Categories: Sales Leadership
For many of us, despite our best efforts, we’ll find ourselves crashing on the couch this holiday. Whether it’s from all the food or exhaustion of non-stop holiday cheer, it’s nice to veg out for a bit over the holiday. Instead of simply scrolling through your favorite streaming service, take a look at some of these motivational stories to give you some spirit this holiday and maybe even some motivation as you move into next year.
1. Greater
Deep in the Netflix queue, you’ll find the movie Greater. It shares the story of Brandon Burlsworth, who is the most successful walk-on in college football history. He was a 1st-Team All-American at the University of Arkansas and was eventually drafted by the Indianapolis Colts. His story ended in tragedy, but it provides an example for us all of how hard work, great coaching, and a commitment to excellence can drive incredible outcomes.
We interviewed Brandon’s family and talked more about the lessons we learned from his story on The Audible-Ready Sales Podcast. You can find the movie and our conversation here.
2. Netflix’s Last Chance U: Basketball
Netflix’s Last Chance U: Basketball series follows East Los Angeles College Basketball Coach John Mosley Jr. as he works to motivate and inspire his players. It’s a must-watch for anyone trying to inspire a team. Mosley’s ability to meet his players where they are and help them succeed from there is a skill any manager should focus on, no matter the court they operate in.
Coach Mosley joined John Kaplan for a conversation on The Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, where they covered tactics your sales managers can use to make a bigger impact on rep productivity and growth. Share their conversation with your managers for some valuable takeaways they can apply to their own approach next year.
3. Braveheart
There’s a scene in this movie where Mel Gibson’s character tells his people to “Hold” before they attack. During some of our trainings, the phrase turned into a rallying cry for many Command of the Message alumni — who need to “hold” instead of jump right into conversations about their solutions. John Kaplan talks about it in this podcast. This movie is an oldie but goodie for your holiday couch watching.
4. Apollo 13
Who hasn’t seen Apollo 13? Yet, it’s always an inspiring watch on the power of collaboration and leadership impact. The film is packed with leadership lessons as a team works together to overcome a challenge they’ve never faced before. Regardless, the Apollo 13 crew and ground support found a way to solve a complex problem with their own resources and manpower. This movie is a great reminder that regardless of external challenges, often your most important asset is your people. Heading into next year, consider how you may be able to provide additional value to your salespeople and acknowledge their hard work over the past few years.
5. 12 Angry Men
12 Angry Men is the story of a jury's deliberations on what appears to be an open-and-shut capital murder case. All 12 men have to come to the same vote for guilty or not guilty, so when one man casts a not guilty vote he’s immediately ridiculed. The other jurors want to move on with their day, but one juror says there’s reasonable doubt. What’s better, rush to judgment so you can move a case forward, or ensure you’ve taken enough time to discuss and capture all of the necessary information to make the correct judgment? While moving a sales opportunity forward has less harsh stakes behind it, the same correlation can be made for a rep moving a deal forward too quickly, without making sure it’s baked. This movie might just be the right watch for any of your salespeople who may be rushing opportunities forward or managers, who need to coach reps on the benefits of taking their time on the front-end of their deals.
Some others to consider:
- Remember the Titans
- Miracle
- We are Marshall
- Glory Road
- Chariots of Fire
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We created the Audible-Ready Sales podcast as a way for sales leaders, managers and reps to stay up-to-date on timely sales tactics and gain a weekly refresher on actionable sales fundamentals. You can peruse all of our episodes here for relevant ones that may fit with your upcoming initiatives. Encourage your team to subscribe, so each week they’ll learn new tactics they can use to refine and improve their sales approach.
