This Movie Scene Will Change Your Sales Career Entirely

How good are your product demos, really? Let’s talk about it. Plus, maybe Ben Affleck should become a sales coach!

In today’s Jam:

• How a single movie scene can change your career.

• Sales strategies that will launch you to new heights

• Improve as a sales leader with Sales Development Excellence.

• Find every buyer on earth with Apollo AI

• Use data to inform your sales efforts.

How a Single Movie Scene Can Change Your Career

If you’ve seen the movie ‘Air’, directed by Ben Affleck, then you probably agree that it’s a solid film. But did you notice the sales gems Affleck and his team sprinkled in that one scene with Matt Damon and Viola Davis? In the scene Sonny Vaccaro (played by Damon) is trying to persuade Deloris Jordan (Davis) not to have her son (Michael) sign with Adidas and to instead make a deal with Nike.

This exchange contains some of the most profound sales lessons you could encounter. This according to sales expert, Victor Antonio, who points out that Damon’s character is using what is referred to as a “poison pill” tactic. This is a pre-emptive tactic used to disrupt a potential deal in one way or another and stop it from happening. And you know what? We kinda see what he means. Here are some key takeaways, according to Antonio:

• Vaccaro isn’t afraid to confront the buyer and offer his two cents: Confrontation isn’t always a bad thing. In sales, there are times, we have to interject and confidently share an informed opinion on what’s taking place. We see Vaccaro do this when he tells Mrs. Jordan “With respect, I think that’s a bad idea” in response to her showing interest in her son signing with Adidas.

• Vaccaro strikes a non-committal deal with Mrs Jordan: He bets her that he can tell her exactly what will happen in the meeting with Adidas. But what’s on the line? If he’s right, the Jordan family must take the meeting with Nike.

• Vaccaro tells Mrs. Jordan what his competitors will say and do when the meeting takes place: He even takes it a step further and shares questions she should ask them and to take note of how they respond. Note, by taking this approach, he is essentially crashing the Adidas meeting without ever being in the room.

Read more about it in the description of this YouTube video. Better yet, apply the tactics Damon’s character is employing and watch it change the results you get when dealing with prospects!

By the way, here’s the Poison Pill Script format:

Sales Strategies That Will Launch You To New Heights

Reach Niche-Specific Prospects

Cold email strategies are known to get results, especially as it relates to B2B startups. However, cold emails work best when you develop a personalized cold email strategy. How do you achieve this? By understanding your target markets, of course!

To stand a better chance at success, it’s worth targeting a niche-specific market. Enter Slack, the instant messaging platform. When first launched, the industry was saturated with products like Microsoft Office 365, Google Workspace, Adobe Acrobat, and more. The team behind Slack understood this reality. So what did they do? They identified the need for an app focused on remote team collaboration and went after brands that needed help in that area. The results have been off the charts. The app currently has over 10 million active users!

Put Some ‘Drip’ In Your Demos

First, ignore the cheesy headline. Next, start working on that demo! Seriously, keep this top of mind. When a prospect asks you for a product demo, they’re also requesting the same from several of your competitors. Once you look at it that way, you’ll start taking that process a bit more seriously. It’s an easy workaround. Try focusing on the problem the prospect needs to be solved, instead of the cool stuff your product can do. Chances are most of your competitors will forget to do that. Don’t be like your competitors. Do the smart thing!

Improve as a sales leader with Sales Development Excellence

It’s imperative for sales leaders to ‘stay in the know’. One way to do that is to network at the biggest sales events each year. This one’s guaranteed to be good.

Sales Development Excellence promises to keep sales leaders on top of their game with panels discussing:

• Personal branding on LinkedIn.

• What’s next in sales development.

• How to turn SDRs into good writers.

• Women in sales leadership.

• Cold email teardowns.

• SDR team coaching and mentorship.

• Gaining confidence in cold calling.

• Creative cold outreach strategies.

The event is 100% free but has limited spots. You also need to sign up with your business email as the form won’t accept anything else. It’s virtual and even allows you to “watch on demand”. Do that here.

‘Find Every Buyer On Earth’ With Apollo

Maybe AI will enslave humanity in the next few decades. For now, we’ll have to settle with tools that can make sales that much easier.

Apollo is an AI tool that allows you to target leads like no other. In the company’s own words, you can “reach every buyer on earth”. But what do users think?

Sales Hack of The Week: Use Data To Inform Your Sales Efforts

Are you collecting and analyzing data on sales activities? You know, keeping track of what works and what doesn’t, in order to improve your sales approach and build on whatever you’ve got going on there. No? Give it a shot. It’s the little things that make all the difference!