Have you watched The Wolf of Wall Street? Though the movie doesn’t position the sales industry in the most positive light, it does highlight some key attributes of a sales person through the main characters, including the lead, Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
This is what we took from the movie (with some durhamlane Sales Mantras built in to boot!)Courage
In the beginning of the film, the main character Jordan Belfort is the epitome of success. He is a young, enthusiastic and thriving sales guy in the world’s epicentre of business - Wall Street. Then the stocks crash strikes and he is out of the door. Jobless but not without determination, Jordan begins working at a small stocks and shares company.
His determination for sales success reminded us of durhamlane’s 6th Sales Mantra - “24 hours to celebrate or wallow in misery”. This mantra was born from a recognition that whether things go really well or go really badly we must quickly get back into the rhythm of business. Celebrate or get down with the Blues, but make it quick. Assess, analyse, learn then crack on!
Drive
You can’t watch The Wolf of Wall Street without seeing the drive, determination and general “go get ‘em” ethos of the main characters. The desire to succeed in their field is plain to see throughout the film. They work very hard at what they do; they don’t hang up the phone until their client says “yes!” (Okay, we recognise this is a bit old school now).
This reminded us of durhamlane’s Sales Mantra #2 - “Professional, Humble, Courteous. Pro-Active, Hungry, Ambitious”. A sales person who is professional and acts with humility is guaranteed to stand out from the crowd, a business professional. This is possibly more of a life code than being specific to the role of a sales person, however, it doesn’t hurt to remind yourself of these three words when you are working hard to develop new relationships and deliver above your client’s expectations.
Passion
Passion is our third key take-away. Passion to win, to succeed, to work hard and to have an amazing time whilst doing it. The characters work hard and play harder, they know their product, they know their client and they have the passion, drive and guts to just go for it.
durhamlane’s Sales Mantra #8 - “It’s up to you” embodies this passion and belief. Take control of your destiny and make it happen. Work out what success looks like for you. Understand where you can be most successful and work hard to qualify so that you spend your time winning rather than chasing your tail.
“It’s up to you!”
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