Sooner or later, you’ll need to persuade someone to take action they may not have taken before. To hire someone with an unusual background, buy a product they’ve never used, or embrace a new idea.

One approach is to play it safe. Outline features and benefits. Put together a PowerPoint with fancy charts and bullet points. Maybe even use a scare tactic or two.

The safe approach assumes that people make decisions logically. Here’s the problem – decisions are made emotionally and justified logically. So if you want someone to do something they haven’t done before, you need to persuade them in a way that hasn’t been done before either.

The video below was the sales pitch used to sell The Muppet Show. Note: this was done in the early 1970′s, long before the existence of the easy-to-use editing programs we have today. Which means that this 2 1/2 minute video took a lot of time and creativity to make. I doubt that it felt like the safe way to persuade CBS to pick up the show.

But I’ll bet you it surprised them. And surprise is a great lubricant to “yes.”

[Update: the video was recently removed from You Tube. Regardless, hopefully the point is clear - sometimes the safe approach is riskiest one to take.]

A lot of people think that sales are intentional. I will sell this product to that person.

So what happens? A salesperson naturally thinks he or she must take action, that they have to do something to someone.

They almost always start by making a pitch. They pitch while making cold calls, at networking events, and during industry conferences.

For the most part, no one likes being on the receiving end of a pitch. It bothers us. Ever wonder why?

Probably because it feels intentional. A pitch is about self-promotion, not about the prospect. Which means that the salesperson is acting a lot like, well, human spam.

Which turns most sales encounters into little more than a big game.

Here’s a potential solution: slow down. Stop trying to pitch your products and services at the first impression. Earn the right to your prospect’s business, over time, bit by bit.

How? Easy – all you need to do is shift your thinking. Sure, you can take action – but instead focus on doing things “for” people, not “to” them. Share your knowledge. Share your network. Most importantly, share your compassion – there are countless ways you can help your prospect’s cause.

No, this won’t provide immediate results. But if you persevere, you’ll find that sales are more predictable and sustainable than you ever thought possible. And in all likelihood you won’t ever have to pitch again.

I listen to sales pitches all the time. This one, though, was a bit different.

“Do you speak English?”

The man who approached me looked familiar, but I couldn’t place his face. “Do I speak English?” I asked. I didn’t try to hide the fact that I was annoyed.

He threw up his hands. “I’m sorry sir, I meant no disrespect.”

This display triggered my memory. I not only knew him, I knew his routine as well. He was going to ask me for money.

“What do you want? I’m in a hurry.”

He pointed down the street. “My car broke down a few blocks from here. Could I borrow the money for public transportation?”

I looked at him and laughed. “Sorry, I can’t help you. Besides, we’ve had this conversation already.”

“Huh?”

I pointed in the other direction. “It was down that way – four blocks from here. Different day, same sales pitch.”

He looked at me for a moment, then nodded. “Oh – well, have a nice day.” And off he went, presumably in search of another prospect.

What does this have to do with you and your business? Everything. In reality, this man’s approach isn’t much different than what most companies do today. From cold calls to networking events, salespeople spend most of their time “pitching” others on their products and services. And if they are willing to do this 150 – 200 times, chances are that they’ll make a sale or two.

What a waste. There are two problems here:

1. If you sell one person out of 150, you’ve alienated the other 149 people forever. Not good.
2. The people you most want to do business with won’t respond to this approach.

If pitching people is the only sales tool you’ve got, it’s time get some new tools.