Five Essential Movies To Inspire The Salesperson in You

Sometimes, being a salesperson can feel like one of the hardest jobs in the world especially when nothing seems to be converting and you’re under constant pressure to perform.  

So if you’re struggling to hit this month’s target take heart and learn new tactics from these movies!  We hope that there is something in all of them to inspire you to some degree.

We've deliberately left out ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and a couple more obvious ones but make no apologies on leaving in ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ and ‘Boiler Room’ because if you haven’t seen them yet they’re well worth a watch because if for nothing else there are always salespeople finding things harder than you at the moment! 

Glengarry Glen Ross

This has to be the number one movie for salespeople. Is it possible that just like the boss here that nothing else matters to you except sales? He offers as an incentive unique prizes: a Cadillac El Dorado as the first prize, a set of steak knives as the second and the third prize is the sack! Would you be able to handle the high pressure sales environment here?  The movie teaches salesman to push harder and harder to make the kill. But would you go so far as to commit a robbery just so you could close deals so you didn’t get the sack?!?

The Pursuit of Happiness

This real life story is a pick me up and can inspire any salesperson to never let go their dream. Christopher Gardner, the protagonist, has invented a medical device and invested heavily in it but it does not sell as it is priced much higher than a similar product but with little more benefits than others like it. He loses his house, bank accounts, credit cards and wife. What he doesn't lose though is his dream. Would you be able to pursue your dream even when you feel like you have lost everything?

Boiler Room

We all love closing deals otherwise why would you be in sales? Sometimes it can be relief, sometimes exciting but it can be motivational as well. Will you, like the protagonist, realise that success not only maximizes your friends but your enemies as well. The movie could inspire you to lead your business to success.  Maybe like the protagonist the salesperson in you could then realise that getting rich is not the answer to a lot of things despite the fact that it feels like all everyone around you just simply wants to be rich.

Tin Men

Here’s one I giggled all of the way through as sleazy business practices pop up one after another as the movie progresses. It may be comically presented but the movie does shows you many shady sales tactics that are probably best avoided. The two stars have no virtues and the revelations about shoddy business practices hit you again and again.

Door to Door

This is a little-known inspirational true tale and, as the name suggests, is about walking from door to door to make the sales. Bill Porter suffers from cerebral palsy and spends a lifetime selling Watkins Products.  Right up until his dying day he was closing sales even though he was badly injured when a bus ran over him.  Could you, like him be able to mark your territory so dominantly that no one else could make a sale there but you?

So here’s our top five and we hope there’s a couple here that you may not have heard of.  We’d love to hear what films have inspired you when you’ve had that tough month so which ones would you add?

How to Explain Gaps in Your CV

Keeping your fingers crossed in the hope that employers will not notice the gaps in your CV is not the right strategy. If there are gaps in your CV that aren’t explained then employers will often assume the worst as detailed in the cartoon here!  Instead, you need to explain CV gaps in a way that allows you to focus on the positive things that you’ve learned during the gap and how it has perhaps enhanced your personality or professional profile. It is better to explain gaps in a cover letter, and ideally in your CV itself, especially if the gap is for educational purposes or travel. Don’t give employers a reason to discard your CV as most gaps are explainable and if communicated correctly could potentially enhance your application.

Illness Gaps

Mention only recent illness. However, employers may wonder if you could be ill again so assure them in your CV that you are well recovered, job ready and looking forward to work related challenges.

Termination Gaps

If you have been redundant explain what you did in the interim to add to your skills. Did you add to your educational qualifications, or undertake training or do volunteer work? If your services were terminated, then stick to the truth without showing the company or yourself in bad light. Explaining a gap may not harm your employability chances but lying or extending the employment dates to avoid gaps could. 

Voluntary Gaps

Everyone, at some point, needs to take time off to care for parents, children, recover from accidents or simply because there is going to be an addition to the family. If you have applied for the job, then you know that it means that these reasons no longer exist; however, employers, regrettably, may assume differently. Employers aren’t allowed to ask questions about your family, children or marital status, but it could work in your favour to take pre-emptive action and detail on your CV that you have made the adequate day care and other arrangements for your children, etc. so they know that you are fully committed to rejoining the workforce.

Travelling Gaps

These can be explained more easily in the CV by detailing specifically where you travelled to and the objectives behind your travels.  You could emphasise how the new gained perspectives could be beneficial to the role that you are applying to. Furthermore, if there was a bit of adventure travel, you could mention why it was important for you and the lessons learned from overcoming various challenges.

Long-Term Unemployment Gap

This is the toughest of the lot. Most employers will think the worst if your unemployment gap is more than a year. However, if during that time you did something to qualify you better, like being a full-time student, doing volunteer or freelance work, or you built a website or blog, did consultation work or were a full-time parent or needed time to manage/refurbish the home, then you can explain the gap with positive reasons.

Be prepared to explain rather than hide the gaps. Have references readily available from your previous manager and colleagues. Take time to upgrade your knowledge about companies or your area of work so that the interviewer understands you have kept up with your profession despite the gap. 

If you've found this useful then you may want to visit our free career tools section at http://www.aaronwallis.co.uk/career_tools.aspx

 

 

Which Disney Characters Make the Best Salespeople?

Disney characters have always drawn a lot of comparisons with real-life parallels so we decided to ask the question, which Disney characters would make the best salespeople and why? 

Below is the short list of the final contenders for Disney characters with the best sales skills which we admit they did not always used with the best intentions! Whilst it is not exhaustive, we hope that you find it at least mildly entertaining!

1.    Ursula

The terrifying sea witch from Disney’s classic adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, Ursula would have probably had made an excellent, if frightening, salesperson. After all, she managed to convince a mermaid to give up her voice, not to mention her fins, in exchange for a dubious shot at getting a prince to fall in love with her. Apart from selling the teenaged mermaid on the notion that she could win the prince’s love, Ursula also managed to convince her that she could do it all without benefit of speech. In an unforgettable musical number, Ursula vamps about her cave, her tentacles flowing, belting out the lyrics “You’ve got your looks, your pretty face” with a knowing smirk. Unsurprisingly, Ariel falls for Ursula’s sales tactics hook, line, and sinker, believing that the impossible could come true purely on the strength of the sea witch’s reputation. Indeed, Ursula begins her sales pitch by treating the mermaid to a macabre proof of her own powers, by a garden of withered souls.

2.    Rafiki

The Lion King is a tale about coming of age and accepting one’s place in society, however frightening or onerous it might be. When the young lion cub, Simba, is forced to flee into exile thanks to the cunning machinations of his Machiavellian uncle, Scar, he is befriended by Timon and Pumba, a pair of lovable outcasts who become his new family. Simba grows up taking his new friends’ philosophy of Hakuna Matata to heart, living his days in a peaceful blur of contentment and freedom from all responsibilities. So when his father’s old advisor Rafiki turns up to convince Simba to return home, he has a tough job ahead of him. Yet, he manages to bring the truculent young lion around by being persistent and playing to Simba’s own interests, in this case, the preservation of his ancestral kingdom. By appealing to the latent feelings of the young lion to get his way, Rafiki beautifully demonstrates the importance of playing to a person’s emotions when trying to make a successful sale.

3.    Scar

Any salesperson knows how important it is to have strong communication skills in order to make a successful sales pitch. And of all the Disney characters ever drawn, Scar, the villainous uncle from The Lion King, certainly draws top honours for his ability to talk others into doing his bidding. From arranging for Simba to amble into the path of a stampede to convincing the hyenas to support his scheme to take control of the pride, Scar always manages to sell his plans successfully to his audience. Indeed, Scar’s rousing rendition of “Be Prepared", when he calls the hyenas to join him in his quest for power, is a perfect example of the character’s highly persuasive communication skills!

4.    Mother Gothel

A high level of confidence in what you believe in is one of the keys to being successful in sales. In the growing catalogue of Disney's characters, Mother Gothel, the evil, insecure witch who imprisons Rapunzel in a tower, manages to keep her adopted daughter a prisoner by selling her on the idea that it would be too dangerous to leave.  Anyone who has ever dealt with a headstrong teenager knows how impossible it can be to keep a determined seventeen-year-old  indoors when they want to be free. However, Mother Gothel is so confident in her assertions that the world outside the tower is too dangerous to explore, that Rapunzel believes her.

Being a successful salesperson essentially comes down to having the right combination of confidence, communication skills, persistence, and a certain amount of nerve!  These Disney characters possess all of these traits in spades and with training, perhaps in the art of consultative selling, achieving win-wins and a large dose of customer service, they may have just fitted into the competitive world of modern selling!

Finally, who do you think should have made it into our list, and why?

Happy selling!