To Sell Is Human — Interactive Mindmaps

Key concepts: Chapter 1: We’re All in Sales Now

Chapter 1: We’re All in Sales Now

The Last Fuller Brush Man

• Norman Hall, 75, is the last Fuller Brush salesman in San Francisco.
• He works two days a week, walking miles with a leather binder.
• After many rejections, he sells a $149.96 carpet sweeper.
• He knows he won't be replaced, symbolizing the end of an era.

The Rise and Fall of a Cultural Icon

• Alfred Fuller started making brushes in 1903 and built a direct-sales empire.
• By 1948, 8,300 Fuller salesmen made 50 million house calls.
• The Fuller Man appeared in Disney cartoons and films.
• Fuller filed for Chapter 11 in 2012, marking the decline of door-to-door sales.

The Misdiagnosis of Selling's Death

• Many predict selling will vanish like bank tellers and telephone operators.
• But the obituary is premature: selling as an activity persists.
• The What Do You Do at Work? survey reveals non-sales selling is widespread.
• Non-sales selling ranks high in time spent and importance, especially with age.

The Other Eight in Nine

• One in nine Americans works in a sales occupation.
• The other eight in nine also spend days moving others.
• The Time/Importance Matrix shows non-sales selling is high on both axes.
• Occupation and activity are distinct: selling runs across occupations.

We're All in Sales Now

• Everyone is in sales, whether traditional or non-sales.
• Selling survives because ordinary people do it.
• The ability to move others is central to nearly every job.
• This raises the question: how did so many end up in the business of moving others?

Key concepts: Chapter 2: Entrepreneurship, Elasticity, and Ed-Med

Chapter 2: Entrepreneurship, Elasticity, and Ed-Med

The Spread of Selling

• Many earn a living by moving others without a sales title.
• Work structures still treat selling as someone else's job.
• Key question: how to persuade without script or department?

Entrepreneurship

• Small business owners must wear every hat, including selling.
• Over 21 million non-employer businesses in the U.S.
• Technology created more sellers: Etsy, eBay, Kickstarter.

Elasticity

• Established firms demand skills that stretch across boundaries.
• Atlassian and Palantir succeed without dedicated salespeople.
• Flat organizations require everyone to sell and persuade.

Ed-Med Sector

• Education and health are now the largest U.S. job sector.
• Core mission: moving people to part with resources for better outcomes.
• Distinguish irritation (do what you want) from agitation (do what they want).

Attunement and Clarity

• Treat students and patients as full participants, not pawns.
• Ferlazzo leads with ears, not mouth, to draw out goals.
• Judson tells patients 'I need your expertise' to involve them.

Case Study: John's Essay

• Ferlazzo used agitation on graduation and ears on football.
• John wrote a decent essay on the Raiders, then another on basketball.
• Goal was writing skill; John moved himself by giving up ego.

Four Questions Self-Test

• Do you convince others to buy goods or services?
• Do you work for yourself or run your own operation?
• Does your work require elastic skills across boundaries?
• Do you work in education or health care?

Key concepts: Chapter 3: From Caveat Emptor to Caveat Venditor

Chapter 3: From Caveat Emptor to Caveat Venditor

The Reputation Problem in Selling

• Selling has a negative reputation, with 'pushy' the most common association.
• Negative perceptions split into discomfort with the act and distaste for sellers.
• Common image: a man in a suit selling used cars.
• Honest sellers inherit this doubt regardless of their ethics.

Akerlof's Market for Lemons

• George Akerlof's 1970 paper showed how information asymmetry drives good sellers out.
• Used-car market: sellers know more than buyers, leading to mistrust and market failure.
• Solutions like warranties and brand names mitigate but don't eliminate the problem.
• Guiding principle was caveat emptor (buyer beware).

The Shift to Information Parity

• Buyers now have access to extensive information online (listings, reviews, history reports).
• Social media amplifies bad experiences, holding sellers accountable.
• Buyers are no longer helpless, though not fully informed.
• New principle: caveat venditor (seller beware).

Joe Girard: Old-School Sales Tactics

• Joe Girard sold 1,425 cars in a year, a Guinness record.
• Rule of 250: everyone knows 250 people, so referrals are key.
• Used deceptive tactics like fake vacations and false claims.
• Says 'People want a fair deal from someone they like,' but dismisses the internet.

Tammy Darvish: Modern Sales Success

• Tammy Darvish outsold peers by age 20, now VP of DARCARS Automotive Group.
• Customers now arrive informed; sellers are curators, not gatekeepers.
• Hires for persistence and empathy: 'You can't train someone to care.'
• Runs a one-week course on service and social media.

Two Dealerships: Contrasting Models

• SK Motors exploits information asymmetry: high-pressure, high-interest, tracking devices.
• SK's customers have limited options and damaged credit, so asymmetry persists.
• CarMax reverses conditions: fixed prices, no-haggle, free reports, transparent screens.
• CarMax's transparency drives volume and success (Fortune 500, $9B revenue).

Three Myths About Selling

• Myth 1: Selling is inherently pushy and deceptive.
• Myth 2: Sales success requires manipulation.
• Myth 3: Transparency is bad for business.
• Reality: honesty and transparency are pragmatic long-term strategies.

Key concepts: Chapter 4: Attunement

Chapter 4: Attunement

From Closing to Attunement

• Old 'Always be closing' assumes seller advantage, now outdated.
• New ABCs: Attunement, Buoyancy, Clarity.
• Attunement: harmonize actions with others and context.
• Three principles: reduce power, use head and heart, mimic strategically.

Power and Perspective-Taking

• E Test measures perspective-taking; power increases self-oriented E.
• High-power people anchor on own viewpoint; low-power are keener.
• Assume less power to enhance attunement, not weakness.

Head and Heart

• Perspective-taking (cognitive) beats empathy (emotional) in negotiations.
• Use head as much as heart for creative deals.
• Social cartography: map decision makers' biases and relationships.

Strategic Mimicry

• Subtle mimicry increases deals and sales (chameleon effect).
• Light touch boosts compliance (petition signatures 55% to 81%).
• Mimicry must be subtle; noticed imitation backfires.
• Humility: cede the larger chair to the other person.

The Ambivert Advantage

• Extraversion-sales correlation weak (0.07).
• Ambiverts outperform: $155/hr vs. introverts $120, extraverts $125.
• Peak performance at midpoint (4.0) of introversion-extraversion scale.
• Excessive assertiveness is 'most destructive' sales behavior.

Grant's Sales Data

• Call-center study: 300+ reps, revenue tracked for 3 months.
• Ambiverts earn nearly $155/hr; highest $208/hr at score 4.0.
• Curve peaks between 4 and 4.5, falls at extremes.
• Extraverts talk too much; introverts too timid; ambiverts shift as needed.

Practical Attunement

• Extraverts: ask more, declare less.
• Introverts: rehearse the ask, smile, sit up, state a view.
• Most people are near the middle; adjust to circumstances.