Sales Mindset of the real Wolf of Wall Street: Money does not corrupt a man
I learned more from my failures than my successes, said one of the most famous Hollywood characters, an American worth 115 million dollars, Jordan Belfort, during his guest appearance in Zagreb to multiple ovations and laughter from the audience.
In the crowded hall of Zagreb’s Mozaik Event Center, but also online throughout the region, in front of more than a thousand spectators at the conference “Sales Mindset – The Wolf Strikes Again”, former broker, sales magus and true wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, gave a lecture. An extra spot was sought-after for the conference, so we are very proud that we also contributed to its success through PR support!
“Everyone goes through a period in life when they are at the top, fall, and manage to get back up. I am more successful today than before, I have set my life on a new level”, said Belfort at the beginning of the lecture, during which he told his life story, but also gave concrete advice on how to earn money and succeed in life. He pointed out that money does not change a person, and that there is no nobility in poverty.
“Money is important – it is the basis for basic things – food, a roof over your head, and health. I have seen more pain and suffering because of a lack of money than the other way around. I used to be rich and happy and unhappy. Now I am very rich and very very happy. But I have never been poor and happy in my entire life!”
He told how he shared a prison cell with the famous actor Tommy Chang, who laughed at his stories and motivated him to write a book.
“When I was in prison, I lost everything – money, my wife, family, respect and freedom. But I came back. It started with the writing of the book The Wolf of Wall Street, for the rights of which Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon competed even before it was finished,” he recalled.
All the motivation in the world can’t help you if you don’t have the skill and haven’t put in the effort to learn it. His motivation, he admits, was his children he left behind when he went to prison, but also setting standards, which he compares to a thermostat that, instead of temperature, should be set to a certain amount of annual earnings, and strive towards that. Belfort has high standards in terms of wealth and a healthy life, but he admitted with a smile – in his three previous marriages, he did not have high standards and did not try hard enough. He presented his “Straight Line Selling theory” to the audience, which was also shown in the film adaptation of Belfort’s biography The Wolf of Wall Street with DiCaprio in the lead role.
The biggest mistake in marketing and sales is to turn those who are not interested into customers, instead of offering a better product or service to those who are already customers, he told the audience through the example of his first sales experience in the form of delivering daily newspapers.
The Wolf Strikes Again conference is the crown of the Prodajni Mindset, a unique concept of events, education, and networking designed to help improve sales skills, consisting of an already integrated team – experienced lecturers, communicators, and educators Saša Tenodi and Vedran Sorić with the support of well-known entrepreneur Ognjen Bagatin, also speakers at the conference.
The top speakers, Daniel Disney, Mila Litvinjenko, Ajdin Brković, Nemanja Antić, Dr. Natko Beck, Dr. Vanja Ljevar, and Damjan Rudež, in a conversation with Ana Radišić, honestly shared their experiences of sales and business failures, advice on approaching different customer characters, and explained how much empathy and recognition of other people’s emotions help in sales.
One of the organizers, Vedran Sorić, opened the conference with the lecture “Difficult days in sales”, telling what obstacles the organizational team faced before the start of the conference: “I wanted to convey how emotionally demanding, difficult and exhausting sales are sometimes. Of course, this does not mean that working in sales is bad because of this – moreover, there are many more beautiful moments to remember, acquaintances (friendships) for life and victories that create that great feeling in the body. What we want to achieve with the Sales Mindset project is for people to feel good about sales, to be professionals and to accept that a large part of sales can really be learned. And that’s why it makes sense to join our club and grow together with colleagues”, he said.
Ognjen Bagatin emphasized that Belfort’s performance in Zagreb was a unique opportunity for education for everyone in the region. “Along with Belfort, ten stars from business, leadership, marketing and sales performed at the conference. We chose Vuk because he is excellent in sales skills, which we have seen in the film so far. Live like this, with the ‘real’ Wolf, we want people in Croatia and the region to learn these skills, to be better in sales and business so that they can develop their businesses, their companies and increase sales, and thus the entire economy”, he concluded, explaining that the Sales Mindset team wants to make the word ‘sales’ a synonym for something positive and distance it from the association with fraud. “Selling is a noble occupation and a basic skill that we start learning from a young age – and children, when they want something, have to ‘sell’ us their request – present it with quality and argumentation and offer something in return”.
Co-organizer Saša Tenodi emphasized the importance of networking and creating a club of like-minded people: “All the topics that the speakers presented to us today are topics that we regularly discuss within the Sales Mindset club, whose members help each other in sales, improving business skills and establishing business contacts. Today, when Belfort and the other guests were followed by more than a thousand people in one day, I believe that they felt the magic of personal contact and the importance of networking. We took a big risk to bring a big name to Croatia and I am proud to say that this is the conference of the year of this type in our region”, concluded Tenodi.
Tags: Wolf of Wall Street, The Wolf Strikes Again, Prodajni Mindset, Jordan Belfort