Daniel H. Pink’s new book is “Selling is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others”. Pink is the best-selling author of “Drive” and “A Whole New Mind.”

Pink says that today, we are all in sales regardless of our career or role. Parents cajole children and lawyers sell out verdict to juries as examples.

The old ABCs of selling (“Always closing”) are reinvented as Tuning, Buoyancy and Clarity. They show you how to be, but you also need to know what to do. Honing your tone, learning to improvise (which is ultimately listening), and serving all complement the new ABCs of selling and help you move others around. Below are the highlights of the power of the field.

The researchers spent five years in Hollywood, rooted in the entertainment business; who thrives on pitching. Writers pitch to movie executives, agents pitch to producers, etc. The results showed that successful pitches depended on both the catcher and the pitcher.

The catcher (i.e., the executive) used physical and behavioral cues to quickly assess the creativity of the pitcher (i.e., the writer). Passion, wit and flamboyance rated positively. Cunning, trying too hard, and multiple negatively rated idea offers.

Recipients were quick to consider negative submissions “uncreative”; and covertly ruled out any remaining meeting time. Positive pitchers attracted success by viewing the receivers as collaborators, welcoming their ideas to refine the project. Once the recipient felt like a creative contributor, the odds of rejection decreased.

Lesson: The purpose of a presentation is not necessarily for others to adopt your idea right away. Instead, offer something compelling enough to start a conversation, include the other person’s perspective, and eventually reach consensus. Today, tone is often the first word, but rarely the last.

Pink declares the classic elevator pitch: meeting the big boss in an elevator and being able to explain your product or service in a matter of seconds; It is out of date for two reasons.

First, organizations are generally more democratic than before, and many CEOs, even in large companies, sit among everyone else or in open floor plans, promoting easy contact and collaboration.

Second, although today’s CEOs are more accessible through email, text messages, and tweets, etc., they face information overload on a daily basis. These challenges require expanding our repertoire of tones in a time of limited attention.

Pink describes six promising successors to the elevator pitch:

1. The tone of a word. “Digital natives” (anyone under the age of 30) rarely remember life without the Internet. The attention span is shrinking, almost disappearing. Brevity is key. Define the feature you want to associate the most with your brand and then own it. That’s fairness in a word. MasterCard is associated with the word “priceless”; and President Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012 incorporated a one-word strategy: “Forward.”

two. The tone of the question. In 1980, Ronald Regan took on then-President Jimmy Carter. Campaigning, he asked “Are you better now than you were four years ago?” Questions are powerful and can outperform statements; however, they are underutilized when they try to move others. They instruct people to deduce their own reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. When people present their own reasons for believing in something, their support is stronger and they are likely to act on it. Note: If the arguments underlying a question are weak, do not use the tone of the question. If President Carter had asked the same question Regan did, it would not have benefited his reelection campaign.

3. The tone of the rhyme. Attorney Johnny Cochran used the rhyme “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” in his closing arguments during the OJ Simpson trial in 1995. “Woes unite enemies” and “Woes unite enemies”, both say the same thing. But research shows that people find rhymes to be more accurate. Rhymes increase processing fluency, the ease with which our mind makes sense of stimuli. Summarizing your main point with a rhyme gives prospects a way to talk about your proposal as they deliberate; and helps your message sink into their minds when compared to your competitors.

Four. The tone of the subject line. Each email asks for someone’s attention and is an invitation to participate. The subject line of an email shows a preview and promises the content of the message. Research shows that people open emails out of usefulness or curiosity. They are prone to opening emails that directly affect their work or cause a moderate level of uncertainty (i.e., curiosity) about their content. Today’s information overload makes emails more useful. A third principle is specificity. “4 Tips to Improve Your Golf Swing This Afternoon” trumps “Improve Your Golf Swing” in the subject of an email.

5. The tone of Twitter. Twitter operates with micro messages of 140 characters or less. Effective tweets engage recipients and advance conversations by replying, clicking a link, or sharing the tweet with others. Research confirms that only a small number of tweets achieve these goals. The worst performing tweets fall into three categories: Complaints: “My plane is late. Again”; Me now- “I’m in the cafeteria”; and maintenance of presence: “Good morning everyone!” High-ranking tweets provide fresh, new information and links, presented clearly. Self-promotion tweets (the best sales pitch) rank high as long as useful information is part of the promotion.

6. Pixar’s tone. Pixar Animation Studios is one of the most successful studios in movie history. Its success is based on a deep narrative structure that includes six sequential sentences: Once upon a time, ____________. Every day, ___________. One day, ________________. So, ___________. So, ____________. Until finally_____________. The six sentence format is attractive and flexible; allowing pitchers to capitalize on the well-documented persuasive power of stories, but within a concise and disciplined format.

Author Daniel H. Pink recommends the rhyming dictionary, RhymeZone, to speed up your rhyming tones. Visit: http://www.rhymezone.com/