Overview

Participants are asked to select a famous celebrity who—if money were no object—could best represent the product or service they sell. Then they are asked to identify the traits associated with that individual and to prepare a short pitch incorporating one of those traits. A subsequent discussion will reveal the importance (or apparent non-importance) of ethical qualities.

Purpose

To specify the qualities associated with widely admired individuals.

To plan a sales pitch that illustrates some of those qualities.

Group Size

Any number of individuals can participate. The group should be divided into subgroups of four or five.

Room Arrangement

If possible, arrange table groups for four or five participants each.

Materials

Small scraps of paper. (Each person receives a number equivalent to the number of groups minus one. If there are 20 people and four groups of five, each person would receive three sheets of paper, making 60 the total number of sheets you’ll need.) Optional: Possible token prizes for the group with the highest sell-ability.

Method

1.Form groups of four or five and ask the group at large how many play golf. Then ask, “Are you more or less likely to buy a product if Tiger Woods is endorsing it?” Continue the opening by asking similar questions: “How many of you admire Michael Jordan?” Then, “Do you buy Hanes underwear because he pitches it?” “How many of you enjoy Heather Locklear’s acting?” Then, “Would you buy hair color because of it?” “Would Sarah Ferguson’s royal status prompt you to join Weight Watchers?” And, for those with long memories, “How many of you purchased a Mr. Coffee coffee machine because Joe DiMaggio told you that you should?” (Note: Be sure to include both genders and realms other than the sports world.)

2.Discuss the fact that celebrities earn millions of dollars because of these endorsements. Ask how effective participants think such endorsements are.

3.Ask each group to short-list five famous people they’d like selling the product or service their organization provides, and then prioritize the list to determine their number one choice.

4.Next, have groups list the attributes they think of when they think about this person. They should select at least three specific traits or behaviors associated with this individual.

5.Ask if (and if so, how often) the word “ethical” appeared in the lists of traits. If it appeared seldom or not at all, ask the group how important ethics is in a salesperson. If it appeared frequently, simply concur in validating its importance.

6.Finally, have groups prepare a short pitch incorporating (or giving evidence of) those specific qualities. These pitches (or elements of them) are ones that salespeople can use in the future.

7.Place a pile of small pieces of paper at each table (one for each person at the table times the number of groups that will be reporting [other than their own]).

8.Ask each group to appoint one person who will come forward and deliver the pitch. Following each presentation, ask participants to score the effectiveness of the sales pitch on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Collect the scraps following each group’s presentation and add the numbers. Award token prizes or simply your congratulations to the winning team.

9.Let the winners bring closure to the exercise by having them discuss their selections, their final choice, the traits associated with that person, and the way they wove those traits into their sales pitch.

10.Conclude the debriefing by pointing out that there are some qualities, like trustworthiness, that separate celebrities from “sell-ebrities.” Trustworthiness is a trait a salesperson may possess even though his or her customers or prospective buyers do not know it. One way to demonstrate that customers can count on the salesperson to deal honestly is to anticipate objections and address them before the prospect can. In so doing, the salesperson can show he or she has nothing to hide. Plus, the salesperson has a chance to explain why the good points of the product or service far exceed the negative ones the prospect might bring up.

Encourage participants to be wary of name-dropping and, as consumers themselves, to discern value itself, regardless of who may be espousing it.

Variation

Ask teams of five or six to assume they’ve been appointed to provide a list of five possible keynote speakers for their next national sales conference. They are to assume money is no object. After 5 or 10 minutes, call on each group to share the lists. Write the names on the flipchart and then ask if anyone notices anything unusual. In all likelihood, the names will primarily be white males. (If not, congratulate the team(s) that supplied the other names.)

Point out the importance of salespeople (managers, leaders, and so forth) anticipating criticism that might arise from an honest omission and avoiding charges of sexism or racism or any other “ism” by thinking inclusively.

The exercise, with slight alteration, can also be used in diversity, leadership, and persuasion programs.

Discussion

What national or international figure, living or dead, could persuade you to purchase something you really did not need?

Analyze the rationale that explains why youngsters must have certain celebrity-endorsed products.

How successful are advertisements that deliberately mismatch appeals—such as having Robert Dole and Britney Spears in the same ad? Or, the new BMW mini-movie/commercial with Marilyn Manson and James Brown?

Quotation

“The two most engaging powers of an author [and possibly of a salesperson as well] are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.”

—Samuel Johnson

Points of Interest

Authors H. B. Karp and Bob Abramms, writing in Training & Development (“Doing the Right Thing,” August 1992, p. 37), note two basic concerns with ethics. First, ethical behavior runs the gamut from the possession of morality and responsible behavior to behavior that is used simply to prevent someone from getting in trouble. Second, they contend, there is no one definition, no commonly agreed upon determination of what constitutes ethical behavior. They also maintain that it is ethics that converts values to action. Values, for example, set priorities while ethics set boundaries within which appropriate behavior is exercised.