"Poor selling and dysfunctional sales management cost companies time, money, and energy, all of which are already in short supply. When the initial passion for doing good starts fading in a sales force, complaints arise about things like unreasonable sales targets, bad territory, unfair compensation, and long hours. Sales curves start to flatten, even decline. Turnover in staff accelerates with missed targets, and performance milestones are missed. Customers start complaining about the way they are being treated—before and after they buy—and the most valuable commodity of all, the company’s reputation, begins to suffer.

"But here is where social entrepreneurs have an advantage over many of their commercial counterparts. They care deeply about the mission they’re on and the impact they want to make. This sense of mission is what has been called Deep Desire. This hunger—to do good—is what drives them to shine a light on the critical activity that needs their attention. They start asking two questions: “How do we actually sell?” and “What isn’t working?”

"They bring to their search the same open-mindedness, curiosity, and determination they originally brought to the founding of their enterprise and the innovation of their products and services. Invariably, social entrepreneurs discover that they and their colleagues have been locked into 
a system of behavior that the science 
of transformative learning refers to
as a paradigm—a set of processes and 
practices people default to whenever 
they think about, plan for, or engage 
in 'selling.'”

Book Excerpt: The Way You Sell May Be Killing Your Dream