Peter Smith's New Book, 'Essentially Human', Explores Behavior's Role in Sales Success

Veteran executive, INSTORE columnist, and author Peter Smith has released his fourth book, titled ‘Essentially Human: On Sales and Salespeople’. This new work challenges traditional sales methodologies by focusing on the underlying human traits and behavioral patterns that distinguish high-performing sales professionals.

Rethinking Sales Through Human Behavior

Drawing on four decades of leadership experience and insights from working with top performers, Smith argues that traditional approaches to sales training, hiring, and motivation often fall short. ‘Essentially Human’ combines real-world anecdotes from successful salespeople with academic research in psychology and human behavior to explain why certain sales hires, despite promising profiles, fail to perform, and why training programs can yield inconsistent results.

The book tackles critical organizational questions such as:

• Why do some promising sales hires underperform?
• Why are training programs often inconsistent?
• Why can compensation plans demotivate top performers?
• What truly differentiates consistently high performers?

Smith posits that by understanding and reframing sales through the lens of human behavior, companies can significantly improve their decision-making in hiring, training, management, and team development.

Practical Insights for Sales Professionals

‘Essentially Human: On Sales and Salespeople’ is written in a clear and accessible style, offering practical insights for executives, managers, entrepreneurs, and sales professionals at all career stages. The book encourages readers to view sales not merely as a collection of techniques, but as a profession deeply rooted in the complexities of human nature.

Smith’s previous work, ‘The Sales Minute: 101 Tips for Retail Salespeople’, also emphasizes practical application, offering short, digestible tips on improving sales performance. This earlier book delves into both obvious advice, like the importance of smiling and thanking customers, and less apparent strategies, such as the impact of offering too many choices or the negative effect of hiding one's lips. It blends pragmatism, sales psychology, body language, and consumer behavior into an easily digestible format.

‘Essentially Human: On Sales and Salespeople’ is now available through major book retailers.