Sales Joke of the Day (March 14) The Target.

The sales manager received a miniature dart board from his reps for is fiftieth birthday.  It was housed in a beautiful oak case, which he hung with pride on his office wall.   The Vice President of Sales took him out for lunch to celebrate.
   

When the pair returned at about 2PM in the afternoon, the sales manager took the Vice President into his office to have a quick game of darts, proudly showing him the detailed carving in the oak case.   However, when the case was opened, the manager discovered to his horror, that over lunch, one of his reps had added a photo of their VP right on the bull's-eye.


"Well, Jones" said the VP to the sales manager, knowing that the entire sales team was listening in, "it's a good thing to know that when it comes to sales around here, you think that I'm right on target.   Keep up the great work!"


Moral of the story.   "True sales professionals know that in order to succeed, they cannot afford to waste any time on internal corporate politics.   Don't waste time targeting other individuals in an attempt to gain what they have been working on over the years.   Instead spend your time working on your own sales targets and building your own sales career.   Let those around you pull their own strings, while you stay focused on your own bull's eye.


"Our present time is indeed a criticizing and critical time, hovering between the wish and the inability to believe.  Our complaints are like arrows shot up into the air at no target:  and with no purpose they only fall back upon our own heads and destroy ourselves."                                                                                    -    William Temple

Sales Joke of the Day (November 18) Northern Exposure.

A salesman decided to take his wife up North for an early winter wilderness retreat.   When they arrived at the campsite, a Canadian national park ranger started things off with a speech.  Really it was meant to be a warning to the latest group of tourists about the danger posed by grizzly bears.  He said: "Problems can occur when people unexpectedly stumble across bears.  To avoid this, we advise hikers to wear tiny bells on their clothing, like these, in order to warn the bears of their presence.  And always be on guard when you know bears are in the area, particularly if you bear droppings."

The salesman asked:  "How do you identify bear droppings?"

"Easy," replied the park ranger.  "They're the only ones with the tiny bells in them."

Moral of the story.   True sales professionals know that in order to succeed at sales they need to be hunting for new business, which means a lot of cold calling and ringing a lot of new numbers.   Sales professionals make sure that when they mass telemarket, they do so with a message of real value to a targeted set of prospects.   True sales professionals never just go around ringing for ringing sake.   True sales professionals realize that high random call volumes are no guarantee of generating increased or any revenue at all.   They know better than to poke the bear.

"The act of bell ringing is symbolic of all proselytizing religions.  It implies the pointless interference with the quiet of other people."                                                        -  Ezra Pound


(And now you know where the phrase, 'Pound'ing the phones comes from.)