The problem, of course, is we’re all, on some level, salespeople. Whether you’re selling your business, pitching your book, or angling yourself as a potential employee, sales are something you just have to do.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
The professional trait no career adviser ever mentions: generosity
The problem, of course, is we’re all, on some level, salespeople. Whether you’re selling your business, pitching your book, or angling yourself as a potential employee, sales are something you just have to do.
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7 comments:
This is an interesting notion that many young people my age should take to heart and grapple with rather than ignoring it. It is very easy to put yourself on a pedestal and think that you're one of the best at your field, and aren't you? You got into a top drama school and have opened yourself to a highly successful network that will support you. You can't achieve anything without actually showing someone your ability to work and really deliver, even if it means not immideately being gratified for your hard work. The article brings to light things like sharing your talent in the hopes that it will pay off later on in your career and I completely agree with that notion and I think that showing that you have the ability to work hard and give all of yourself to help someone else will come back to help you in the same way that being entitled and placing yourself on a pedestal early in your career will come back to tarnish your reputation.
I agree with Shahzad in that this is a really important concept for people like the CMU Drama students to be remembered as we go out into the world. That being said, I'm not sure the article was talking about how you need to show that you are hard-working. This is an important skill but unrelated to the article. I am also not quite sure this article talks about showing your talent and hard-working ability to pay off later but rather talks about how being nice and being a kind human will pay off later and that no matter what you are doing you should be kind in what you are doing. I am amazed at how this article needs to exist - didn’t we all learn the golden rule. I find it a little bit sad that something so drilled into our head during grade school and childhood is forgotten by the time we graduate college. No career adviser should be telling you to be kind that should be a given and unfortunately, it is not. The fact that this article was published is disheartening that we have forgotten the core lessons of our early education.
I agree with Alexander; the fact that this article exists is disappointing. Shouldn't we as humans know that treating each other with kindness is what we all deserve? You get more with honey than vinegar is what my mom says. And it's totally true. Offering to help people who are truly in need of something is generous, but it is also basic human dignity. It is interesting that VentureDevs was built on this foundation, as they make money on their own generosity. It is also interesting that this approach to a sales business is so revolutionary. Selling items and services have now become a game of how many you can sell in an hour versus how many people you have truly helped in an hour. This connects back to money, as most things do. If you offer employees cash incentives to sell the most, then they will. Also, most companies are looking for instant gratification for their services, which is usually money. Generosity usually takes more time to develop into something like money. And sometimes a company cannot wait that long. I understand the industries needs but it really is disappointing that this article needs to point out the basics in all of human life.
What I got from this article is that if you’re going to advertise yourself in a certain way, include being a decent human being as one of your qualities. That being said, I completely agree with what Alexander and Bru said above. It’s really concerning how an article needs to be written about generosity and kindness when interacting with other people. However, everything that was mentioned in the article is true. I personally think the part about helping others and not expecting anything in return is extremely important. I feel like many people forget that sometimes, including myself. Being kind and offering help is not transactional. My parents always told me if I am in the position of helping others, it should be thankful that I have the ability to. The second thing that I would like to point out from the article is the part about building real connections instead of shallow acquaintances. The people who you genuinely spend time with will be the ones who you value the most and will be there for you when you need them. This all shouldn’t need to be said though, because being decent and generous to others is something that should be manifested in everyone.
What makes theatre industry interesting is that the general sales strategy does not always apply. Most of the times, the audience will not buy tickets because they feel like trying out, but because they have a specific feeling of desire for the experience. In addition, a business of entertainment would not be established without people’s sufficient time, money and mental allowance. Therefore, theatre has often been overconfident about providing help, which leads to overpricing or self-satisfied works. This shortsighted idea would only lead to a deterioration of theatre arts, and thus last two tips presented in the article is crucial for the industry. One of the most important missions for theatre is to hand down the world of imagination and limitless possibilities of theatrical expressions for future generations. In order to achieve the goal, theatre should always set up efforts to create “friendship capital.” As I step into the theatre arts industry, I would like to always keep in mind to treasure the relationships.
What is very interesting about this idea that generosity is a good professional trait is that is also that trait we try and encourage during youth. Everyone will recognize sayings like: “treat others how you want to be treated” which speak to kindness, generosity, and at its simplest and core, to be good. Generosity is something that everyone should want to have because it makes everything better. It is engrained into our core teaching. It is the basis for our society. However, we somehow forget that, and the world becomes a bad or negative place, often surrounding workplaces. It is increasingly harder to find positive workplaces. Nonetheless, I like this article because it is trying to promote that quality in people for work, something people will change for. It makes sense because its good for business, its good for your own happiness, and its good for the people around you. This isn’t something that should have to be made clear, we should just be doing this anyways.
At first when I started reading this article I thought it was yet another article telling us we had to give it all at all times, but I’m really glad it actually talks about setting up boundaries and making sure that when we’re giving it all we are not giving ourselves in the process. So give it all as long as its healthy. I liked that. Putting this aside, I must say, all the points mentioned in this article are Lush cosmetics’ selling practices. They do not spend money in advertisement, and everyone gets an A+ treatment, whether they are buying or not. There are Free samples of almost everything, but most importantly, they don’t believe in shame selling, or pushing sales. They wait for the costumer to explain what they need, and then they tailor a solution for them. Usually as managers we want to have all the answers, to all the problems, even the ones that aren’t our there yet. But sometimes, we just have to wait for them to come and suggest a solution, and sometimes we just have to ask the person “Do you want me to help you with this, or do you just want to vent?” because most times they have it, they just want to be heard.
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