The Sales Tip From 84-yr Study Into Happiness

Dr Robert Waldinger is the current custodian of the world's longest-running study into what makes us happy.

As director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which has been running for 84 years, the professor of psychiatry at Harvard medical school and a practising psychiatrist has coined a snappy way to crack the code to happiness;

“being engaged in activities I care about with people I care about".

There's a slew of useful other supplementary findings too.

The desire to have trust. Generosity and opportunities to be generous. The financial threshold [in their 2010 study; household income of $75k] beyond which happiness does not markedly rise any higher.

There's also this fascinating nod to theory from one broadsheet profiler;

Waldinger subscribes to the theory that happiness falls into two categories.
Hedonic wellbeing can be summed up as “am I having a good time right now?”
Then there is the Aristotelian idea of eudaimonic wellbeing: “That sense of life being meaningful and basically good.”

It struck me that this opens the opportunity for an extra lens when assessing our deal strength. One predicated on the degree in which we are contributing to our buyer's happiness.

Are prospects gaining joyful satisfaction through, with and by us? Aligned to true win-win?

Does trust bind us? Is generosity flowing both ways?

Is the planning and project we can let fly one they deeply care about? Do they care about us?

If the answer is 'yes', then surely we're on to a winning deal all-round.

If it's anything other than 'yes' though, (how) can we turn it to a 'yes'? Because if we can't, then this business is unlikely to come home and so qualifying out robustly looms.