Glengarry Glen Ross

I recently watched a sales movie named Glengarry Glen Ross. It wasn’t a sales movie about flashy success or anything like that. It was about survival, pressure, and the messy reality of human nature. While the story itself was gripping, what stuck with me were the lessons I pulled from it, some principles that I am still thinking about.

One big takeaway is how desperation can tank even the best opportunities. When you’re clawing for a win, it can show: your voice tightens, your pitch speeds up, and people can sense it from a mile away.  The take away was that confidence is the closer, not neediness. Customers don’t buy your panic; they buy your certainty. Now, I focus on slowing down, projecting value, and letting the deal come to me.

Another insight is that ethics aren’t optional. The film showed how pressure can tempt you to cut corners and cheat, lie, or steal. But those moves are not honoring to the Lord, and they will always come back to hurt you. I’ve learned that trust is the real prize in sales. One bad move and it can undo years of good moves. Sticking to good morals, even when it’s inconvenient, will keep you around longer anyways.

Finally, it drove home the power of adaptability. The top performers didn’t just recite a script—they read the room, shaped their approach to fit the person across the table. It’s less about what you want to say and more about what they need to hear. To put this into class terms, this is the pain funnel. You need to identify where your prospect is coming from and help them with their needs. You should not be selling to make money, but you should be selling because you believe in the product and you think that it could truly help peoples lives.