When I was 12, I briefly acquired a girlfriend called Maria. I’m not sure how it started, but I am sure how it ended: badly. In high-school I dated Eylem, a Kurdish girl. Everything was great when we were alone, but she was distant in public. It took me many years to understand where both relationships went wrong.

Now I run a company which makes tools for salespeople and I have noticed that dating requires many of the same skills that you need in sales or customer success. So what are those skills and how can they help us to find the perfect partner?

Sales and dating both involve interacting with another person with a particular goal in mind. And both can be improved with practice. In the digital age, sales often means selling at a distance and at scale using email, messaging and other remote communication methods, just like online dating.

There are three parts to making a sale or building a new relationship: Courting, Politics, and Curriculum.