In this scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street”, Jordan Belfort walks into Investors Center, a shady and unregulated penny stock trading firm where employees are displaying “unprofessional” selling tactics to get their clients to buy as little as $3 worth of stocks. Jordan then proceeds to try his hand at selling Aerotyne stock to a client by using a less aggressive approach. By the end of the call, he sold $4,000 worth of Aerotyne stock within a minute and a half while his colleagues watched in utter amazement. Although Jordan’s tactics were manipulative and smarmy, there were two powerful strategies he used that are void of dishonesty and could actually be applied to a real selling situation.
One example is his repeated use of the client’s name. If rapport is not built, then the chances of closing a sale are slim to none. Some might view this tactic as insincere, but the truth is everyone wants to be acknowledged as a person with an identity, and using someone’s name is the quickest way to establish a more personal connection with them. I personally believe Jordan went a little overboard with how often he said the client’s name, but I cannot dispute the fact that he built rapport effectively.
The second example is Jordan’s use of inflection and tone. If I was on the receiving end of his call, I would believe he had genuine passion and conviction for the product/service he was selling. A big component to selling anything is authentically communicating how you feel about it and being honest with your potential customer. It is much harder to sell a product to someone if they can tell you are not interested in it.
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