1.2 Sales Is for Everyone
What do the following people have in common?
A retail associate answering customer questions
An entrepreneur seeking investors for his new venture
An attorney in a law firm growing her clientele
A physician consulting patients on new treatments and procedures
A political candidate running for public office
A clergy member growing the size of his congregation
A consultant trying to persuade her clients to enact change
A human resource employee recruiting new talent for his company
A software sales representative who works with companies to find the best solution for their business
You guessed correctly—all of these people are in sales, or at least in the business of persuading and influencing others to move their current position to a hopefully better position or to make changes in their lives that will have benefits and rewards. When described this way, everyone is in sales!
You may not realize it, but most people in the workplace today engage in a selling role. According to Daniel H. Pink, author of New York Times best seller To Sell Is Human, one in nine people consider themselves salespeople by trade, but the other eight also engage in sales, specifically “non-sales selling.” In a global survey, when respondents were asked, “What percentage of your work involves convincing or persuading people to give up something they value for something you have?” a significant group of respondents replied that they spent 70–80 percent of their time doing so. Pink also calls non-sales selling “moving,” in the sense that many of us are moving others through teaching, persuading, and motivating them in our day-to-day jobs.1
In the United States, one out of every nine people works in sales—that is a total of 16 million individuals in the US alone. Sales occupations make up 11 percent of the total labor force—in fact, about three-fifths of all business jobs are in a sales role. Beyond the scope of those individuals who wear the title of “salesperson,” all professions rely on sales. Regardless of whether you are a teacher, an attorney, a banker, a physician, a politician, an artist, or even a professional athlete, you need to know how to persuade, communicate, negotiate, and close a deal. Every human being, regardless of his or her profession, has to sell. Selling includes everyone, and those who learn to persuade and influence others are those who thrive and survive.
If you are having a hard time swallowing the figurative sales pill and are asking yourself, “Why should I be studying sales?” please consider the following CEOs and former CEOs who worked in professional sales: Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), Howard Schultz (Starbucks), Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavericks owner and AXS TV), William C. Weldon (Johnson & Johnson), Samuel J. Palmisano (IBM), and Anne M. Mulcahy (Xerox). Each of these CEOs recognizes that they personally would not have arrived at or survived as CEO without selling to their customers, channel partners, investors, and employees. Knowing how to sell and how to manage sales will prepare you for your future regardless of what career path you choose.