To Sell is Human

We're all in Sales now. Each day millions of people earn their keep by convincing someone else to make a purchase. They sell planes to airlines, oil shares to sheiks, cars to drivers.

They sell consulting agreements, magazine subscriptions, time-shares, double glazing, broadband, fitted kitchens, car insurance, life insurance, pet insurance! Some work in fancy offices with glorious views, others in dreary cubicles, but most look exactly like you. In fact, each and every one of us spends time trying to persuade others to part with resources - money, time, attention - though most of the time we don't realise we're doing it. Parents sell their kids on going to bed.

Spouses sell their partners on mowing the lawn or putting the cat out. We sell our bosses on giving us more money and more time off. And in astonishing numbers we go online to sell ourselves on Facebook, Twitter and in Match.com profiles.

In this new book from the bestselling author of Drive, Dan Pink explores the ways in which we can all improve our sales skills, in every area of our lives and identifies the three personal qualities and four essential skills necessary to move people. Relying on science rather than platitudes and analysis instead of exhortation, Dan builds on his own sales experience and on the profiles of some of the world's best salespeople - and makes us look again at our own sales skills.