The Pursuit of Happyness - The Four Elements of Every Great Sale

Salespeople motivated by a desire for financial gain have a behavioral initiative and focus on changing their circumstances for the better and so was the case for Chris Gardner.

His life and story are the focus of the recent hit movie, The Pursuit of Happyness. Gardner is the real life reflection of a salesperson whose behavior was driven by his motivation to both improve and change his situation. He experienced challenges and setbacks that would derail even the most seasoned sales professional. In response, Gardner demonstrates a drive, creativity, desire, ingenuity, tenacity and perseverance that symbolizes that his was no ordinary life.

Throughout the movie we take a journey through Chris Gardner’s personal and professional life. We see the trials and tribulations that he goes through and consider the ups and downs that define his journey. We experience his story. And like a great story, a great sale has four key elements that are present each time it takes place.

 Setting Every sales opportunity has a unique setting both in environment and the individual behavior of your customers, clients or buyers. Scenario planning is a skill that allows you to consider, plan and prepare for the specific setting associated with your sales call, people’s behaviors and your anticipated response or action.

Chris Gardner consistently adapted his behavior and sales approach to match that of the environment in which he found himself. He quickly and effectively established a scenario plan that increased his predictability of success with people by appealing to their individual behaviors. By considering his setting and making repeated adjustments, he we was able to achieve his goal or targeted objective sooner and in a shorter cycle of time. After all, his personal setting required him to achieve in 6 hours a day what others were doing in 10 hours a day.

 Conflict Chris Gardner’s life and sales story is one of conflict; rebellion against the status quo, complacency and people who told him he couldn’t or wouldn’t achieve his goals and objectives.

As a salesperson, some of your conflict will be internal and some will be external. Either way, it pays to engage and understand the dynamics of human behavior and motivation as a part of the selling conflict. Gardner demonstrates this in the following scenario: After repeatedly trying to get the attention of Jay Twisler, he takes a cab ride with him and engages in external conflict by insisting that he can complete a Rubik’s Cube™ successfully when Twisler demonstrates that he cannot. Salespeople are often faced with an internal conflict related to career advancement and compensation. The internal conflict is represented in a desire for security (salary) versus the opportunity to obtain financial opportunity and gain significant personal wealth. (Commission) When Gardner was faced with the decision to accept a non-paid stock broker internship with Dean Witter and he was financially broke, he faced a significant internal conflict. His decision on how to deal with that conflict represents a key turning point in his life and career. Salespeople must be willing to engage in and deal with conflict in order to maximize their paycheck and their potential.

 Climax The sales process forces a decision. The most successful salespeople support a well defined process. Correctly established and consistently followed the sales process results in a sale and future opportunities. The climax is that point in the story, movie or sale where the music plays loudly and your heart beats quickly. It’s that moment where you know that the “Big Moment” is upon you. The unique part about the climax is that it only occurs once in each story or sale so you can’t afford to miss it. Your attention and focus are essential. Be careful…The climax is rarely the actual closing of the sales deal.

Gardner experienced the climax moment when he was selected into the Dean Witter Internship Program. This program accepted a very limited number of people, most of whom who had undergraduate or graduate degrees. Chris Gardner had a high school diploma and finished first in a class of twelve students in a small town. The perception was that he should have never been accepted into the program.

 Resolution Look at Webster and resolution will be defined as something that is dealt with successfully, finding an answer or being made clear and understandable. This is where the closing of a deal is likely to take the lead role. It’s that moment where you have addressed the behavioral indifference of the client, customer or buyer who has wrestled with questions or indecision and is now ready to move forward. If they aren’t ready to move forward you have only reached a superficial level of resolution and you will need to apply drive, creativity, desire, ingenuity, tenacity and perseverance that symbolizes that you are no ordinary salesperson. Yours is an extraordinary sales process based on a differentiated resolution and the four great elements of a sale.

Chris Gardner’s level 1 resolution came when he sat a conference room table to hear the outcome of whether he would be hired at Dean Witter. His level 2 resolution came when something else happened in his life. That piece of news is shared at the end of the movie so I’ll stop here. If you sell for a living and haven’t seen The Pursuit of Happyness, make it a priority on pay per view. When you do, make sure that you pay attention to Chris Gardner’s response to the question he’s asked at the conference room table when they are making broker selections. That line alone is worth the price for everyone who has ever accomplished something meaningful.

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