I know, right? Alex Baldwin? Well, we have Keith Smith, MD of The Advertist to thank for this one from our conversation on the podcast. We should explain..
Regular readers, you know the drill; we get suggestions for what to throw into The Rockstar CMO Swimming Pool, our portal to marketing hell for all the bullshit and snake oil from our house band and the rock stars I interview. I then lean out over the balcony of the penthouse and see how big the splash will be.
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However, as you may have heard on the podcast when I chatted with Keith Smith (our resident business development guru and MD of The Advertist) to my surprise, he nominated Alec Baldwin.
Well, to be specific, the quotes from Blake, the character he played in the film adaption of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross.
Yes, Keith. Pulitzer Prize-winning.
Specifically, this scene:
On the podcast I expressed my incredulity.
I LOVE this film, and I have seen the play it is based on twice. It IS the quintessential sales story. And, if I am honest as a techie turned marketer, part of my sales education.
I was turned onto this film by one of the best sales directors I ever worked with back in the early 2000s, and yet, almost 20 years later, Keith tells me it still features in his LinkedIn feed and is being used in sales meetings today.
I could argue that this is because of its continued relevance; the classics never go out of style. But, I have to admit that we sales and marketing folks should not be given nice things and we’ve probably flogged this to death. Like the words “leading”, “paradigm”, and “game-changer”, we’ve rinsed all meaning out of it.
So, while I hope we can all still enjoy the movie, in 2020 to earnestly quote Blake today is trite, lazy, and unimaginative, so, with a heavy heart, I have to agree with Keith, and it’s going in.
As an aside, my favorite character is Richard “Ricky” Roma (played by Al Pacino) his sweary reaction when the boss ruins his deal taught me to keep my mouth shut when a sales guy is working the deal, as Ricky says:
You never open your mouth until you know what the shot is.
Well, right now, the shot is a long fall from the Rockstar CMO penthouse balcony to the pool for Blake.
As he tumbles, see that watch…..
Listen to the full podcast episode here or search for “Rockstar CMO FM” in the podcast platform of your choice,
[buzzsprout episode=’3408157′ player=’true’]
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