I confess, I enjoy reading books written by Daniel Pink, the Yale law school graduate who never practiced law.

If you are a regular reader you know I have written about A Whole New Mind. See, for example: Are you a “good” lawyer or a “great” lawyer? And, I have written about Drive. See, for example: Motivation: Why your firm may be failing to motivate your young lawyers.

Those are both excellent and informative books and always on my recommended reading list.

More recently I read his book titled: To Sell is Human. I think you will find it valuable because many points he makes apply to how you can better attract, retain and expand relationships with clients.

For those of you who are introverted, you might find this statement from the book gratifying:

The notion that extraverts are the finest salespeople is so obvious that we’ve overlooked one teensy flaw. There’s almost no evidence that it’s actually true…

For example, two recent Harvard Business Review studies of sales professionals found that top performers are less gregarious than below-average ones and that the most sociable salespeople are often the poorest performers of all.

Daniel Pink lists three traits of successful sellers. I believe the same traits apply to successful client developers. Here they are. What do you think?

  1. Attunement. Understanding the perspective of the buyer (client.) In other words to be in tune with your clients, which explains why extroverts may not be the best at selling.
  2. Buoyancy. The combination of “a gritty spirit and a sunny outlook.”I  frequently describe this as getting through what Seth Godin calls ‘The Dip” when you are not getting great results.
  3. Clarity. The ability to identify problems or opportunities before your clients or enabling them to see something in a new way. I have shared with you that I strongly believe I owe my career to my efforts to figure these things out and then write and speak about them.

I am confident you and your colleagues will find the book valuable. If you can get one or more colleagues to read it with you, use Daniel Pink’s To Sell is Human Discussion Guide. 

Do you want to recommend a book and write a guest post about it? If so, share the book and your ideas and maybe your book recommendation will make our Friday blog posts.