"Any three wishes, huh?" the salesman mused as visions of expensive fast cars, beach front property and gorgeous women paraded through his head. "Fish," he finally exclaimed, "give me five wishes and I'll throw you back."
"Sorry," the fish answered while struggling for breath, "only three wishes."
The salesman's pride was now at stake and after giving the matter some thought he announced. "What do you take me for? A sucker? I'll settle for four wishes."
"Only three," the fish murmured weakly.
Fuming, the salesman debated the pros and cons of accepting the three wishes or continuing to bargain for that extra wish. Finally, the hot shot decided it wasn't worth looking a gift fish in the mouth and said, "All right fish, you win, three wishes."
Unfortunately, the fish was dead.
Moral of the story. Not everyone appreciates "deadpan" humor. True sales professionals appreciate the art of the deal. True sales professionals also appreciate the fact that if you push a "hooked" prospect too far during the negotiation phase, that they could jump off your "line" and become a "sinker." Or worse still, they could get "lured" away by the competition. Sometimes it's best to just "scale" down your personal expectations a bit to make sure you get your "catch" across the "fin"ish "line" while helping out your "net" income in the process. After all, if you let too many big ones get away, you're the one getting "canned."
How did you find that "reel" world advice? A bit too "fishy." Are you "tuna"d in or "tuna"d out at this point?
Seeing no way to "worm" myself out of this corner; I guess I'll just have to cut "bait."
Not before wishing you all nothing but happy "scales" at the end of the quarter. Hope you were able to reel in the big one.
"There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot."
- Steven Wright
