To Sell is Human: Selling is Moving People

Yes, everyone is a salesperson, because selling is moving people. Most people are in non-sales selling, that is, they are not doing sales as their main job, like an insurance agent. But most people are in jobs that involves communication, influence and persuasion, and these are nothing but sales.  We at Asia Trainers call these sales job as Moving People.
Myths and Truths of Moving People:

1. Moving people is not about getting your way with others but about helping others get their way. You too will get your way when you help others get their way.  As what Zig Ziglar said, "You can get anything you want in your life as long as you help enough other people get what they want". 
2. Moving people is not about how much conviction you have, but how much people feel about your conviction.  As what Andy Ferrari Norman said, it is not about convincing people but about conveying your ideas in ways that make people be convinced by themselves.
3. Moving people depends more on the creative, heuristic, problem-finding skills than reductive, algorithmic and problem-solving skills.  You need to think and do out of the box to move people, as a trick that has been used before will be hard to work again.
4. From caveat emptor to caveat venditor.  We have moved from a world of caveat emptor (buyer beware) to caveat venditor (seller beware).  This is because buyers now know more than vendors and it's more likely that buyers mislead vendors than the other way round.  So to move people you have to be aware that the other party may mislead you! 
5. From Alignment to Attunement.  Yes, being aligned to the buyer's goals is no longer enough to move people now.  You need to attune to their deepest aspirations as well.  One of the best way to move people is to let them know of the challenges that they themselves may not be aware of.  Better still, solve the challenge for them. This must surely move people.

In short, moving people is the highest level in selling.  To sell is to move people.  

By Andy Ng, Sales Trainer at Asia Trainers, details here.