My first job, in sales, was full of proverbs. "The customer is always right" and telling clients "don't judge a book by its cover" come to mind. While I hadn't organized all the proverbs I'd learned in Go (c.f., The Way of Go and GO'S RULES for that), I recognized that there was nothing about sales, at its roots, that was different from Go.

One of the more direct applications of Go to sales came when trying to sell the customer our product.

In Go, your opponent can see your every move. To manipulate the board to your favor, your plans must be subtle. An example of how not to be subtle:

(dialing. ring ring) "Hello?"
"Your net profit lessens with every ad you place with other publications. You need to advertise with us if you want to make a buck."
"Hunh? Hello? Who is this!"

While direct and not subversive (unless your lying about your claim), initial situations deserve some crescendo. Here, you go straight for it. As the Pointer Sisters said, "When it comes to love I want a slow hand."

Of course, as in Go, sometimes you have to be quick to the point and can't beat around the bush. While you don't have to be subtle to make your point, you should use the Go rule "press the enemy's strength, then attack." See HOG Heaven in Reverse Forward of the book, for more.

(dialing. ring ring) "Hello?"
"Hi, I am from X. Your product is something our readers (pick one: call us for on a regular basis/use in the field based on surveys we do/match well given your intended target audience). I see you're advertising in A, B, and C, but did you know that you can hit your target audience better in X and probably for half the cost of those other publications for a better sell through?"

As someone who did about 100 cold calls a day and got maybe a sale or two a day, I can vouch that the first example rarely works, if at all. The second approach is kinder, gentler and starts with their product in light of yours.

In Go, you press (aka "lean on") the strength of the opponent, meaning that you make the opponent's strength stronger, then go after a weakness. Just as you may hit to the opponent's strong forehand in tennis, then go for the backhand or, press a witness, as an attorney would, on pleasantries, softening the witness up, getting them comfy, before hitting with a really tough question, you do the same thing in Go and in sales.

Yes, Go is a different branch, but the Way of Go will show you how best to move rules from one branch to another and give you more than fifty Go rules, some of which you can quickly apply to whatever you want to do.