The quote belongs to Robert Louis Stevenson, written in the late 1880s. Over a century later, it remains the most honest description of what selling actually is and why it matters to everyone, not just those with “sales” in their job title. At Barrett, it is the belief everything else is built on.
Why so many people resist the word
When selling is mentioned, people often recoil. That reaction makes sense. Too much of what passes for legitimate selling is manipulation, pressure tactics, and short-term extraction. It leaves people feeling used rather than served. That version of selling deserves the reaction it gets. But it is not what selling is. And it is not what it has to be.
What great selling has always looked like
The most consistently successful people – in sales, business, in leadership, in life – explore what others genuinely need, listen for what is not being said, and build trust before they build a case. These are not sales techniques. They are life skills. And they are learnable by everyone.
The Barrett approach
Too many capable people let their good work speak for itself and hope to be noticed. Others are held back by fear, or were simply never taught how to have commercial conversations with confidence. Our aim is to change that – equipping people to sell their ideas and their value ethically, effectively, and confidently in any situation. For individuals. For teams. For entire organisations.
SellingBetter.com – the movement behind the work
Selling Better is the ethical philosophy and standards at the heart of everything Barrett does. It is not a tagline. It is the framework we have built our practice on since 1995 – before ethical business was trendy, before AI made it urgent, before the rest of the world caught up. Three founding beliefs have guided us from the start: everybody lives by selling something; humanity belongs at the centre of commerce; and selling better always outperforms selling more.
SellingBetter.com is where we share the thinking and research behind that philosophy – for anyone who wants to engage, communicate, and sell better, whatever their role or sector.
Explore the movement at SellingBetter.com →
Ready to sell better?
Talk to us about building the commercial capability your organisation needs.
The quote “Everybody lives by selling something” was coined by Robert Louis Stevenson, in the late 1880’s. Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. Stevenson was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, and Rudyard Kipling who said of him that he “seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins”.
The late 20th century saw the start of a re-evaluation of Stevenson as an artist of great range and insight, a literary theorist, an essayist and social critic, a witness to the colonial history of the Pacific Islands, and a humanist.
We help you cultivate your skills and capabilities and achieve excellence through purposeful action.
Purposeful Action combines process and person. It means having a clear vision of what we want to accomplish. Knowing why we are doing what we are doing. Having a clear goal and getting back on track if we get scattered or distracted. Finishing what we start and persevering until we get results.
Excellence means giving our best to whatever we do and giving our best to relationships. Setting noble and realistic goals and remembering to plan and practice. We don’t try to do everything, instead we focus on developing our special gifts.
Ready to set a new standard in sales excellence?
Talk to us, your selling better advisory team, and we’ll help you quickly and accurately assess your next steps.
You Got a Seat at the Table. But Are You in the Right Room?
In 30 seconds The Problem: You nailed the meeting. Your contact loves the solution. But weeks pass, the deal stalls, and budget approval never comes - because you were sitting at the wrong table. ...
The First 5 Minutes: How to Stop Sounding Like a Vendor
In 30 seconds The Problem: Most salespeople sabotage their credibility in the first five minutes. They over-apologise, fill time with aimless small talk, or launch straight into a pitch deck. The ...
Does Sales Have a Seat at Its Own C-suite Table?
In 30 seconds The Problem: Sales is handed strategy, not invited to shape it. Excluded from executive decisions, frontline teams default to discounting and deference - the very vendor mindset leadership ...
Your best salesperson isn't in Sales. And they don't even know they're selling
In 30 seconds The Problem: Most organisations train only their quota-carrying salespeople, leaving 80% of their commercial talent - engineers, delivery, product, operations - without the skills to ...
