If you need something to do, binge watch Mad Men over Spring Break. All the seasons are on Netflix, and it will make you question current morality of the business world. But besides that, Don Draper is an advertising agent that is constantly trying to sell his advertisements to business owners. Throughout the show, Don Draper has his own sort of issues, but he only speaks up when his employees need a “big bark”. In the scene above, the writers are trying to get a lipstick company to agree to a new ad campaign. As by the behavior of the buyer, he is not happy with what Don Draper has come up with. In response, Mr. Draper utilizes his bold sales technique to seal the deal.
First, he does what Mattson defines between “suspects” and “prospects”. Draper immediately starts to close the deal because he does not believe the buyer to be a “prospect”. In his words, the buyer does not believe in his own business tactic. While it is good to determine which listener may be a prospect and which may be suspect, it is probably not the best idea to kick the client to the door. Another fault of Don’s is the bold telling the client what he wants. The client does retaliate by questioning Don’s authority to tell him what to do with his business, but for this one time it works.
With all the negatives, one thing Don does right is his authenticity. Granted, his whole life is a lie (it is quick to see in the whole series), but with his clients, he is passionately sold on his own idea. What he does well is the convincing of his buyers that his idea is the only one that will work. While it seems like it is being jammed down the buyer’s throat, having passion and being excited about your own idea is a characteristic buyers can appreciate. The ambivert knows how to balance excitement and pushiness. In this scene, Don initially sits back and inserts himself when he thinks he is needed. He does go a little over the line by being so abrasive, but its is the overall concept that won him the client.
While we should not totally mirror Don Draper, he has a few sales techniques that work in alliance with our classroom teachings.
testacr22
media is awesome! It gives a direct view of what the sterotypical salesperson is and different techniques that we should use or avoid
I think his strategy of sitting back and waiting to inject until he sees necessary is key. Haven’t been able to watch the series yet, but I definitely want to get into it!
Thank you for this, Lindy – Mad Men is my favorite TV show. Don’s sales team is great on focusing on the emotions and feelings behind the product while ignoring the product itself. This is absolutely genius, and it works. In your example, they entirely look past lipstick and pitch it as ownership, control, & empowerment. Solid case of benefits over features.