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Daniel Pink

We Are All in Sales

by Daria Steigman on February 11, 2013

"Sold To Very Nice People" tagDid you know that the average person spends 40 percent of his or her job on sales? That works out to 24 minutes per hour.

In a fascinating conversation with Jonathan Fields, Daniel Pink said that “the technology that was supposed to obliterate sales has turned more of us into sellers.” Pink, whose latest book is on this topic, makes the point that blurring lines at work has put a form of selling into everyone’s job description.

We are all in sales.

Lawyers won’t tell you they are in sales, but that’s what they do every time they wine and dine a potential client. Customer service reps won’t tell you they are in sales, but the results of every service call can mean the difference between a product return and return business. Researchers won’t tell you they are in sales, but they’re selling ideas, projects, and their budget needs to their bosses (and their bosses). And CEOs… Well, you get the picture.

Watch the video. It’s long, but it’s worth it.

My friend Geoff Livingston said in a speech recently that “no one wakes up and says, ‘I am a lead generator.’” And yet we are. A lot of food for thought here–and implications for the world of work.

Photo by PinkMoose (Flickr).

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Don’t Discount Your “Duh” Moments

by Daria Steigman on March 13, 2012

A framed "duh." Seriously.I listened to the TED talk. I sat through a Webinar on the topic. And, last week, I finally read Drive, a book that’s been sitting on my shelf for a while.

In Drive, author Daniel Pink examines the research and concludes that business has it all wrong when it comes to motivating employees. The bottom line: money doesn’t buy you happiness. The better motivators (assuming an appropriate salary and benefits package, of course) are autonomy, mastery, and a sense of purpose. So companies that want to get the best out of their employees long term need to think about how to reward them differently.

For me, this is a “duh.” It took me over a year to read the book because “the surprising truth about what motivates us” isn’t surprising at all. I’ve been arguing the same thing ever since I was in graduate school.

Your “duh” moments are your expertise.

When I first argued that money wasn’t a job “satisfier” in that personnel class, I had no idea that this was a heretical business idea. I just knew that dollars don’t equate to happy, motivated, productive workers.

I wasn’t interested in a career in human resources, so I stood my ground in class and then moved on. But it has clearly continued to irk me–which is why I wrote Can Money Buy Workplace Happiness? in the first place.

And that’s the point: Don’t discount the stuff that’s easy or intuitive to you. It just might be a teachable moment for someone else.

Have you ever discounted a “duh” moment? What did you learn from it?

PS: If you haven’t read Drive, read it. While it might be obvious to me, most companies are a long way from aligning their incentives to what really motivates employees. Pink’s a good writer, and the book is an easy read that provides a lot of food for thought.

Photo by Sarah Deer (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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