Peter Rabbit & Sales

          Over the Easter weekend, I watched Peter Rabbit with my family and was able to find a great example of a good salesman. I was unable to find a clip of the scene from the movie that perfectly exemplified this, so I will provide a summarized description and explanation of why this is a good sales example.

              At the beginning of the movie, Thomas McGregor works at a toy store in London, where he is up for a promotion. Thomas has worked very hard for this promotion, and likes everything to be as perfect as it can be, down to the details of fluffing the pillows in the dollhouses at the store. He takes his job very seriously, and is clearly very passionate about his work and the joy that the toys from the store bring customers. After Thomas is passed up for the promotion due to nepotism, he in a sense throws a tantrum and is fired. After Thomas inherits his great uncle’s estate, he makes plans to open a toy store of his own. Later on in the movie Thomas is encouraged to talk about his previous job experience, and that is the scene that perfectly exemplifies being a good salesman.

Thomas explains his love for his previous job, and clearly displays a sense of pride and passion for the products he sold. As a sales person, it is important to be able to believe in the products you sell and the benefits that they are capable of bringing about. Thomas talks about the joy he got in his previous job from being able to help people. He talks of customers coming into the store and him being able to tell the customer exactly what they need, simply by asking a few questions. Though a sales interaction, such as the one described in this scene is not actually shown, one can guess that Mr. McGregor was a good salesman, who followed rules such as letting the prospect do 70% of the talking, answering questions with another question, and identifying customer pain. Though Thomas McGregor may be a bit uptight about his work at times, he very clearly displays what it means to be a good salesman.