Hollywood is not kind to salespeople. In almost every movie and TV show about advertising professionals, our kind is depicted either as conmen or coked up sales fiends. Still, for all it’s skewed depictions, Tinseltown has produced some very memorable characters from whom we can actually learn something. After a marathon movie session, I came up with a list of my top five movie sales pitches, and what we can learn from them.
NB: Some of these have swearing are TSFW.
#1The Pursuit of Happiness – humor, intelligence, optimism
Will Smith’s character, Chris Gardner, has them all, and he uses them to great effect. In his interview at a stock brokerage firm, he shows us how intelligence and humor can disarm even the most resistant and cynical lead (in this case a prospective employer). And then, when his wit earns him an unpaid position at Dean Witter Reynolds, Chris shows us how by remaining optimistic and aiming high (at the CEO), you can sometimes get the desired results in a fraction of the time. Watch this clip to see efficient appointment setting in action.
#2 Boiler Room – supply and demand
In the Boiler Room’s memorable first sale scene, a con man played by Vin Diesel persuades a doctor to buy shares in a drug company by creating a sense of scarcity. At first, the prospect shows a reluctance to commit, but as soon as he is told that that the opportunity to invest will soon be lost, he jumps at the chance. It’s also important to note how Diesel’s character pushes the doctor’s pain points at just the right moment when he alludes to other lost opportunities.
#3 Wolf of Wall Street – confidence
So, maybe the guys at Belfort and Stratton Oakmont are not the best role models, but they do know a thing or two about using confidence to inspire trust (misplaced as it is in their case). When Belfort first starts selling penny stocks, he is surrounded by a bunch of misfits whose lacklustre sales pitches inspire confidence in no one. But with a little ‘coaching’ they soon start closing deals with as much panache as Belfort himself. Here is Belfort’s demo.
#4 Mad Men – imagination and creativity
Don Draper’s greatest skill is his ability is to use the power of association to imbue a simple and unexciting product with certain magical qualities. The first time he does this, it’s with Kodak’s slide projector – a portable nostalgia generator – but he then uses this technique again in several other campaigns. This ability to come up with unlikely, but ultimately beneficial, connections takes great imagination and creativity, traits that he exercises with a great deal of deftness when comes up with sales pitches for brands ranging from Life to Hershey’s.
#5 Glengarry Glen Ross – determination
This scene does not actually involve a sales pitch, but it is about sales pitches. It is, of course, the famous ‘Always be closing’ scene from the cult classic, Glengarry Glen Ross. Despite the many thumbs up it gets in other movie lists, it sits at number five in mine because, despite Glengarry’s browbeating and vehement prescription of aggressive sales tactics, he doesn’t teach us anything except that we should go after everything with bullish determination.
While we don’t promote the use of some of the ‘questionable’ tactics used by Hollywood’s favourite salespeople, we do believe that salespeople need to possess confidence, optimism, humor, and intelligence – qualities possessed by all of our telemarketers. If you would like to learn how these real life Chris Gardeners help their clients get a foot in the door, you can visit our telemarketing services page.
Image Credit:http://under30ceo.com
