The Wolf of Wall Street includes many tips on how to be a successful seller, but arguably the best piece of advice comes from the “Sell Me This Pen” scene.
In that scene (which you can watch in the video below), Jordan Belfort, a prominent investment banker, addresses a room full of people on how to be a successful seller. Belfort goes to three different people, asking them to sell him a pen.
The responses included:
“It’s an amazing pen for professionals.”
“It’s a nice pen. You can use the pen to write down thoughts.”
“This pen works.”
You might be wondering what is wrong with these responses? In each response, the “seller” focused on describing the physical attributes of the pen, rather than focusing on how the pen would be a benefit to the buyer. Although each response appears to be an adequate attempt to convince Mr. Belfort to buy the pen, the reality is that simply describing the features of the pen will not be enough to convince him. Instead, they must sell to Mr. Belfort’s unmet needs.
Coach Andrew DiDonato also discussed this concept when he spoke to our class about a month ago. Although Coach Andrew offered many pieces of advice throughout his lecture, he stressed one selling technique in particular: Benefits sell.
“Benefits sell” is exactly the point Mr. Belfort attempted to make during his sales seminar. Quite frankly, buyers don’t care if the pen has unlimited ink or the most comfortable grip. That will not convince them to buy the pen. Instead, buyers want to know how the pen will benefit them directly. The seller should be asking questions that help the buyer discover an unmet need. Will the pen improve the buyer’s overall lifestyle? What need does the pen address that the buyer can’t find elsewhere?
The key to successful selling is that you must discover the buyer’s pain. You can sell them on the benefits of the product, but only after you’ve harnessed the unmet need of the buyer.
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To watch the scene from The Wolf of Wall Street, click on the video below!
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It’s true that all of the responses were talking about the features of the pen, and not asking what the customer needs. The key idea of “benefits sell” stresses how important it is to see how the customer can benefit, not the salesperson. Great post!
In sales, it is important for the seller to focus on the product’s relationship with the customer rather than the product solely. The “Sell Me This Pen” scene is a great representation of this idea. A seller needs to understand their product’s value proposition and “bundle of benefits.” You summed this up perfectly with the principal: Benefits Sell. Great job!
I really like this post because it is a direct example of what happens in both the real world, as well as what happened in our class on one of the first days. I think the biggest takeaway, and like that you bolded it is that benefits sell. This is important to sales because if you are unable to understand the pain of your customer then, you will never be able to know what they are truly looking for.
When selling something it is important to focus on the person and then dig deeper to find the pain that person has. The benefits of the pen doesn’t matter unless it perfectly fits the person, but to just rattle off the benefits when you first see that person is off putting and will likely land you no sale.