The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that one out of nine people are in official “sales” jobs, but something is happening with the other eight of us in today’s workforce. We are all in non-sales sales jobs, according to Dan Pink.
That’s right — non-sales sales jobs.
In fact, the research says the other eight of us spend an average of 41 percent of our time “convincing people to give up something [in exchange] for something you have to offer.” That is an average of more than two days per week persuading, influencing, convincing others to “buy” our ideas, services, or just our point of view. That’s 17 minutes out of every hour we are working!
In other words, like it or not, we are all in the sales business.
We want to help you perfect your pitch.
Enter Ron Shapiro, best known for his high-profile sports negotiations with the likes of Cal Ripken, Kirby Puckett and Joe Mauer. Imagine crafting a pitch to pay your client in excess of $23 million per year for eight years!
Ron Shapiro is an expert negotiator, sports agent, attorney, educator, civic leader, and best-selling author. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on negotiation and the founder and chairman of the Shapiro Negotiations Institute. Shapiro has negotiated the contracts of more Hall of Famers than any other agent / attorney, and he is coming to share his practical advice to help you win at work, at home, and in life.
Ron will be doing a special session for us on Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the BWI Hilton Hotel (registration and details here) and webcast live for those of you who cannot attend live (registration and details here).
He has broken down his experience with sports negotiating, labor disputes, and even the Middle East conflict into a easy-to-learn formula that he calls the three Ds — Draft, Devil’s Advocate, Deliver. He then shows you how to apply this to a myriad of situations, from his granddaughter’s middle school crisis with friends to making a challenging budget request to negotiating a price for your services. He offers sample scripts for lots of these situations that we all encounter every day. Don’t miss this special three-hour session to “perfect your pitch” with Ron live or via webcast on Nov. 12 (new date) at the BWI Hilton in Maryland.
More resources:
- CPA Success post: Like it or not, you’re a salesperson
- CPA Success post: We are in the moving business and I bet you are, too
- Podcast: Bill Sheridan’s interview with Dan Pink about non-sales selling
- Buy Ron’s book, Perfecting Your Pitch