Despite all the goofiness and obscenity in “The Office”, the show actually demonstrates plenty of sales tactics that are useful to real life salesmen. In the episode “The String,” Michael, Dwight, and Ryan spy on competitor Danny Cordray to observe him and discover how he manages to outsell Dunder Mifflin; despite having more expensive paper. Although spying other salespeople is not the best method of learning sale techniques, the three employees discover why Danny had so much success. Danny is a perfect example of an ambivert selling style. In the fake sales situation, Danny engages with Meredith and says that he wants to get to know her before making a sales pitch. By doing this, Meredith is placed in a position where she needs to sell herself to him. After she does so, Danny gets an indication about who Meredith is like and how to market to her more effectively. He talks to her, but spends most of the meeting listening to what she has to say. Although the scene ends with Meredith failing to seduce Danny, we can appreciate what Danny does in order to make a sale.
Ethan David 
Caroline Marie Dawson
Ah the Office! Like you said, how much we really can learn simply from watching. The best kind of learning! This episode is a great example of some things that are good to do and some things that are not so good to do. Danny’s method of getting to know Meredith in order to know how to sell to her is very effective and extremely customer focused. His method is one that we should all take to heart. Thanks!
I have recently started watching The Office for the first time, and to be honest, I’m actually learning a lot about the ins and outs of successful salespeople by watching it… well, maybe I’m learning more what *not* to do to be a good salesperson. Overall, it is a great show with a lot of very practical applications for our class so I’m glad to see it included in some of these posts!
This is a great example of how painful it can be to listen, but also how necessary I guess!