Sales in Moneyball

The movie Moneyball is a movie based on the true story of Billie Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s. Beane went against the “classic” strategy of baseball general managers by getting players that were overlooked and non-star players. He partnered with a Yale graduate and together they formulated the strategy called sabermetrics. sabermetrics was a data-driven strategy that meant they would sign undervalued players with high on-base percentage in order to win games. Beane was receiving criticism from scouts, the owner, and the manager for his system. However, Beane was persistent and believed in his idea. The A’s ended up going on a twenty-game winning streak and exceeded expectations. Beane’s strategy changed the business side of baseball forever. He proved that even with a small budget compared to other teams, you can still achieve a winning season. Beane highlighted the problems with the old way of doing things and created a sense of urgency. The key lesson in this movie is to be sold on your own product or idea. Despite the manager of the team telling Beane that he would not follow the strategy, Beane got rid of players in order to force the manager to use his strategy. In order to sell something well, you need to be “all in” on it. Beane is a great example of believing in yourself and what you can bring to the table even if others do not see what you see. Beane also presented the pain and cost of not changing anything with the current system. This is a good way of showing people that change is not a bad idea and may even be necessary. Beane also used date and factual evidence as part of his selling point rather than appealing to emotion. Overall, this movie shows important sales tactics that are proven to work whether in small or large sales situations.