THE WOLF

The Wolf of Wall Street

By Phil Lee

Do you sell like “The Wolf”?

I saw the new Martin Scorsese film, "The Wolf of Wall Street", starring Leonardo De Caprio recently. The movie chronicles the story of Jordan Belfort, a smooth talking sales person who made a fortune selling penny stocks to uneducated investors.

They were duped by his trust building patter and the false promise of high returns.

 As you would expect, his career collapsed as spectacularly as it rose and he was eventually prosecuted for some of his more dubious professional and personal practices (great story line for a movie).

 Unfortunately, for those of us in sales, this story reinforces the image of sales people as smooth talking con men who are only interested in making a sale and earning commission. This is one of the things that makes selling hard for the honest sales person.

I term this style of selling "seller focused selling".

 The key to altering this perception is for the sales person to assume a buyer focus. This is about genuinely assisting the prospect to make an effective buying decision that's in their best interest and yours, rather than just closing a sale and moving on.

 This approach is counter intuitive for the majority of sellers and it's harder. 

The benefit is that you will be far more likely to develop a reputation as a straight shooter and trusted advisor that will result in a long term and highly satisfying and rewarding sales career.