4 Lessons from “Squid Games” to Win in Sales

6 min readNov 28, 2021

“Squid Game” has now become the latest sensation of Netflix not only in Asia but also around the world. It was the first Korean drama to hit №1 on Netflix and did it in just 4 days after its release. It claimed the Number 1 spot in the streaming giant’s rankings in 94 countries, including the US.

The interaction of the real life and gamification of child games made it more touching and closure to anyone who watches the TV show where around 142 million households worldwide watched it just in 4 days of release..

With the release, Netflix gained 4.38 million subscribers in the third quarter, up from 2.2 million a year earlier with this. The steamer’s revenue rose by 16% to $7.48 billion in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier.

While I was watching Squid Games, the key ideas that came to mind were how its get connected very well with day-to-day Sales activities we perform and convincing people to get things done.

Here are the top 4 techniques that I have extracted from Squid Games on winning sales where you can also apply.

1. Focus on Ideal Customer Profile

In Squid Games,

If you have noticed, the first game is not the Red Light, Green Light but its the Ddakji, which is played by a salesperson in the Subway where he persuades people to join the game.

The key takeaway here is how the organizers of this game select the right prospects to reach and pitch the idea. Based on the game, the ideal customer who would be interested in this game is someone who is packed with debt and who has a real struggle to pay..

They have done a great research and filters who would be the ideal client for them — those who have a high debt, are frustrated, who really want money who will value the game. Just think if they have pitched to the wrong audience, or just gone out in public advertisement, what a disaster could have happened which will eventually kill their business.

In Sales,

Isn’t it the same as what we should do in sales ? Why do you think we get rejected frequently ? We are not spending enough time on research for the right audience where we just talk to who we know very closely with assumptions which will eventually get rejected.

Therefore, Its all about selecting the right prospect to approach who would first of all have the requirements which the solution will bring the real value to them.

How do you do it ?

The secret is building the ideal custom profile. You should know what your ideal customer’s background is, why the solution will be important for them, why it’s needed right now.

Request for — Ideal Customer Profile

When you fill that gap, you can focus more on the people that really benefit from your solution and you will get less rejected.Squid Game’s main success is convincing the right people to join the game !

So Focus only on the Ideal Customer Profile — and avoid getting REJECTED !

2.Active Listening

In Squid Games,

Red Light.. Green Light is all about listening to the music and pausing without moving. In case if you have not listened carefully and you are still moving you will get yourself killed.

A slight distraction kills you !

In Sales,

how well are you actively listening to your potential customers ? We always try to listen to what we want to hear, not the real pain point behind their requirements. You can bring the real value and differentiate with the competitors while talking to the right pain point on active listening.

If you have listen to your customers just partially , you are going to kill yourself in the deal.

Remember, it’s not about the Voice ! It’s about behaviour / actions and you just need to actively listen to all of them without any distractions !!

3 Work Hard, Not Smart

In Squid Games,

the Honeycomb game, each participant must extract the shape undamaged from the honeycomb tin within 10 minutes in order to stay alive. If a player fails to meet one of these criteria, they will be killed on the spot.

While others were struggling and finding a way to cut stamped shapes out of a honeycomb candy, Seong Gi-hun, had used a smart way of extract in the candy, but not with the stick provided, which is the usual way of doing it. He Found a smart way — lick the Candy to extract the shape.

In Sales,

you might have given a great opportunity, maybe 10 mins to convince a customer. Specially with the post Covid Situation, if you are trying to use what was been using and assigned to you, you might fail. Its not because of that you are not good enough, its may be because of you are not being smart to get things done in creative way.

Try always think there are better options than the options presented in the table. Its all about your mindset to explore new options and play with it to win. Even Though you might not have the right tools, but your way of thinking will take you to next level of being smart.

4 It’s all about Teamwork

Usually we think to win the Tug Of War, we have to have the strongest team in our side.. Squid Games has proven thats wrong !

In Squid Games,

the 2nd team had a very old man and comparably other team members also seems be less strong than the opponent.

However, since they got a valuable advice on the strategy (to hold and release, etc..) from this old man , they won the game without getting killed.

This showcase how any team members ideas are valuable and working as a team would make you the winner even though the opponents seems so strong !

In Sales,

same applies.. You might have a different team, which will not match with your expectations.. Do not try to compare with previous incidents/ experiences and judge..

What matters is identify the strengths and get ideas from all the team members to win a deal.. Most cases, we get brilliant ideas from the people we never expect.. Same as in Squid Games..

Therefore , working as a team without discriminating, would be the right formula for winning. Try to win with what you have !

So with SQUID Games is an eye opener, specially which we can grab things to win in sales.

Wish you all the best for great winning in sales with these lessons !!

4 Lessons from “Squid Games” to Win in Sales

1. Focus on Ideal Customer Profile

2.Active Listening

3 Work Hard, Not Smart

4 It’s all about Teamwork

References

Written by Randula Wijesinghe