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Is It Time For Right-Brain Selling?

Are right-brain sales types wired for success in the 21st century? Has the time passed for the logical,
linear, by-the-numbers attributes of the left-brain? The answer, I think, depends on exactly to whom
your sales professionals are selling.

Just when many of us want our sales teams to acquire business acumen and learn to engage with
CEOs, CFOs and business unit leaders, Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, tells us that we
are entering the 21st Century “conceptual age.”

A New Era

In this new era, right-brain skills like illuminative thinking and storytelling may become more
crucial success attributes than computer programming, accounting and general analytical reasoning.

Mr. Pink suggests that we humans will exhibit a different form of thinking and will develop a new
approach to life in this new age. Empathy and creativity will be crucial in the conceptual era.

Should we, then, begin exercising the right-brain hemisphere muscles of our sales professionals?
Is it time to cultivate creativity, empathy, artistry and emotional story-telling?

Executive Preferences

Several of the senior executives I’ve talked with about this expressed the preference for interacting
with creative, enthusiastic sales professionals who understand the executive’s business and deliver
solutions that directly impact what the executive wants to accomplish, fix or avoid. Most important
to these senior executives is quantifying the impact any solution will have on the company’s bottom
line.

It seems that sales professionals can indeed do better at big picture thinking and connecting the dots
when helping customers develop solutions to challenges. Senior executives appreciate creativity and
empathy, but not at the exclusion of left-brain logic, statistics and analytics.

I’m convinced that as this century marches on, selling, as we’ve practiced it for decades, may need
to undergo a radical transformation to meet the needs of a changing human brain. I’m not yet
convinced, however, that it is the right-brain that will lead the way.

Daniel Pink’s book is an interesting read, and I think his reasoning – or hope – may fly in the face
of left-brain reality.

About the author: Steve Chriest is the founder of Selling Up™ (www.selling-up.com), a sales consulting
firm specializing in revenue and sales improvement for organizations of all types and sizes in a variety of
industries. He is also the author of Selling The E-Suite, The Proven System For Reaching and Selling
Senior Executives and Profits and Cash – The Game of Business. You can reach Steve at
schriest@selling-up.com.