Become the next Tommy Callahan

“Forget it, I quit, I can't do this anymore, man. My head's about to explode. My whole life sucks. I don't know what I'm doing... I don't know where I'm going. My dad just died. We just killed Bambi. I'm out here getting my ass kicked and every time I drive down the road. I wanna jerk the wheel INTO A BRIDGE EMBANKMENT.” – Tommy

Perhaps this excerpt hits home for us (minus the killing of Bambi) a little more given the current climate of our country and economy.

Chris Farley + David Spade will undoubtedly go down in the history books for their comedy, but perhaps we can take a few sales lessons from the classic Tommy Boy during these unprecedented times.

1.      Rely on your Strengths

Tommy was terrible at sales in the beginning, because he was trying to “adjust” to what he thought was the proper way to sell. The current culture and sales environment are foreign to us all; there is no secret recipe to drive production right now. However, we must change our typical approach. Understand that – learn from it and move on. What strengths can you lean on? Leadership? Strategy? Perhaps now is the best time to clean up that CRM and hit the ground running unlike ever before once the dust settles. There is a way to provide value – find it.

2.      Learn from your Mentors + Peers

Like Tommy, I have a father that paved a very successful career in Information Technology and Business Development. He currently resides in Atlanta as a CIO for a high-growth community bank. He is my biggest critic and supporter. When I have innovative “pitches” I test them on him. Most of the time, I get responses like “That is dumb, I would never respond to that” or “Executives are too busy for approaches like that – bring them value.”

My point being, learn from those around you. There are tons of sales-veterans that have weathered storms like this. Reach out to those that managed to come out on the other side. Of course, a lot of bumps and bruises will be apparent – but like all things before COVID-19, we will survive.

3.      Take ‘NO’ for an answer (for now). 

Richard:

Okay, it's sale time, so remember, we don't take no...?

Tommy:

No shit from anyone.

Richard:

No.

Tommy:

Um, we don't take no prisoners.

Richard:

We don't take no for answer.

Tommy:

Oh yeah... We don't take no for answer! We don't we don't take no for an answer.

Adam:

But what bout during the Corona Virus? 

This is where it gets dicey and Tommy and I sit on opposite sides of the bench (for the time being). Normally, my creed is that “no” gets me that much closer to the next “yes”. However, as I mentioned, we have never experienced a sales arena like this.

I do not believe peppering stakeholders and decision makers will warrant any sort of valuable outcome at this time (especially in healthcare). I specifically sell into healthcare systems and for the time being, I can bring the most value by learning where I can best be leveraged in the future. That may require more strategy, research, sweat equity and fostering of relationships then simply selling for now. Let leadership focus on flattening the curve and attending to patients. Morally, it is what we are called to do.

4.      Find your Helen 

Some of my closest friends and colleagues know that “Tommy want wingy” is one of my most over-recited movie lines and quite frankly, one of the best parts of the movie. The turning point for Tommy – where he leverages his inherit ability to understand, sympathize and deliver; convincing Helen to throw back on the deep fryer for some delicious wings.

Sales is competitive and a relentless industry. Find your inherit strength and leverage it to bring value to your organization. Not everyone can sell and those that do it well; pivot and adapt constantly. Let’s change the game. Find your Helen and convince her to throw back on the fryer because we all want some wingys.

To my fellow sales-comrades, I raise my glass to you. Let’s go to work.