On two occasions in the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of attending meetings of the Executive Officers Club, at Portland’s Multnomah Athletic Club. There were numerous positive experiences associated with these events, that merit comment. However, the most notable experience, as it relates to this blog, came from The Keynote Speaker for the most recent meeting I attended. His name was Tim Gard and his topic was “Business Humor”. Before sharing my views on the noteworthiness of Mr. Gard and his presentation, relative to the SOL&D blog, let me tell you a bit about Tim and his perspective on “Business Humor”.
Tim Gard is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) who focuses on dealing with stressful circumstances in business, through humor. Most prominent in the multiple methods and techniques that Tim employs is his utilization of props. As an example, Tim has a nicely printed and bound booklet entitled “My Official Policy Manual”, that he carries with him. When he finds himself in a circumstance such as having a Flight Attendant tell him that “Its against the policy of the airline to upgrade a Coach Seat to First Class”, when Coach is oversold, he can pull out his “My Official Policy Manual”, to show them a differing policy, thus breaking any tension and often, getting himself a First Class upgrade. The prop that I think tells the most about Tim’s methodology, without giving you his whole presentation, is his Major Credit Card. Here are the basics on this:
As a CSP, Tim travels a lot and he’s found that, often, he arrives at his destination hotel fairly late.
In this circumstance, Tim will walk up to the Reception Desk and say, “Hi, I’m Tim Gard and I have a reservation.” He’s found that, consistently, the Reception Desk Clerk will look up and say, “What is your name sir? Do you have a reservation and do you have a major credit card?” Thus Tim’s development of a prop to help diffuse this annoying situation, that can become more and more stressful.
Tim’s Major Credit Card is credit-card-sized but it doesn’t have raised, imprinted information. Its green with white printing that includes his own logo in the lower right corner. The rest of the printed information includes: “This is a MAJOR CREDIT CARD”, Tim’s 1 800 number + 0000 (in the place of the credit card number) and the name Ima Traveler.
At first, being presented with Tim’s Major Credit Card can cause some bewilderment. So, typically, the clerk will ask for “Some other form of identification.” You guessed it, when you turn Tim’s Major Credit Card over, the backside is printed with the words “Here is SOME OTHER FORM OF IDENTIFICATION”, along with his Web site and other contact information. With this, usually any building anxiety is broken and often, Tim winds up with a room upgrade.
Hopefully, you now have a general understanding of Tim Gard’s approach to the topic of “Business Humor”. But the question remains, where does this fit in with Selling? Well, I think it fits in with the philosophy that companies don’t buy from companies, people buy from people. That means, as a Sales Person, in addition to developing good Selling Skills, its good to be a well rounded person. I think this is particularly true with Consultative Selling. It seems to me that having a good sense of humor is an important facet to being a well rounded person so I recommend that all Sales Professionals give this proper attention.
But, what is “proper attention”? Should Sales People employ Tim Gard’s methodology? I suppose there are some roles where this might be appropriate but I don’t think that’s the case for most. In the majority of Sales and Sales Leadership roles I’ve held, I don’t think direct application of the Tim Gard approach would be appropriate. In fact, considering those roles and especially considering my personality, using Tim Gard’s techniques might have caused me to come off as a clown, thus diminishing my effectiveness.
What I consider ”proper attention” to this topic includes a few steps, including:
Give some attention to ways humor applies in the business environment. Although Tim Gard’s methodology may not be right for you, taking a look at it and other examples, can give you a better understanding of humor’s application in a business setting.
Give consideration to your personality and the culture/s you typically find yourself operating in. Some things that are a “crack up” in a factory setting may not be so funny to folks in the back-office.
Of course, timing and general circumstances are important. It may be OK to share some friendly jibes with a longtime Customer, as you’re walking to a meeting but that’s not appropriate when you’re initiating a business contact.
Give some thought to what you view as being appropriate. This is not only important for how you conduct yourself but for how you react when another uses humor that you consider to be inappropriate. I’ve certainly had occasions when Prospects and Customers have told me ethnic jokes, as an example. I can’t tell you how you should react to this sort of thing but, these days, ethnic jokes are usually considered to be inappropriate and your reaction to someone else doing this should be considered.
Finally, I do recommend trying Tim Gard’s philosophy, if not his methodology, for dealing with stressful situations. On numerous occasions, I’ve found myself in stressful circumstances where those I was dealing with were proposing precipitous actions. A stock response I’ve used in such situations is to say, “We can always do that but, you know, the sun isn’t going to stop in the sky, if we don’t. First, lets see if we can come up with some alternatives that are better for us all.” Obviously, Tim Gard’s humorous approach could be fitting here too.
So, do you agree with my views on being a well rounded person being important in development, as a Sales Professional? If so, where do you think humor fits in? What is your experience in this regard and what direction can you offer?
Comments
Partner Profile Girl Says:
April 20, 2010 at 1:51 am edit
“So, do you agree with my views on being a well rounded person being important in development, as a Sales Professional? If so, where do you think humor fits in? What is your experience in this regard and what direction can you offer?” – I do agree, some clients may be hard to read or hard to drop a joke just to freshen up the ambiance. Humor is really important. Though we still need to be serious, it actually depends on what meeting or whatnot you are in.
No comments:
Post a Comment