Laughter is Good Medicine!

I love this commercial!  No matter how you are feeling when you start watching it, you can’t help but feel better after it is finished. We live in a time where the stakes are high and expectations are even higher, and our companies are counting on all of us to be successful. 

Whether you are an employee, a manager, or a salesperson, we all at times succumb to stress or lack of motivation, and we struggle to achieve our full potential. Andrew Carnegie was quoted as saying,

“There is little success where there is little laughter.”

Carnegie was a self-made man who realized the incredible value of laughter, and there is little doubt that he was a success. With so much going on in our lives, taking time to laugh is necessary in order to appreciate life and work. Mark Twain recognized the indisputable benefit of laughter when he said:

“The human race has only one effective weapon, and that is laughter.”

Are you consumed by the daily challenges of business and life? Are you so stuck in your routine that you forget to laugh?  I mean, really laugh?  Think about the last time that you had a really good laugh.  You know, one of those gut-wrenching laughs that begins deep down inside and eventually roars out, causing your sides to hurt and your eyes to water. How did you feel?  Laughter can improve performance, as attitude and performance are directly related.  Laughter has the power to very quickly change our attitudes and moods by releasing neuropeptides called endorphins from the brain cells.

 If you improve your attitude, you will also improve your performance.

Do you ever laugh with your colleagues? John Cleese, a renowned British comedian said, “People who laugh together, work together.”  Laughter connects people in an amazing way. Laughter has the ability to change our work environments drastically by making people happy, thus bringing a healthy mental attitude and optimism into our companies. Studies have shown that positive emotions are increased while negative emotions are decreased when people are laughing. In the end, laughter is contagious positive energy, and this energy will be felt by everyone in our companies and even by our customers as well!

The secret of laughter can have a tangible impact both on our customers and on our sales. Successful selling is actually about making friends. The best salespeople seem to have a special knack for building rapport. Have you ever gone out to buy something and then decided not to make the purchase because you didn’t like the salesperson? Humor and laughter create instant rapport and camaraderie amongst people.  Successful salespeople make the entire sales process fun. It is important to not confuse a salesperson with a comedian. A comedian succeeds just by being funny, but a salesperson succeeds only when the humor helps to sell the product or to achieve a business-related outcome.

For example, a few months ago I was working in the field with a Territory Manager, and we were trying to get an audience with an influential colorectal surgeon.  We were in the hospital and went to the surgeon’s clinic where we thought she might be located.  Unfortunately, we just missed her, for she had already left the hospital.  The rep was extremely persistent, asking the receptionist in a variety of ways how we could speak with the surgeon.  The rep finally asked if the receptionist would page her.  The receptionist’s response was this: “Do I need to be mean to you to make you go away!?” 

After a moment of awkwardness, the rep responded brilliantly, “Hey, I’m a redhead—people have been mean to me my whole life!”  The receptionist burst out laughing, gave the rep an endearing smile, picked up the phone, and paged the surgeon.  The surgeon called, and just like that, we got our meeting later that day!  Self-effacing humor can be effective.  It reflects strength and confidence. It shows that you are secure enough to laugh at yourself. It can defuse tension and creates a quick rapport.

Will humor work with every sales opportunity? We all know that there is no “silver bullet” in sales success. Nothing works all the time. However, ask yourself this question: Would having a good laugh with someone who was trying to sell you something work with you? Most people love a good laugh and are receptive to humor. Every situation is unique. Each interaction with a customer requires you to assess the situation. You must survey each individual situation and then use good judgment. Common sense is a prerequisite for using humor successfully, and humor will never be a substitute for effective sales techniques. You also need to know your product well and should be able to solve problems, and you must persist in your followup interactions.

In the end, humor can give you the sales advantage because we are not only in the “medical device sales” business, but we are also in the “people” business. Discover for yourself that those who love to laugh have more fun, and then you can laugh all the way to the bank!

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