When talking about sales one thing that comes to my mind is a show called Nathan for You. This is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen, and one of the best things about it is that it is all real. In the show, the main character, Nathan Fielder, is a businessman who is trying to help failing businesses to succeed. Of course, this would not normally make for a funny show, but the twist is that all of his solutions are absolutely absurd.
In one particular episode, he decides to try and help a liquor store to succeed. Liquor stores have many problems, but the problem he chose and the way he sold his idea were very important. The problem that he framed was that the liquor store was not getting enough customers. This is a problem with most failing businesses, but Nathan brought up an idea that the store owner had not thought of, that there was a potential strand of new customers that no liquor stores were reaching: minors.
Nathan was pitching to the liquor store owner that he should sell to minors. Although this would normally be illegal, Nathan said that the minors would not be allowed to take the alcohol home, instead, it would be put in a storage locker in the liquor store.
If Nathan had pitched the idea of selling alcohol to minors in any other way his idea would surely have been turned down, but the way he framed the problem and described the solution kept the liquor store owner hooked. In the end, the owner said yes and began selling to minors, but not letting them take the alcohol home, just keeping it until the customer turned 21. This was also an example of bad selling since they did not tell the minors that they wouldn’t be able to take the alcohol home until after they purchased it. This led to a bunch of dissatisfied customers who didn’t come back. This is an example of how dishonesty does not make for a good salesman.
BoweryJE22
Nathan for you is great show that exemplifies a true salesman mind… with a little comedy added. Nathan is always looking to solve customer’s problems in a unique way, however his ideas usually fall flat on its face. Nathan’s motives are at question for me because of his dishonesty and questionable techniques, but he is always looking to help out his clients.
Nathan for you is a very funny show that even in the funny moments, salesman traits can be seen. Throughout the entire show he comes up with super absurd ideas to try and improve businesses sales in the moment or over the course of one day, but usually in the end most customers are upset and do not want to come back for more. Like you said, this is a great example of bad selling because customers are supposed to keep coming back and wanting more but instead, Nathan sometimes leaves customers with an untrusting, second-guesser personality towards the business.
Hahah, this is hilarious! But a very good point. You can often craft things to sounds right or good, but be a little misleading, and create a bad reputation for the company as it is being dishonest. The form of selling whether the salesman is stupid or just manipulative is not the way sales should be done. Sales should be done genuinely and also after a lot of careful thought and research. This salesperson at least did one of these things wrong and is why he is a prime example of exactly what not to do when selling.
Good post! Hope you have a great night!
-Collier
I think that show is so funny, especially this episode. Even though the show is very funny, it can be an example of bad selling. Clearly, Nathan is misleading customer’s into buying a product, without know all the information with that purchase. I think he can be seen as a misleading salesman and seem untrustworthy.
Nathan is so weird and I effing love that guy. Although his ideas may seem absurd, but he really makes you think “is it really inapplicable” after seeing him bringing his absurd ideas into practice. My favorite one is the balloon horse.