Gay porn stars, hand models actors and rappers says the NYTimes.
“I hate to say you’re acting, but sometimes real estate is a bit of a show. When you’re a broker, you’re on stage, and you’ve got to make people like you.” - Pamela Liebman, president Corcoran Group.
A fascinating discussing on the BBC radio show Night Waves, featuring Eli Attie, former speechwriter for Al Gore, writer on The West Wing and writer and co-producer of House.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f68dz
Listen from around 13.30 and it lasts about 15 minutes.
Entourage’s old school producer, Bob Ryan. Is that something you might be interested in?
Sarah Blakely, the founder of Spanx, made “shapeware” chic, becoming the youngest self-made woman billionaire in the world. Since 2000, her Footless Pantyhose and Power Panties have sold more than 15 million units combined. What makes her a good saleswoman? (I’m drawing mostly here on Alexandra Jacobs’ excellent profile of her in The New Yorker last year.)
“Louboutin will hire a salesperson on the basis of personality as much as on that of retail experience. ‘I’m kind of like, deformed,’ he said. ‘I buy the smallest thing, like a stamp, and I’m thinking, This person would be good for the shop.’ Louboutin poached a hostess from an Air France lounge; another time, he hired the bellboy who was assigned to look after him at a hotel in Dubai. Female salespeople offer reassurance; the role of the male salesperson is ‘the ideal flirt’…One day at [Louboutin’s] offices, he wanted to demonstrate the way that a pair of his shoes can extend the line of the leg. He summoned one of his employees and had her step on top of a concrete bench. Louboutin then instructed her to hike up her skirt. ‘It’s all a matter of this going up to here,’ he said tracing a line from foot to hip, up the length of her stocking. ‘I haven’t yet met a woman who told me, ‘I wish I had shorter legs.’”
Augie Turak appears in The Art of the Sale describing the importance of a Zen attitude in selling. It’s a truly powerful, if deceptively simple, idea.
The early 20th century conman, “Count” Victor Lustig came up with these ten commandments - not so different from those given to salesmen. He was known as the “man who sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice.”
The salesman’s job “demands stamina, charisma and a near devotion to making the sale — has become a crucible for future drug company executives in recent years…Mr. Gorsky… fits the mold of someone who once “carried the bag” — industry slang for working as a sales representative. He is known as a polished speaker and an intense yet likable manager who is a quick study when it comes to learning new topics…“It’s the school of hard knocks,” said Nona Footz, who leads the health care practice at RSR Partners, an executive search firm. “You’re out there. You’re knocking on doors. You have very tough sales targets. You get a lot of exposure. You learn the business and then you’re promoted.” Good things, no? “But the ethos of the sales representative may not be what Johnson & Johnson needs right now, said Erik Gordon, who teaches business at the University of Michigan. “That culture was very much the Weldon culture writ large — we will make our numbers for the analysts, period,” he said. “And if that means we have to cut costs on things that affect quality, then by God, we’re going to make those numbers.”
