January is my learning month! And I was fortunate to take a class on sales & persuasion from the savvy & sharp thinker: Daniel Pink.

I’ve often felt that everyone is in sales. We use these skills even when we don’t think we are — understanding, partnering, and collaborating. And it’s something we all can get better.

Few things that caught my attention:

• Irritation vs Agitation: We want people to take action, but we tend to use force & power to convince them. This is irritating and rarely works. Rather, focus on agitation: where people realize they ought to do something out of their own volition. So find a way to inspire them from within.

  • Example: if you're asking your kid to clean their room, start with “On a scale of 1-10, how ready are you to clean your room?” They likely will say “1-2”. Irritation might force you to ask “why is it not higher”? but agitation might inspire them “Why is not lower”? Invite them to challenge their own thinking.

• The Pixar Pitch: Channel the mastery of Pixar when describing your scenario. We are all wired to hear stories, and we respond positively to a simple structure. So make your pitch analogous to a fairytale: “Once upon a time. every day, one day, because of that, and finally."

  • Example: “Once upon a time, Drew Houston wanted to work on a document. Every day, he brought this document on a thumbdrive on his bus to work. One day, he forgot it at home and was stuck without access. Because of that, he thought there must be a better way to access files anywhere. Finally, he started Dropbox to fix this.

• Buoyancy Self-Talk: There is a little voice in our head that can bring us down to our knees. There are betters ways to lift ourselves up: 1) employ interrogative talk vs reinforcing talk. 2) de-catastrophize events by asking: is this personal, pervasive and permanent and 3) treat yourself like you were treating a friend.

  • Example: Ask yourself “Can you do this, and how”? versus “I can do this”. And if the voice of dissent gets louder: push back by asking: does this always happen and will it always be like this?

An excellent reminder! Thank you Mr. Pink for your rose-colored glasses into this world.