22 | May | 2011 | Fearless Competitor

Special Sunday Post | Everything you think about what motivates people is wrong

(During the week, we write about B2B marketing and lead generation. We try to save a special nugget of wisdom for Sundays - particularly something about personal growth or shocking insights. This post is both.)

Dan Pink, the New York Times best-selling author of books like Drive, A Whole

Dan Pink

New Mind and other books, discusses what REALLY motivates people in this video.

Love it when everything we thought was right - is actually wrong.

Great video and shocking concepts. (Very innovative use of white board to support audio too. Can you figure out how he did this? - answer please in comments.)

Some of the assumptions Dan shoots down include:

Everyone thinks you pay for results. (e.g pay a $2,500 bonus for the best new idea.) But larger rewards don’t help performance. They actually hurt performance. What if you could get great ideas for free?

People are motivated by purpose and not just profit.

Treat people like people, not horses, for better results.

Every business executive ought to watch this video.

What do YOU think? We love you comments and sharing.

Part 2 of my interview of the content marketing expert, Jim Burns of Avitage on the use of video in B2B marketing runs tomorrow.

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers. He’s presenting at the 140 Social Media Conference on Long Island on May 26th and appearing on Sales Lead Management Radio on June 9th.

Find New Customers helps companies (with between 150 and 5,000 employees who sell complex products to businesses) to implement world-class lead generation programs. As companies struggle to create quality sales opportunities, they turn to lead generation companies like Find New Customers.

Recently Jill Konrath of SNAPSelling did a webinar with one of my favorite

Jill Konrath

thought leaders, Seth Godin. He discussed the idea of being indispensable. Thanks for booking that great guest, Jill!

(We’re reading the book, Linchpin, and will post our review when finished.)

Seth believes that the American dream of go to work, follow instructions, do what is told - is dead and buried. He believes a new American Dream has emerged - be remarkable, educate and share, etc.

I’d like to share Seth’s tips with our readers:

The difference between a gift and a present.
A present is something you give and expect a present back - like tickets to a game in return for business. Seth believes in gifts - giving away things simply to earn trust. Ask nothing in return. Like the insurance agent who called a client to tell him that GEICO was a better choice for him. The agent gets nothing in return. (By the way, Find New Customers‘ motto is “Always Be Helping” which is truly gift-giving.)
The Importance of Failure
Failure is how you learn. Failure means you tried. Failure makes you stronger. Fail fast and often and learn from it. (Find New Customers believes in this too. Fail often and fast - but learn from it.)
Don’t be a cog. Be indispensable.
This involves making a conscious decision to be different, to be better, to be the go-to expert. This must be a decision you make - to be the best. (When I was the featured guest on HubspotTV recently, I was asked for the marketing take-away of the week. My answer? Be Different.)

Great tips, Seth. Thanks for sharing.

Part 2 of my popular interview with the content marketing expert, Jim Burns of Avitage, runs on Monday.

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers.

Find New Customers helps companies with between 150 and 5,000 employees who sell complex products to businesses to implement world-class lead generation programs. As companies struggle to create quality sales opportunities, they turn to lead generation companies like Find New Customers.