If you are in sales then you know it is a hard and complex job. Not only do you have to convince often total strangers that your product is good and worth the money, you have to help them feel comfortable and trust you as a person.
It’s a lot of responsibility. For many sales people it is also not a lot of fun. It doesn’t have to be that way though. Humour can go a long way toward helping both you and your customer have a successful sales experience.
Your first thought is probably that the best way to incorporate great sales jokes into your sales approach is by finding some jokes and telling them to your customers. This is one option.
You need to remember, however, that you are working on how you can approve a business approach. You are not trying to be a professional stand up comedian. If you consider yourself a naturally funny person then the oral approach will probably be your easiest method.
If you aren’t comfortable telling jokes then you can always include cartoons and illustrations in your hardcopy presentations and sales materials. This is a tried and true approach which is easy and very effective. Your biggest challenge will be to make sure that you place the cartoons in a way that is appropriate to the audience and pertinent to the material you are presenting.
Regardless of what method you are using to introduce jokes into your sales approach you need to make sure that you know your audience. This is the key to any good sales approach anyway so you should be knowledgeable enough about the people you are going to be presenting to that you can judge what type of great sales jokes will go over best.
The factors you should consider are things like their level within the organization, whether they are influencers or decision makers, and just what type of responsibilities they have. For example, great sales jokes that go over best with purchasing managers might not be the same ones that ring true with upper level executives.
It goes without saying that you want to avoid any material that might be offensive to your audience. Your great sales jokes need to be tasteful and, like it or not, politically correct. The worst thing you can do is offend one of the people you are trying to get to know better.
Topics to avoid include race, politics, religion, and gender. Your most promising material should be personal so drawing material from your daily life or poking fun at yourself can be extremely effective.
Once you decide to add great sales jokes to your repertoire of sales tools you’ll find that both you and your customers are more relaxed, more open to talking with you, and hopefully, in the end, be more willing to buy from you. This being the case, what do you have to lose by giving a go at great sales jokes now?
Used in the right way, humour can be one of the most valuable tools you can have in your sales tool box.