The Pacific - Sales Lessons from Veterans of WW2
Posted by Frank Belzer on Wed, Jun 08, 2011 @ 03:53 PM
When Tom Hanks started producing "the pacific" as a follow up to the highly acclaimed and successful "Band of Brothers" series - he once again wanted to capture the authenticity of the experience. He wanted us to know what it felt like - a pretty ambitious goal, bordering on the impossible.
To achieve that feel Hanks had real veterans join the shoot to coach the actors. As I watched "the making of the Pacific" I was struck by how these veterans shouted out guidance:
"NO , you are not looking scared enough"
"You need to be MORE scared, we were much more scared than you look"
"I don't think you get it , we were terrified - going through the motions will just get you killed"
Interesting? Even Great actors can only attempt to look scared, they can try to relate fear only in the context of their own experience. The real thing is so much different from the imaginary thing. Imaginations are great but they can only take us so far.
No wonder De Niro packed on the pounds for Raging Bull as did Rene Zelwigger for Bridget Jones Diary. This is why Christian Bale lost 50 pounds for the Machinist and why Pacino practiced being blind for weeks before shooting Scent of a Woman. There is clearly a huge gap between wanting to look or be a certain way and actually being a certain way.
Sales people are really no different. Everybody wants to be successful, they all say they want to sell, they all will answer that they are driven and that they are hunters - but alas the facts are far different. Most of the sales population are not really prepared for the reality of war. They have not experienced the "fear" that the greats have, they are merely guessing that they can do it and going through the motions - well as the Veterans said - that will just get them killed.
