor.

Here are six promising successors to the elevator pitch– what they are, why they work, and how you can use them to begin a conversation that leads to moving others. 

1. The One-Word Pitch: This pitch condenses your message into a single word, aiming to define the most important characteristic you want associated with your brand. Examples include “Search” for Google and “Priceless” for Mastercard. Reducing your point to that single word demands discipline and forces clarity.
2. The Question Pitch – Instead of making declarative statements, this approach poses a question to engage the audience. For example, Ronald Reagan’s famous question during his 1980 presidential campaign, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” He could have used a declarative statement, “Your economic situation has deteriorated over the last forty-eight months.” He could have supported this statement with a slew of data on the nation’s spiralling inflation and steep unemployment. Research suggests that questions can outperform statements in persuading others when the underlying argument is strong.
3. The Rhyming Pitch – In the OJ. Simpson trial Cochran presented his closing argument in a rhyming pitch, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit. (He was referring to the glove believed to be OJ Simpson’s that was found at the scene of the crime). Participants rated aphorisms that rhymed to be more accurate than the ones that essentially said the same thing. (Eg. Rhyming version – Woes unite foes; NonRhyming version – Woes unite enemies). Rhymes taste great and go down easily; we equate that smoothness with accuracy. Summarizing your main point with a rhyme provides a memorable way for people to talk about your proposal. If you’re presenting to a client, incorporating a rhyme can enhance the processing fluency of your listeners, ensuring that your message sticks in their minds, especially when they’re comparing you to your competitors. Remember: Pitches that rhyme are more sublime.
4. The Subject-line Pitch – This pitch applies principles from email subject lines to grab attention and convey your message efficiently. The three facts that impacted an email being opened
   • Utility – People tend to read emails that directly affect their work. When recipients have many emails to sift through, messages related to utility are the most effective. For instance, emails from the boss or regarding the projects they are working on are typically opened first.
   • Curiosity – An Intriguing subject line – When the subject line had a moderate level of uncertainty about the contents, the recipients became curious about the messages. 
   • Specificity – Clear Subject line – Instead of using a mushy subject line like “Improve your golf swing,” use a clear one: “4 tips to improve your golf swing this afternoon.”
5. The Twitter Pitch – Restricting your message to 140 characters or less forces you to be concise and impactful. Tweets that engage through questions, provide useful information, or promote value-added content tend to be most effective.
6. Pixar Pitch – Every Pixar film shares the same narrative DNA, a deep structure of storytelling that involves six sequential sentences: 
   • Once upon a time _________________. 
   • Every day, ______________________. 
   • One day _______________________. 
   • Because of that, _________________. 
   • Because of that,__________________. 
   • Until finally ____________________.
   • Summarize this book using Pixar Pitch: Once upon a time, only some people were in sales. Every day, they sold stuff, we did stuff, and everyone was happy. One day, everything changed: All of us ended up in sales—and sales changed from a world of caveat emptor to caveat venditor. Because of that, we had to learn the new ABCs—attunement, buoyancy, and clarity. Because of that, we had to learn some new skills—to pitch, to improvise, and to serve. Until finally we realized that selling isn’t some grim accommodation to a brutal marketplace culture. It’s part of who we are—and, therefore, something we can do better by being more human.

Chapter 8 – Improvise

Three essential rules of improvisational theatre: 

1. Hear Offers
   • Overcoming Objections: In traditional sales, if a customer hesitates to buy, the salesperson’s task is to persuade them that the issues they raise either don’t exist or aren’t significant. This step typically follows “prospecting for leads,” “qualifying leads,” and “making the presentation”—and that stands just before “closing.” However, the landscape of sales has evolved significantly, making the idea of persuading people less valuable and potentially less feasible than ever before.
   • Hearing Offers – Improvisational Theater: Improvisational theatre is built on a diametrically opposite principle of overcoming objectives —it revolves around the concept of hearing offers. The essence of improvisation lies in attunement, where individuals step out of their perspective to fully inhabit the perspective of another. To master this aspect of improvisation, we must rethink our understanding of what it is to listen and what constitutes an offer. Despite the significant amount of time we spend listening each day (1/4th of our waking hours), we often neglect this skill. For many of us, the opposite of talking isn’t listening; it’s waiting. Rather than fully engaging with what others are saying, we tend to divide our attention between what they’re saying now and what we’re going to say next and end up doing a mediocre job at both.
   • The Power of Silence: The listening training I took emphasizes slowing down and shutting up as the route to listening well. One person has to reveal to the other something important to him. The other person, who must make eye contact the entire time, then responds – but he must wait fifteen seconds before uttering a word. This exercise fosters intimacy and active engagement in listening, allowing participants to truly connect with one another.
   • By listening in this more intimate manner, we become attuned to nuances we might have overlooked. In the context of influencing others, we quickly realize that what seems outwardly like objections are often offers in disguise. For example, if soliciting a donation of $200 for a charity was met with a refusal, the response might contain offers in disguise—such as a willingness to contribute a smaller amount or to help in other ways, like volunteering. Recognizing these offers requires a shift in listening and response strategies. As Salit notes, “Offers come in all shapes and sizes,” and the key to leveraging them lies in changing how we listen and then change the way we respond.
2. Say “Yes and.” Like a potter mastering the center the clay on the wheel or a tennis player perfecting their grip, adopting the practice of saying “Yes and” is a fundamental skill for improvisational artists. The power of “Yes, and” becomes evident when contrasted with its counterpart, “Yes, but.”

Instead of swirling downward into frustration, “Yes and” spirals upward toward possibility. When you stop, you’ve got a set of options, not a sense of futility.

3. Make your partner look good.

Fisher’s book, “Getting to Yes,” deals with principled negotiation, which proposes that the goal of negotiating shouldn’t be to make the other side lose but, where possible, to help it win. His idea of win-win transformed business and legal education. Until then, many viewed negotiation as a zero-sum game, where parties vied for the largest share of a fixed pie. Fisher’s work encouraged people to reframe these encounters as positive-sum games, where one person’s victory didn’t depend on another’s defeat. If each party looks past the other party’s position to its actual interests and invents options for mutual gain, negotiations could end with both sides better off than when they began.

Another valuable lesson comes from the world of improv: make your partner look good. Improvisational artists have long understood that helping your fellow performer shine ultimately benefits both parties. Elevating your partner doesn’t diminish your standing; instead, it enhances it. This approach breaks away from the binary, either-or, zero-sum mindset and fosters a culture of generosity, creativity, and possibility.

“Never argue,” he wrote. “To win an argument is to lose a sale.”

Chapter 9 – Serve

Sales and non-sales selling fundamentally revolve around service. “Service” isn’t just greeting customers warmly or ensuring timely delivery; though these aspects are crucial in the business world. Instead, it’s a broader, deeper, and more transcendent definition of service—improving others’ lives and, in turn, improving the world. At its pinnacle, the art of moving people transcends mere transactions, aiming for something greater and more lasting.