To Sell is Human

We were discussing our next fundraiser and after hearing how many tickets we needed to sell I said "NO WAY."  The chairperson seemed a bit peeved and and let me know it in no uncertain terms - I apologized  -sort of - and we got on with the meeting but...   the elephant remained in the room.  

Selling, how we feel about it and how we can do a better job  is an important topic and perhaps one that should be addressed on the local and national level. Expanding our membership will happen when we all get better at selling Iota.   

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Selling seems to be a big part of what women do.  They sell to their children when they try to get them to try a new food, to their husbands when they want them to go to the theatre with them, or when they speak up at a chapter meeting and convince their sisters to shift emphasis or start a new project.

None of these sales activities bring money in to the family or into the chapter but they are definitely all about selling and probably all of us could benefit from learning more about selling strategies.

Daniel Pink’s new book “To Sell is Human” takes a new perspective on the art of selling.  He says “This is a book about sales. But it is unlike any book about sales you have read (or ignored) before. That's because selling in all its dimensions -- whether pushing Buicks on a car lot or pitching ideas in a meeting -- has changed more in the last ten years than it did over the previous hundred. Most of what we think we understand about selling is constructed atop a foundation of assumptions that has crumbled.”

You might want to use this book as the base of a workshop at your planning meeting or to prepare everyone  for a great fund raiser.   You can hear Daniel Pink talk about “To Sell Is Human”  at http://socialtriggers.com/to-sell-is-human-dan-pink-podcast/. The podcast is a little long so carve out some time, sit down with a cup of tea and take a listen – you will find some real jewels.  You can pick up your copy at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.