Daily Dialogue — April 21, 2014

CHRIS: So my associate tells me you’re interested in one of our stocks.
DR. JACOBS: Yes, MSC sounds like it might be interesting.
CHRIS: Might be? Might be doesn’t sell stock at the rate MSC is going, Dr. Jacobs. We’re talking about very high volume here.
DR. JACOBS: Well, I still have to run it by my people.
CHRIS: That’s great, Doc. If you want to miss yet another opportunity here and go watch your colleagues get rich doing clinical trials, then don’t buy a share and hang up the phone.
DR. JACOBS: Well, hold on a second. I didn’t say that. I just wanted to talk more about it.
CHRIS: Honestly Doc, I don’t have the time. This stock is blowing up right now. The whole firm is going nuts. Let me open the door to my office.

Chris holds the phone up to the 100 brokers standing there silently. They begin talking loudly and screaming “Buy, Sell”. Chris makes a hand motion and they stop.

CHRIS: You hear that? That’s my trading floor, Doc. Now I have a million calls to make to other doctors who are already in the know. I can’t walk you through this right now. I’m sorry.

Huge pause. Everyone looks on waiting to hear what he’ll do. Chris doesn’t even look mildly concerned. Then…

DR. JACOBS: Okay, okay. Let’s do this.

— Boiler Room (2000), written by Ben Younger

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Sales Pitch.

Trivia: A different ending, in which Seth’s main victim, Harry goes to the Boiler Room armed with guns and ostensibly seeking bloody revenge, was scrapped in favor of the FBI bust ending. This alternate ending is found on the DVD.

Dialogue On Dialogue: There are three parts to a sale: Qualify the customer. Pitch the customer. Close the customer. The part of the scene spotlighted above is the close.

There are a lot of great sides of dialogue in this movie, many of which convey the aggressive attitudes of the salesmen. Here is one: “I know you’re not standing on your front porch with a bag of money waiting for me to call you. But I’m not some 18-year-old selling a cure for AIDS. I’m 46 years old, I have 22 years market experience, I know this business. So pick up your skirt, grab your balls, and lets go make some money.” 

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