“A sense of humor… is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.”
–Hugh Sidney

Funny works. It sells a ton of product, brings the walls of resistance down, get’s you the attention of a tough audience and can create the type of business culture that makes people comfortable to be themselves. So if funny actually can mean more sales, more influence and less stress, why don’t more people use it as one of their greatest business weapons? Well they should, and so should you!

But what if you just aren’t that funny? Well fear not! You don’t have to be Jerry Seinfeld to add a spark to people’s day. You just need to be willing to be a little funnier than you are right now. For instance you may choose to:

•    Take funny pictures of customers with your product and use them in a monthly newsletter to other prospects.

•    Go to Google Images, type in a funny topic that you and a client discussed (i.e. Octomom, Attack Gorilla, 401K … now that’s funny) and add that image to a follow up email. Then find a way to work it into the text of your email.

•    Speaking of email, create a tagline at the bottom of your signature that describes you in a “less than serious” way. For instance, “Your Industry Bailout Specialist” Or perhaps a meaningless quote like, “96.7% of all statistics are made up” or “Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?”

•    Open your next meeting with the funniest story you tell your friends (clean it up!) and FIND a business message in it (believe me, there is one in there).

If some of the above ideas made you feel a bit “goofy,” GOOD! Because that’s what humor is supposed to do. It is meant to take people out of their routine and into a place they would rather be. And when you make a habit of combining humor with the serious business value, you become the unstoppable force that your competition will not find very funny. And only then will you be laughing all the way to the bank.

To learn how to find your Humor, go to www.preciseselling.com/Radioaccess.htm to hear Brian interview humorist, Brad Montgomery, co-author of the book “Humor Me-America’s Funniest Humorists on the Power of Laughter.”  As president of PRECISE Selling, Brian Sullivan helps improve sales, customer service, negotiations, leadership, and presentation skills through seminars and Internet training programs. He also hosts “Entrepreneurial Moments,” a radio show on business and personal development. For more on his speaking, consulting or book, visit: www.PreciseSelling.com or email: bsullivan@preciseselling.com.

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