Project Management & Leadership Keynote Speaker, Author, & Coach, Podcast Host. We help you learn how to lead & deliver.
The premise of Daniel Pink's book To Sell Is Human is that we're all salespeople. Regardless of your title, you're in the sales business. As someone who grew up as a software developer, I would normally bristle at such an assertion. Salespeople were the ones who made unrealistic promises to customers. My mental model of a salesperson looked a lot more like a used car salesman than you and me. 👉👉 Regardless of your title, in what ways are you a salesperson? How could that realization be helpful for those responsible for leading teams and delivering projects? Leave a comment below. Pink's book takes insights from the world of sales and makes them accessible to the rest of us. Check out episode 88 to hear Dan share some practical ideas to improve your ability to influence. #projectmanagement #hapmo #management #leadership #pmo #influence #YouAreInSales
Every time we use logic, influence or persuasion to convince a stakeholder of something, we are selling.
If you lead teams, projects, people, you are selling every day. Business is fluid and change is hard. If a leader exclaims to the team, “We are doomed! These executives don’t know what they are doing!”, the team will respond accordingly and freak out. You should be as transparent as possible, but many times you cannot due to business constraints. Perhaps you don’t know what’s happening, either. That’s OK. Keeping the team positive and moving is needed, even through the ambiguity.
Honestly, I can't see it as anything but valid. As a project manager, I'm constantly "selling." Selling change orders, Selling Scope, Selling that something is out of scope, Selling the budget, Selling the schedule, Selling the outside stakeholders on benefits. Even my team is Selling as they work through the ERP implementation because they have to convince the Business Process Owners and Subject Matter Experts that the recommendations/configurations we are providing is right for their business. The developers need to sell my technical architects and me the code they produced (or can produce), which is the right path forward for the client. IT's ALL SALES! We just don't call it sales.
Any client facing role is a sales role and is reflective of the service quality and meeting the clients expectations, from a Project Manager to a service technician.
We could think of promoting a shared vision of the future as selling. Although the intention should not be to sell and should instead be to inspire or something. Sometimes I may have to "sell" my boss on a new idea as well. I don't consider these things to be selling because the intention is different, but I could see how these skills are overlapping. People don't sell you the car, they sell you the daydream and life associated with it.
Whether I like it or not, I’m unconsciously or consciously communicating using “sales pitch” to get buy in on my work related projects. My stakeholders have to be “sold” on why they need to work with me to get the project finish on the projected end date. I have to sell them the idea that we have to mitigate a particular risk by a particular time to avoid any issues. It’s never ending. 🙂
Andy Kaufman I couldn't agree more. If you're in a business that has customers (pretty sure that is everyone except may a mortuary), you're in sales! I was taken back to this article I wrote in 2020 on this very topic! https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/12-we-all-sales-scott-millson/?trackingId=JoB2jLb7R168XjAuY46rNg%3D%3D
We’re all selling something Andy, whether it’s ideas, strategies, or visions. Leaders and project managers who embrace this can better influence, align teams, and drive success. Understanding this shifts how we communicate and build trust across the board...
We’re selling every moment of our life. Any act that we do to project to others what they should see about us, we are basically selling our image to them. To quote examples, things we do out of the way to establish that we are honest is selling ourself. Every performance appraisal is a selling opportunity for each appraisee
Project Management & Leadership Keynote Speaker, Author, & Coach, Podcast Host. We help you learn how to lead & deliver.
2moTo catch the full discussion with Daniel Pink, check out: ✅ Web: https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/88 ✅ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ppp-088-selling-skills-for-project-managers-author/id302364123?i=1000434490123 ✅ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3GnMmVSX5O7cOneX1zUnwf?si=wvn83uZMT3SKSvzOk-t3UA&dl_branch=1 Or episode 88 of the People and Projects Podcast on your favorite podcast app.