Saturday, January 11, 2014

Sales Joke of the Day (archives) Family on Ice?

A salesman, who lived ice fishing, decided to take his entire family, including his mother-in-law, way up north to a polar ice cap for their summer vacation.  To maximize his fishing time, he chose the one week of the summer when there were 23 hours of sunshine a day.  Half way into his week of vacation, and after eighteen hours of sitting on the ice, his butt was numb with cold, so he packed up his gear and headed back to the igloo he had rented.  Once inside he hung up his rented sealskin coat and was just digging into his seal steak dinner when his wife said, "I - I -I -  v - v - v -"


"What?" said the salesman without changing his expression.


"I've got some news for you," said his wife chillingly.


"What?" said the salesman through clenched teeth.


"Your mother-in-law has slipped on the ice and broken her hip," replied his wife.


Again the salesman's expression didn't change, but he picked up a frozen herring from the table and smacked his wife on the head with the fish.


"Owwww!" she yelled.  "What did you do that for?"


"I've told you before," replied the salesman.  "Don't make me laugh when I've got chapped lips."


Moral of the story.   True sales professionals know the importance of paying close attention to facial expressions.   Often times when a prospect or client is not saying much, their facial expression will give their true opinion on a particular subject away.   Failure to pick up on these cues could cost you much more than lost commissions.  Are you "herring" me?


"In time your relatives will come to accept that a career is as important to you as your family.  Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt."             -    Barbara Dale