The oldest profession in the world ( Ten sales lessons from 'that Will Smith Movie')

Despite being more than a decade old now and no matter the countless blogposts and inspirational videos that might have borrowed subject matter from it, there is indeed something special about Will Smith’s “ The Pursuit of happiness”. Silly as I might have seemed to my family last night as I sat, my eyes glued to the Television, watching it for the third time in the past ten years, I found myself applauding yet again as the end credits rolled up. Yes, despite the clichés , despite the overflowing ( sometimes, exaggerated) misery that refuses to stop. Because just like the protagonist, Chris Gardner does not give in. Nor do you.

“ The Pursuit of happiness” is a beautiful movie, not just an inspiring one. And you are particularly likely to connect to it if you are in a sales profession. It is like that Zig Ziglar or Og Mandino book you keep visiting again and again, at different junctures of your professional journey, to discover some new nuggets to mull on and to heave you out of your blues as you tie your shoe laces in the morning and give yourself your own little personal pep talk to take on the world out there – setbacks and competition and politics and all.

Here are my top ten takeaways as a sales person from this wonderful movie. Do watch it if you haven’t. Do watch it once more if you haven’t watched it for some time now.

1.      Decisions – are an integral part of life, some right, some not so right. But once you make a decision, don’t keep wallowing in self pity out of regret because of a wrong decision , but rather work your way around it and eventually out of it. Like Chris never complains about his capital being stuck in a bad investment on a slow-selling product. Yes, he makes good natured jokes about it ( like when he leaves a machine with a hippie girl and dissuades her from stealing it, saying that she cannot sell it, quipping that he himself is unable to sell it, in spite of that being his day job :) ), but he stands behind his decision and eventually sells his stock.

2.      Time – comes in blocks. And bad times come in stubborn blocks. When things start going wrong in life, they generally KEEP going wrong. Good sales people retain their grace and their negotiation skills even in the worst of times. Except for one scene where he breaks down (privately), unable to ward off life’s curve balls, never in the story does he get cowed down by obstacles ( and there are a hell lot of them that he keeps bumping into ). But with every setback, his response is a counter offer and a solution to overcome it. Like when the landlord urges him to vacate the apartment, saying that the painters are due to start work the next day, Chris buys himself a week, offering to do the paint job himself for the landlord , as a fee.

3.      Life – happens. As it has to, to each of us, often unfairly so when we are in the middle of a bad patch. Good sales people understand this and accept it without breaking down. In the story, Chris’s wife leaves him. Their fallout if not born out of disloyalty of any kind, but rather as a means of individual survival . Chris is sad and hurt, but he copes with it without playing the victim card or indulging in blame games. He sticks to his core beliefs ( being a good parent being one of them) even in his darkest hour, as he keeps insisting on cleaning up a cuss word on the walls of his son’s kindergarten school and the way he gently explains the meaning of the slang to his curious son, discouraging him to ever use it whle speaking.

4.      Attitude – is everything. Chris Gardner is an unputdownable ‘piece of work’ , as his mentor remarks. Imagine yourself arriving at the most important job interview of your life without a shirt and with wall paint spills on your forehead, having served a night in police custody for unpaid car tickets and having sprinted across town to get there. And when the interviewer asks Chris to give him one good reason to hire a guy without a shirt , Chris offers ( without batting an eyelid ) – “ Maybe because the trousers must be real good ? ”. Tell me, who can deflate such a spirit ? And the real icing is when, after managing to land the internship, Chris smugly declares that he shall have to think about it and get back the next day ( as there is no fixed pay). Like all great sales people, Chris knows that the best commodity he has for sale, is his own self. And he refuses to sell himself short . No matter how dire his circumstances are.

5.      Parkinson’s law – states , “Work expands and contracts to fill the time available for its completion.” Good sales people live by this law and that’s how they respect their working hours. Chris Gardner squeezes in more work in six hours than what his colleagues do in nine. And Chris makes no big deal about it. For him, it’s about his core needs – the need to attend to his son in the remaining hours, and yet not lose his competitive edge at work.

6.      Prospecting – , the old fashioned way, never goes out of fashion, no matter how many modern Apps and gizmos fill the sales person’s arsenal today . Great sales people never stop prospecting and never view prospecting as a linear cause-and-effect exercise. They understand that prospecting, like karma, is non-linear, and yet the fairest tool of all. It always pays in the long run. Like the Pension fund CEO who humors Chris by inviting him for a ball game with his son, but candidly tells him that he won’t risk his investments with Chris. And what does Chris do ? He networks with all other guys he meets at the game , bonds with them nicely and stays in touch with them, ending up signing 31 new accounts from these contacts.

7.      Product – knowhow is not an option, but a non-negotiable requirement for every good sales person. How often we come across sales people who try to get by with gab, having probably never touched or felt the product they are trying to sell. In the movie, when Chris is unable to sell his last machine owing to a technical glitch, he buys the spares needed to fix it, stays up at night, and fixes it. There is something incredibly moving in the way he handles the machine on his lap, passionately wiping stains off it. He is a sales person who understands his product and treats it with respect. No wonder he sells it.

8.      People – are not always bad. Even in your worst cycles, there are people who are watching you, noticing your efforts and waiting for an opportunity to support you. Good sales people are always in demand and people value them a lot, no matter how bad the economy be. In the film, when , after a six month bootcamp of an internship , Chris gets selected out of twenty applicants, we are not surprised. The guys in the corner rooms had been observing him for all these days. And no manager in his right senses, can reject a sales person like Chris Gardner.

9.      Persistence – matters. A lot. A sales job is not for the faint hearted, or for the ones who give up easily. Using the Rubik’s cube as an apt metaphor, Chris Gardner ( an ace at solving it) is the quinessential salesman who never gives up till he finds his end result. He is relentless in his efforts, never for once discouraged by the lack of early wins. I loved the scene where, having no other option left to make an impression, he hops into the cab with his prospective hiring manager, just so that he can sell himself to the guy during his ride home. I mean, how long can destiny play truant with an unflappable man like this ?

10.  Happ(y)ness – is not about the spelling. Nor is it about a destination. It is the ability to find some magical moments for yourself in the midst of the grime and drudgery that often accompanies a sales person’s life. Yes, there are bad quarters, monster bosses, economic recessions and cut throat competition that a sales person has to live with. But in the midst of all that, there are also unmatched moments of glory, of victory, of recognitions and joy that keep your adrenaline flowing. This is a profession that is practically recession proof. Provided you have it in you. Like Chris Gardner. Like all great sales people in our great profession !