"What's your IQ?" St Peter asked the first salesman.
"210," the first salesman replied.
"Maybe we can get together with Einstein next week and discuss what you think of his Theory of Relativity," suggested St. Peter.
St Peter turned to the second salesman, "What's your IQ?"
"170," the second salesman replied.
"How would you like to meet Steve Jobs and discuss the future of the personal computer in the age of the smartphone?" asked St Peter.
St. Peter turned to the third salesman, "What's your IQ?"
"40" replied the third salesman.
"Hey, how about those Seattle Seahawks?" asked St Peter. "How do you like their chances this weekend?"
Moral of the story. True sales professionals know that in order to be successful at sales you need to keep yourself up to date on a wide variety of conversational topics. A limited vocabulary or a small number of life experiences, will limit your ability to connect with others. Such a limitation will make it nearly impossible to score any big deals because you're pinned down to just a few topics of conversation within a limited potential customer pool. Kind of like the Seattle Seahawks facing third and ten on their own 5 yard line. You might as well punt now, just to get it over with.
"Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority." - Vince Lombardi
