What does creativity have to do with building a successful career in sales and leadership? The short answer? Everything. I sat down with Daniel Horowitz, Managing Director of Taboola’s U.S. Large Customer Sales & Account Management team, to learn about how creativity has inspired not just his career evolution, but how it influences his every approach to sales, relationships, and leading with impact.
You’ve emphasized the importance of creativity in sales. Why is it so vital?
I was born into a family of artists. My dad’s a photographer, mom’s a designer, and my sister’s a creative director, so I constantly try to infuse creativity into everything I do, every email, every deck, every client event, how I respond, how I communicate, how I learn. That’s my ‘work-love language,’ and it’s helped me advance throughout my career.
I’m a strong believer that you can reach a finish line professionally, personally, in any industry by taking a million tiny steps or five audacious leaps. The second path is way harder, but it’s more creative and way more fun. My career is built on a portfolio of never-before-done, award-winning campaigns, and these are often born from a simple goal: to move beyond the standard stuff to big, transformative, innovative ideas that forge stronger, symbiotic client partnerships. That’s the work I’m looking forward to.
How can others apply creativity to their work in sales?
Creativity applies at macro and micro levels. A day-to-day pitch goes back to deeply researching the customer and creatively matching our solutions to their needs. Don’t use the same pitch for the same two FinServ clients. If you deep dive into everything a customer is doing–reading their earnings, news releases, digesting their social activity, and following executives, you can find interesting nuggets about their business and provide creative, custom-tailored solutions.
Knowing a client’s business and leaning into your interests to build relationships is a great way to apply creativity. For example, in 2024, I went to 50+ live music events. Sharing more about who you are and what you like and demonstrating your personal brand can lead to building stronger connections.
How do your interests and hobbies outside of work fuel your creativity at work?
My creativity at work is fueled by leaning into my passions outside of work. I love fostering animals, spending time outdoors, art in all forms, cooking, scuba diving, and traveling (6/7 continents complete!). I constantly think about how to utilize my passions and personality to build symbiotic, long-term customer relationships.
AI is only becoming bigger and more prominent. How can infusing creativity into your sales role help secure your position and set you apart?
AI can be used to better and more swiftly understand a customer heading into a meeting, their business goals, financials, and recent announcements. That said, sales is fundamentally about buying you, the person, and changing hearts and minds. I don’t see AI changing that anytime soon. Before you even make your product pitch, you need to pitch yourself creatively as someone clients genuinely want to spend time with. It’s why personal branding is so vital.
At their core, the best people in sales are the best in customer service, and they separate themselves by swimming against the current. If everyone’s using the same AI-generated blurb, it all becomes noise. Creativity and leading with your head and heart become essential to build genuine, long-lasting relationships; something AI can’t replicate. Creativity in sales is about building great rapport, finding unique ways to show gratitude, and demonstrating you care, whether through a custom-made solution or using old-school methodologies like sending a branded onesie to a client who is having a baby.
