Sales Joke of the Day (May 20) Questions.

Bored during a long flight, an eminent scholar leaned over and woke up the sleeping salesman next to him to ask if he would like to play a game.  “I’ll ask you a question,” the scholar explained, “and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5. Then you ask me a question, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $50.”


When the salesman agreed to play, the scholar asked, “What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?” Flummoxed, the salesman handed him $5. “Ha!” said the scholar. “It’s 238,857 miles.  Now it’s your turn.”


The salesman was silent for a few moments. Then he asked, “What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?”


Puzzled, the scholar racked his brains for an hour–but to no avail. Finally he took out his wallet and handed over $50. “Okay, okay, what is the answer?” the scholar asked.


The salesman said, “I don’t know,” pulled out a $5 bill, handed it to the scholar, and went back to sleep.


Moral of the story:  Even when half asleep the average salesman with just street smarts still drives more revenue than the best educated scholar with book smarts and all the degrees money can buy!  All through school we were trained to come up with correct answers.  But as any sales professional will tell you, asking the best questions is a far more valuable skill!

"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers."   -  Voltaire

Sales Joke of the Day (November 15) The Librarian.

The librarian was fast asleep at three o'clock in the morning when the phone rang.   The salesman on the other end of the line asked:   "What time does the library open?"

"Nine o'clock." replied the librarian bleary-eyed."   "And what's the idea of calling me at home in the middle of the night to ask a question like that?"

"Not until nine o'clock?" asked the salesman, disappointed.

"No, not until nine o'clock!" repeated the librarian angrily.  "Why do you want to get in before nine o'clock anyway?"

"I don't want to get in," replied the salesman.   "I want to get out!"

Moral of the story.   True sales professionals know that in order to succeed at sales not only do they have to make a lot of calls; but the calls they make need to at the right time of the day and the call needs to be of value to the prospect.    If you consistently call at the wrong time of the day, asking the same old question like, "Are you ready to buy yet?"  the prospect will just consider you annoying rather than considering you for their business.   If you aren't adding any value to the situation, you'll never be able to get into the account; instead, you'll find yourself permanently locked out.

"Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers."
                                                                                                            -       Tony Robbins