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Sales
lessons from "The Love Guru"
This weekend I took some time to watch a
comedy movie. Thanks to the beauty of Comcast video on demand,
I didn't even have to leave my office to do so. While browsing
through the titles, I came across a movie called "the Love Guru",
starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba.
I figured I could "waste" a couple of
hours in mindless comedy to get away from it all. Little did I know
that it would become the content for this week's newsletter. Among
many sales lessons I learned, four stood out and I want to share
them with you, in no particular order of importance.
#1) Confront your fears
One of the main characters, Darren
Roanoke, the star player of the Toronto Maple Leafs, had a fear of
playing hockey in front of his mother. In game 7 of the
Stanley Cup Finals, he ran away from the ice because his mother was
in the audience. He was terrified of her because she always
wanted him to be better and he felt like he was never good enough.
Finally, The Love Guru made him confront his mother and let her know
how he felt, that he was now a grown man and he could take it from
there. After that, he came to the ice and scored the winning goals
to win the cup and break the curse of the Maple Leafs.
--Lesson Learned: What do
you fear that is holding you back? face it and move forward.
#2) Be Yourself
One of the subplots of the movie was
that Guru Pitka (The Love Guru), wanted to be the #1 Guru in the
world, except that 31 was already taken by Deepak Chopra, and he was
#2. During the whole movie, he made several attempts to do
what Deepak did, so he could become #1. His goal was to become
"the new Deepak Chopra". Finally, when he got invited to be on
Oprah, but missed the show, he realized he just needed to be the "#1
Guru Pitka" and not fill in anyone else's shoes.
--Lesson Learned: You don't have to be
anything for anyone. Do your own thing and succeed in your own
terms.
#3) Don't worry about others
Throughout the movie, the character
played by Jessica Alba, Jane Bullard, the president and owner of the
Toronto Maple Leafs, believed that everyone hated her. The
city believed that since her father, the late Mr.. Bullard, bought
the team, they had not been able to win the Stanley Cup and they
called it the Bullard Curse. because of that, Jane believed she
could not find love because everyone hated her. in game 7 of the
finals, a fan stood up to boo her and she finally stood up for
herself and told the fan off. at that moment she broke through and
began to believe in herself, regardless of what she thought anyone
else thought of her.
--Lesson Learned: You
don't have to worry about what other think. Only be concerned about
what you think of yourself.
#4) Unlocking yourself is simple
Guru Pitka wore a chastity belt
throughout the movie. There were many occasions when he would have
like to take it off, however he believed to be locked in. At the end
of the movie, he returns to his Guru and asks for the key to take
the chastity belt off, and the guru replies, "there is no key, just
a latch in the back". All this time, Guru Pitka thought he was
locked in and never even attempted to take it off.
--Lesson Learned:
Unlocking your potential is at your fingertips. You don't have to
wait for someone else to come in and unlock you.
I hope these ideas will help you today
and tomorrow. |
