Sales Joke of the Day (March 21) The Gun Shop.

A woman walked into a gun shop and asked for help in choosing a rifle.  "It's for my boyfriend," she said.

"Okay," said the sales clerk.  "Did he say what caliber he wanted?"

"No, he didn't," said the woman.  "In fact, he doesn't even know I'm going to shoot him yet!"

"Well, if that's the case," replied the salesman.  "This one here should do just fine.  I'll even throw in this box of bullets for free!"

Moral of the story.    True sales professionals know that if a sale goes along too smoothly, something is up.   "Aruas" surprised as I was in this situation that more qualifying questions weren't asked?   A high caliber sales person always verifies how their product or service is going to be used by the prospect and what their full expectations of that product or service are before completing the sale.   By doing so, it gives the sales person the ability to keep their prospect's expectations of what benefits they'll receive from their purchase on target.

"Long time no see.  I pray only that the caliber of your questions has improved." 
                                                             - Kevin Smith

Sales Joke of the Day (November 7) The Big Game Hunter.

A salesman decided to hunt big game for a change, so he went on a safari with his wife and mother-in-law.  One evening the salesman and his wife were sitting around the camp fire having supper when his wife realized that her mother was missing.   The salesman picked up his rifle and, with his wife close behind, set off into the jungle to look for the missing woman.  After searching for over an hour, they finally spotted her backed up against a cliff, with a huge lion facing her.


"What are we going to do?" shrieked the salesman's wife.


"Nothing," said the salesman.  "That lion got himself into this mess."


Moral of the story.  True sales professionals know that in order to succeed at sales, sometimes you have to chase big game.   While hunting down big opportunities, true sales professionals realize they may be risking some of their current relationships through neglect.   Expert sales people will organize their tighter schedules to accommodate those current customers they want to keep, while purposefully neglecting only those they wouldn't mind seeing the competition scoop up.


"The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted  and strenuous effort."      -     Chanakya