Humour?! It should be common sense right? Get a laugh, have fun, engage your client in a great story. We want to open doors in our business – and effective engagement has to do with keeping those doors open and deepening our connections. So, you’d think the use of humour would be sure-fire, right? Well, as it turns out, it’s not that simple. Here’s something that really happened–a cautionary tale, and a reminder for salespeople to use good manners when trying to engage others.
Here we go…
Picture a nice house on a residential street. It’s about suppertime on a sunny summer day. The occupant of this house is a short, heavy-set, senior male, gray hair and glasses. Mild-mannered. He could be your local pharmacist.
The doorbell rings. The occupant opens the door to reveal a salesperson on the front porch; a 6-foot 5-inch, thin, handsome male, college-aged. He’s wearing a badge identifying “A Worthy Cause.” He’s also carrying an iPad.
To the occupant, the young man looks legit. So they talk. The salesperson does his spiel about his worthy cause, and then out of the blue he asks…
“…And what are you, 26 years old?”
Now, the occupant, while definitely not Justin Beiber, is also definitely not Methusaleh.
“Nnnnno,” the occupant finally answers, unsure where this is going.
“Thought so,” smiles the salesperson, enigmatically. Next he asks, “So do you identify as a Miss, a Mrs., a Ms, a Mr., or what?”
That did it.
The occupant is furious. But, containing his ire with a finesse that does perhaps come with age, calmly says…
“Okay, I’m gonna stop you there. I’m not interested. But let me give you this heads-up as you make your way through the neighborhood: one, do not make jokes about people’s age; two, do not make jokes about gender.”
The occupant makes his third point by shutting, not slamming, the door on the salesperson.
Now, I ask you. Was the occupant overreacting? He is obviously insulted. But whatever happened to being able to take a joke?
Well, let’s consider the current state of the world. Without getting into specifics, I think it’s fair to say we’re living in a confusing time. There are heightened sensitivities all around us, and where do you draw the line? And who is permitted to draw it?
We don’t know. At least, not yet. Dave Foley of The Kids In The Hall comedy troupe recently said in an interview that “We’re living in a context embargo.” He meant, if you’ve caused offense, you’ve caused offense, period. The manner in which you said it – the context – such as a joke – no longer matters. And, as you’ve no doubt seen, almost any reported offense these days has the power to disrupt.
So, fortunately, we’re not in the comedy business! And, I’m not trying to solve all of our social ills. I’m just a guy who wants to engage with people. But engaging others for sales invariably has the aim of goodwill and smile generation. Closing doors is simply never on the agenda.
So what’s the moral of the story? Humor that disparages others, is, I have to say, indefensible. Every. Time.
You have to be able to grasp what is and isn’t funny in a sales pitch.
Yes, go on and observe people’s behavior, laugh about it, let it out.
But, keep it to yourself. On your own time. And to be really safe? In your own home.
Your job is to engage people in a positive way. Stay abreast of what’s happening today. Live in the now: follow the news, pay close attention to societal change and above all—be professional in your work.
Because there’s nothing humorous about closing doors.
Till next time, humour me—check out some of our other behavior-based blogs!