I’m Alex Berman, and you’re watching SELLING BREAKDOWNS.
During its nine season run, ‘The Office’ became a cultural phenomenon, resonating with
audiences everywhere thanks to its offbeat humor, relatability, and cast of lovable characters.
Though the show’s quality declined in its later seasons, it’s the personal connections
viewers formed with Jim, Pam, Andy, Dwight, and world’s best boss, Michael Scott, that
kept them coming back for more. For this same reason, the series is consistently Netflix’s
top performer, as longtime fans regularly return to the show to check in on their friends
at Dunder Mifflin.
It’s now been seven years since ‘The Office’ closed its doors for good, and since then,
the world, and the workplace, have gone through some pretty significant changes. Steve Carrell
himself has argued that the kind of inappropriate behavior the show lampoons would never be
allowed in today’s climate, and as the series foreshadowed in one of its recurring storylines,
mid-size companies like Dunder Mifflin are either being swallowed up by large corporations
or moving their operations online. In effect, the type of office we see in the show simply
doesn’t exist anymore. Still, though business has changed in the last decade, some sales
principles--much like ‘The Office’ itself--are timeless. So in this regard, there’s a lot
the series can teach us.
Dunder Mifflin’s sales team featured a rotating cast of characters, but the mainstays were
Stanley, Phyllis, Andy, Dwight, and Jim. Each had their own technique, but because Stanley
and Phyllis usually preferred crossword puzzles and knitting to using their sales skills,
there’s not much we can learn from them. So instead, let’s start with ‘The Office’s’
worst salesman, Andy Bernard.
When Andy is introduced in season three, he’s an obnoxious bootlicker, believing that the
best way to leave an impression is by sucking up. Instead, his aggressive, sycophantic approach
of “name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake” gets
him nowhere with both clients and his coworkers, who briefly push him out of the office. Later
in the series we learn more about Andy’s background and why he started off so unlikeable,
as he constantly tried to fit in with family and friends who never truly embraced him for
who he was. However, as a Cornell man, it’s surprising that Andy doesn’t realize sooner
why his approach doesn’t work. Simply put, it isn’t genuine.
While many sales training courses emphasize the value of mirroring and other techniques
Andy employs, people are able to see through what he’s doing because it doesn’t feel
sincere. Just as behaviors like politeness and exchanging pleasantries can be a good
way of making an impression, they can also register as hollow and make it harder to build
trust if you are more interested in getting ahead than establishing a relationship.
Unfortunately for Andy, even after he returns from anger management as a new man, he continues
to be the worst performing salesman in the office. In season seven episode, The Seminar,
Andy tries to address his poor sales record by holding a seminar for prospective clients.
By this point he’s mellowed out, genuinely concerned for other people, and is no longer
driven by unfettered ambition. However this leaves him with the opposite issue: he’s
too nice to close any deals. Because of this, Andy’s pitch quickly falls apart and he
walks out of the seminar, forcing Michael to intervene. When he tells Andy to close
the deal, they have this exchange:
Andy: Yeah, I mean, I’m getting to it.
Michael: No you’re not. You’re getting past it. You have to close. You can do it.
Andy: Yeah, yeah.
Michael: Andy, what’s the problem?
Andy: This is hard for me. I’m a nice guy.
Ultimately, Michael’s advice helps Andy become more direct with the prospective clients,
allowing him to land some sales. But this episode, and Andy’s character overall, illustrate
one of the best sales lessons the show can teach us: Don’t be too pushy, but don’t
be too nice either. It is natural to avoid conflict, and in business, being too aggressive
can feel confrontational. But at the same time, if you believe that your product truly
has value, making that case is in both parties’ best interest. So being too afraid to press
the issue can actually be a disservice to yourself and the client--just remember not
to take it too far.
Dunder Mifflin’s top salesmen, Dwight and Jim, are another great example of this dichotomy.
Representing both ends of the spectrum--with Jim being personable, and Dwight acting more
direct--they embody how both techniques can be used effectively. The season three episode,
Traveling Salesmen, lets us see this in action, as Jim and Dwight team up to pitch a client
face-to-face. Jim is honest as he explains what Dunder Mifflin can offer, while Dwight
noisily makes a phone call. Their differing approaches initially seem problematic, but
it soon becomes obvious why they’re so effective at their jobs. Jim’s openness and Dwight’s
aggressive tactics help them make the sale by allowing them to demonstrate the quality
of their customer service.
In this way, this scene illustrates another important lesson: Playing to Your Strengths.
Jim’s friendly approach and Dwight’s direct technique are effective because these qualities
are perfectly in line with their characters. So it doesn’t just work for them, it’s
what comes naturally. At the same time, the salesmen realize what they have to offer as
a company--although they can’t compete with the prices the big distributors can offer,
customer sales is Dunder Mifflin’s greatest strength, so they make this the focus of their
pitch.
In fact, throughout the series, Dunder Mifflin’s personal touch is emphasized over and over
again, and in the face of extraordinary odds, this is what saves the Scranton branch from
going out of business. Michael Scott, for all his shortcomings as a boss, understands
the importance of personal connections--after all, his desire for a wife, a family, and
friendship are the reason for some of his most cringeworthy behaviors. And while Michael
does have a penchant for self-delusion, let’s not forget that he was once the company’s
best salesman. Despite his immaturity and disinterest in actually doing work, time and
again, we see Michael make impossible deals as if it’s instinctual to him. Season two’s
The Client, showcases this remarkably well, illustrating why he’s actually quite good
at his job.
In the episode, Michael and his boss, Jan, take a prospective client to dinner at Chili’s.
Jan grows infuriated with Michael over the course of the evening, as he completely avoids
discussing the sale, instead telling jokes, drinking, and goofing around. After several
hours, Michael and the client have formed a meaningful connection, and talk about their
personal lives. That’s why, when Michael finally mentions the sale at the end of the
evening, the client agrees without a second thought.
Michael makes the sale because he understands that some things matter more than facts and
figures. As he articulates later in the series: “Business is always personal. It’s the
most personal thing in the world.” To Michael Scott, there is nothing more important than
forming a personal connection with someone. It’s why he fights so hard to keep the office
together; why he chases love so desperately; why he’s always making a fool of himself.
He cares about people and knows that if you build a meaningful relationship with someone,
that will matter more than just business.
After all, that’s why the show is such a success. Sure, it’s hilarious, but lots
of funny sitcoms never reach the heights that ‘The Office’ did. The series resonated
with viewers because of the people--the quirky characters working at Dunder Mifflin who they
came to understand, sympathize with, and grow genuinely attached to. That’s why audiences
all around the world keep returning to the series, and why it’s popularity has only
ever grown. If you don’t have the personal connection, you have nothing.
As Michael once said: “People will never be replaced by machines. In the end, life
and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to muder you
in a lake. And to me the choice is easy.”
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Thanks for watching.
I am Alex Berman.