Three Sales Tips From Ari Gold of Entourage
Despite the warnings of Rotten Tomatoes and general common sense, I recently saw the new Entourage movie. If I could describe it in one word, it would be “terrible.” Seriously, if you were on the fence before, save your money. Awful movie withstanding, the Entourage universe has created some of the most memorable characters in recent memory – including the legendary Ari Gold.
Ari’s a ticking time bomb, and it makes for a lot of entertainment on the show (We’re now at the point where we’re pretending the movie didn’t happen). He’s also a pretty savvy salesperson (which makes me think he MUST be using Spiro). While he’s got (many) flaws, he certainly knows what it takes to close a deal. While I want to highlight just what you can learn from Ari, the real reason I’m writing this blog is to look up funny Ari Gold gifs and video clips. It goes without saying that the blog will definitely be on the NSFW side.
If you’re easily offended, now might be a good time to check out another one of our other blogs.
He Finds The Right Deals, And Drops The Rest
One of the biggest reasons I think that Ari is among the best salespeople out there is that he keeps his pipeline fresh. He doesn’t waste his time on bad scripts, bad talent or bad situations. If something isn’t going to work out – move on. Why bother wasting more time and effort on anything but good deals?
I kind of was on the fence about the next gif, but it’s a blog about Ari Gold so whatever.
He Speaks Your Language
Ari always knows his surroundings, and adjusts his approach accordingly, to a certain extent. But he’s still always kind of an asshole, which we love. Take for example when Ari is pitching potential NFL owners for bringing a football franchise to LA:
He knows exactly who he’s talking to, and how to build rapport with everyone in the room. It’s a pretty different Ari than the one we see with Larry David, who can kvetch with the best of ’em:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_i_yXNzy5k
And when he’s playing golf with Mark Wahlberg, he’s just one of the boys from Southie:
He’s Great With Strategic Partnerships
During the series, you might have thought that Ari was always mean to E – but really, could you blame him? Ari is busy trying to take the career of one of the hottest movie stars on the planet to the next level – but he’s got to deal with the opinionated best friend with an eternal chip on his shoulder.
This would be me in Ari’s shoes everytime E opened his mouth
Considering his own super agent status and E’s modest beginnings, I’d consider Ari to have some buddha level patience when dealing with E. Ari deals with it because he sees it as a necessary evil in managing Vince. And to top it off, to make sure E isn’t feeling too down after an Ari verbal beat down, they hug it out. So sweet!
Ari’s also always thinking a few steps ahead. While he certainly tends to run his mouth, he’s always thinking about what’s best for the long term. The immediate example that comes to mind is when he attempts to start his own agency when separating from Terrence’s. He runs into a snag with the finances, but is able to recover and strike up a deal with Barbara Miller at the 11th hour. Not the ideal situation he wanted, but better strategically in the long run than waiting to get crushed by Terrence.
In Conclusion
While I definitely wouldn’t start behaving like Ari anytime soon in your next sales meeting, there are things you can definitely learn from the way he handles his business. Just learn by watching the seasons 1-4 of the show, NOT the movie.
Photo provided courtesy of flickr user Teuscher Chocolates
