"Laughter just may be the shortest distance between the customer, you and the cash register." Heidi Richards
Did you know April is National Humor Month? Funny Sells! Just ask Sarah Lefton! Her quirky sense of humor and her Jewish pride were the impetus to a successful home based business. As the marketing director for a Jewish summer camp at Yosemite National Park, Lefton discovered that by changing the emphasis of the word Yosemite she created "Yo Semite". She silk screened the term on a few T-shirts for herself and wore the Yo Semite T-shirts around the streets of San Francisco. People started coming up to her and asking her where they could buy one. Two days later, she had taken orders for 36 shirts and her Internet based business, Jewish Fashion Conspiracy was born.
Her Yo Semite shirts took off and Lefton has now added additional designs to her product line. They include Chanukah panties, and a "Jews for Jeter" shirt to honor the New York Yankee's star Derek Jeter. She created her designs as a way to celebrate being Jewish and have fun at the same time. Her ingenuity and humor has received media attention from a variety of Jewish publications and Time Magazine.
Victor Borge said "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."
Humor, when used properly is one of the most powerful tools in business today. Think about the last time you made a purchase. What was the experience for you? Was there a bit of humor in the sales process? Was humor used to get you "through the door?" If not, think about a time when humor did captivate you. Chances are not only did you make a purchase, you probably spent more than you originally intended to spend.
That's because humor improves business communications, builds rapport, builds trusts, increases morale, increases sales and productivity and improves relationships overall.
Andrew Carnegie said, “There is little success where there is little laughter."
When you are fun to do business with, more people want to do business with you. Laughter and a good sense of humor build loyalty. Creates raving fans and ensures a company will be around for a while.
it is no wonder that the most successful businesses are those with a healthy attitude, and a healthy bottom line. A happy firm with a good, positive attitude will have happy employees producing good products and services and have a loyal following of satisfied customers.
So how can you make your company or organization more fun? Well, for starters think about your advertising. Are you taking yourself too seriously. Of course, if you sell a serious product, or provide a serious service (like brain surgery) it is possible that some humor won't be appropriate. However, even people wiht life-threatening illnesses need humor in their lives. Laughter has a way of helping us cope with even the most tragic life events.
Here are some ideas to instill more humor and laughter in your work day:
Hang funny posters around. There is no wonder that humorous posters are in such high demand. Think Dilbert, or Peanuts, or Ziggy or Cathy. People buy them to bring a bit of levity to what could otherwise be a dull job.
Use humor in your company newsletter. You could add jokes or cartoons or even have a "joke contest" for your readers to submit to. I use humor in my newsletters. For example in my floral newsletter "Ramblin Rose" I include a section called "just for fun" and share one liners and stories with customers - Here's one:
"Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved." Unknown
According to Professor Jeffery Goldstein, of Temple University, "people who use more humor tend to wield more influence over group decisions. Good, effective leaders combine communications and persuasion skills with an appropriate touch of humor to get their message across and to win support for their ideas."
Dwight D. Eisenhower said it best: “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done."
If you want to be a leader in business, use more humor!
For more April Marketing ideas, visit:
http://www.speakingwithspirit.com/AprilMarketingCalendar.asp.
Some great humor sites include:
Small Business Humor - http://smbtn.com/smallbusinesshumor/
The Humor Project - http://www.humorproject.com/
World Laughter Tour - http://www.worldlaughtertour.com/
To your continued success... and then some.
Heidi Richards
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