It sounded a lot to me like SPIN selling. A quick wikipedia search turned up Solution Selling (from the makers of SPIN selling). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_selling

In all seriousness, while I found the book to be a really hard read, the tactics described are highly effective, not just in sales, but also in thinking about solutions that you're building. In hindsight it seems like common sense stuff, but is truly the wisdom of sages.

>> Most average or newbie salespeople think that they’re supposed to sell you the pen, when a really seasoned salesperson will actually turn it into a qualifying session to find out what you need. That’s the truth of it. It’s like trying to sell someone a house and you don’t know if they’re in the market for a house, what kind of house they want, how many kids – so how can you sell someone a house? That’s the point.

Probably the best distillation of customer development I have heard in one sentence.

Every sales pitch is a qualifying session. If you listen well enough your customer might just tell you something you want to hear...

Arent these guys the wolves of Wall Street?

I was expecting the right answer to be for the salesman to take the pen from Belfort, sell it to someone in the audience, have that person sell it to someone else, and then the salesman turns to Belfort and says... I can get you a good deal on this pen right now before it reaches market cap but we have to move quickly.

Though I still think it's a shame because I wanted to see the movie but wasnt willing to sit through it because of how grotesquely inappropriate I heard it was.

*Oh wait, maybe market cap is the wrong term. Lol.