As a sales professional, you don't usually get inspiration from a film. But after seeing the film adaptation of the Wolf of Wall Street, you want to call and sell to all your prospects! In the Wolf of Wall Street, Leonardo di Caprio takes on the role of fraudster Jordan Belfort, who made millions of dollars in the 90s by selling penny stocks that would never make it to the stock market. He became very wealthy by defrauding thousands of investors, but ultimately he collapsed from drink, sex and drugs. This was noticed by the FBI, Belfort was arrested and sentenced to 22 months in prison. The real Jordan Belfort is now free again and earns a living by giving lectures, but “Wolfie” remains a stock trader par excellence who the business world will not forget. What can we learn from the eccentric Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street?
Learn and create urgency
Urgency leads to action. People don't want to miss anything in their lives and that's why the trick is to find out what their needs are. Not in a “Now or never” or “These are the last ones we have” way, but in a way that awakens needs that have actually been hidden away. As a sales professional, you are the one with the knowledge and it is your job to identify what the customer will ultimately miss, so that they will never regret it afterwards. A brilliant example of urgency is the famous “Sell me this pen” scene in the movie. Belfort demonstrates in a restaurant how you can simply create a sense of urgency to sell. He asks his sales team to sell him a pen, and most of them fail. Until, as agreed in advance, another team member asks Belfort if he would like to write his name on a napkin. He has nothing to write with and there: sold. If you haven't seen the film yet, this scene alone is worth watching.
The power of motivation
Belfort is a born motivator. The fact that he is currently traveling all over the world to give his motivational speeches (and thus pay off his debts) is only proof of this. In several scenes in the film, Belfort gives extremely motivational speeches, where he builds trust with his employees by showing that he wants them to succeed as much as he does. What can you learn from this? Build trust with your sales team and discuss what obstacles they encounter and how you can help them. Together you achieve more.
You can sell anything
Belfort had an enormous passion for sales. Whether it was about the sell by phone penny stocks or trading other stocks. He saw selling as a lifestyle, even though his lifestyle eventually became an obsession. In his view, you can sell anything and that was the cornerstone for his company. Selling is a passion and if you don't get energy from a sale, your sale will literally and figuratively be a difficult story.
Training
You can motivate your team enormously and make them happy, but ultimately your team must also have the competencies to be able to sell. Belfort transformed unskilled and unqualified people into true sales machines, all built around his sales strategy. Therefore, look for the right employees, not the most experienced ones, and then invest in your team.
From transaction to relationship
The best salespeople think not in terms of transactions, but in terms of relationships. They know that the value of a customer lies not in the first order, but in the years that follow. That is why they invest in trust, deliver more than agreed, and are there even when there is no immediate sales opportunity.
In practice, this means that you don't disappear after a sale, but instead remain visible. Make a call without a sales agenda, share a relevant article, or invite your customer to a knowledge event. That personal attention builds a bond that is much stronger than any discount. Customers who trust you become your best ambassadors.
Explore our training Expert in Sales Basics at Kenneth Smit and make a difference.