Breaking Bad: Gus Fring’s Strategy

In the show “Breaking Bad”, Gus Fring is a highly professional and charismatic methamphetamine distributor who also runs a successful fast food chain of fried chicken restaurants as a front for his drug operations. Throughout the show he demonstrates a number of sales tactics covered in the book “The Sandler Rules”, especially the rule “No Mind Reading”. Gus makes sure he has the facts straight before proceeding with any business decision. However, the way he goes about acquiring these facts is almost always through the help of his enforcers. Later on in the show, Gus is seen using manipulative tactics to convince Walter White, the show’s “protagonist”, to continue working for him, and he does this by testing Walt’s manhood. In season 3, Gus gives Walt a tour of a brand new facility where he would be able to cook meth more efficiently and produce massive volumes in exchange for $3 million. When Walt turned down the offer, Gus asked him why he got involved in this business in the first place, to which he replies “for the good of my family”. Gus then says that it was not a bad decision because a man’s job is to provide for his family. Even though Walt says the decision costed his family, Gus goes on to say that a man must provide for his family even if he’s not respected, appreciated, or even loved. This puts Walt in a corner because if he turns down the offer then he won’t view himself as a man who puts his family above all else. Gus also understands that money is a driving factor for Walt because the first time he came to Walt with the $3 million proposal, he hesitated before turning it down. This gave Gus a lot of leverage over Walt in future dealings now that he knew what motivated him at his core. Although these tactics are unethical, it does reveal the power of knowing your prospect’s motives for the decisions they make.