2. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
I was going to write about this in
the “Lessons from the Idiot Box”
section of next month’s double
issue of…
3. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
the Marketing Made Easy
Newsletter, but I wanted to get
this out there while it was still
fresh.
4. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
Anyway, it’s about a couple of
sales lessons gleaned from HBO’s
Boardwalk Empire.
5. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
If you haven’t seen or heard of the
show before, it takes place in the
1920s, during Prohibition…
6. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
And its main character is “Nucky”
Thompson, former treasurer of
Atlantic City.
7. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
Last week there were a couple of
scenes that had particularly strong
sales lessons in them.
8. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
Without further adieu, here’s a
description…
9. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
The scene of these lessons takes
place at the Union Club in New
York where Nucky meets Andrew
Mellon, the Treasury Secretary of
the US.
10. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
Being in the presence of such an
important man has Nucky off his
game a bit, acting nervously.
12. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
I won’t bore you with the details
—or spoil the plot—but in the end
Nucky makes a “sales pitch” to
Mellon, and asks for the order, so
to speak.
14. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
And then Nucky makes his second
big mistake of the meeting.
15. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
After asking for the order, Nucky
jumps the gun and asks Mellon—
who was deliberating on an
answer, or possibly just stalling…
16. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
—if his silence is to be perceived
as a “yes.”
17. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
And after another second of
hesitation, Nucky asks if the
silence signifies a “maybe.”
21. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
The first—Nucky’s acting
nervously in the presence of
Mellon—is pretty easy to see as a
mistake.
22. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
When you’re selling anything—
and you are always selling—you
want to deal from a position of
strength.
23. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
Acting nervously doesn’t bode
well for that.
24. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
No matter who you are, or who
you’re dealing with, you are
speaking to an equal.
25. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
I don’t care if you just graduated
from shoe-shine school and you’re
talking to Bill Gates.
26. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
Be respectful, but act as if you’re
your counterpart’s equal.
27. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
People buy certainty, and
nervousness is its opposite.
28. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
The second mistake might not
appear be as obvious a mistake if
you haven’t sold face-to-face or
over the phone.
29. Sales Lessons from Boardwalk Empire
But in asking for the order and
following up with “is it a yes?” or
“is it a maybe?” Nucky broke the
first rule in sales…
