Whether or not Tommy Boy’s methods of selling the waitress on starting up the fryer were sane or not isn’t what we are here to ask. Regardless of the hilarity of the scenario there are good things that can be picked out of this scene.
First, Tommy is frustrated because every time he gets a potential sale he seems to put it up on a pedestal and ruin it. We see an example of this in a scene prior to this conversation. It takes until this point, however, for him to realize that the key to effective selling isn’t in spewing details or jargon, but in personally connecting to your customer and delivering to them what it is that they need.
This is a theme which we are all mostly familiar with from all of our in class discussions, but it is a crucial one nonetheless. In order to truly sell effectively, we need to be able to form a connection between ourselves and our customers. We then must leverage this connection and our product in order to fill their needs and pains accordingly. Forcing a product on someone is never the correct course of action.
A good salesman confidently and calmly forms a bond with their customer, then, through this bond, they fill the needs of the customer through the use of their product or service.
testacr22
This is inspiring, as I have a hard time connecting with people, not just selling. I need to learn, as Tommy did, to get to know the person instead of not saying anything.
I like this example. Interesting to see how he realized the importance of connection. Bringing the best of social dynamics to sales is effective b/c then it’s natural and not a robotic sales conversation.