In his latest instalment To Sell is Human, Daniel Pink makes it clear as day that we are all in sales now. Exploring a range of research studies, an ongoing narrative of the Fuller Brush Man, and so many more wonderful antidotes on ‘Moving People’ – here are just 3 themes that pop out (assuming you just want the Coles Notes):

1. BALANCING.. the Positive with a splash of the  Negative.  Translating the work of Barbara Fredrickson from the University of Northern Carolina into a sales context, there are two competing pulls at work: Levity and Gravity.  Positive emotions tend to broadens people’s ideas about possible actions (the rising feeling of floating) while negative ones evolve to narrow people’s vision (the grounding attributes of practicality).  Summed up succinctly:

“Levity is that unforeseen force that lifts you skyward, whereas gravity is the opposing force that pulls you earthward…when properly combined, these two opposing forces leave you buoyant.”

2. PROBLEM FINDING.  Examining the work of Jacob Getzels and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the case for optimising creativity relies not on solving a problem as much as it does finding and framing the right problem:

“Good sales people, we’ve long been told, are skilled problem solvers…but today when information is abundant and democratic rather than limited and privileged, it matters relatively less.  The services of others are far more valuable when [one] is mistaken, confused, or completely clueless about [her] true problem.  In those situations, the ability to move others hinges less on problem solving than on problem finding.”

3. THE PIXAR EQUATION. One of the highlights of the book is the insight into the unparalleled success of Pixar.  This includes the untraditional design of its workspace to encourage serendipity and a coffee machine culture as well as the consistent practice of ensuring computer technologists are sat alongside graphic illustrators.  Most of all, it is the formulaic pixar narrative, or perfect pitch, which can always be relied upon:

Once upon a time..
Every day..
One day..
Because of that..
Because of that..
Until finally..

Take any story in the world and plug it to this model and you may be surprised, well, that it just works.