David Glickman - The Humor Advantage

One of the best tools for creating promotion for yourself is to use "The Humor Advantage." "The Humor Advantage" is the immediate and exponential advantage you gain over your competitors by using humor in business. If a prospect is considering five people offering the same product or service that you offer - all at the same quality, and all at the same price - the person who will get the business is the one who is the funniest. And by funny, I don't mean you have to be a standup comedian. Rather, you have to incorporate humor into many (if not all) areas of your business.

I've trademarked the phrase "Be More Funny, Make More Money" because I have seen countless examples of how humor can make this happen. Here's a fact: 'We do business with people we like. We like people who can make us laugh.' Once you begin injecting some humor into different aspects of your business, you can leverage those laughs into countless new opportunities and connections.

Where do you put your humor? On your website? On your outgoing voicemail message? On your business card? In your promotional materials? Jeffrey Gitomer has talked about the power of humor for years. The humor doesn't need to be over the top-it can be subtle. Your goal is to get the prospect to find some amusement in what you did - even if the result is only a smile. The fact is that your inclusion of humor in your business is going to be something that 99% of your competitors won't be doing-thus giving you "The Humor Advantage."

Here's one of the most powerful uses of humor in business you can use: whenever you're at a networking event where everyone goes around the room and introduces themselves and says what they do, most people simply say their name and title. You need to say your name, followed by something funny. Perhaps a fake job that's a parody of something topical. Or a fake job that ties in humorously with an introduction that somebody before you just said.

After you get the laugh, follow it with the words, "No, I'm kidding. I'm really.... and then tell the crowd what you really do. You will stand out amongst the crowd because you are the only one who got a laugh during what is traditionally a fairly boring exercise at networking events.

Here's another way to use humor in your sales strategies. You've probably seen CD- ROMs that are in the shape of business cards. Many people give them out and the CD-ROM has a mini-website about their product or service. Your business card can also be a CD-ROM, but spend the money to produce a one or two minute funny "commercial" or "mockumentary" about your product or service.

Yes, it may be somewhat pricey to get it done initially. And, yes, you're probably going to have to pay for it out of your own pocket if your company doesn't give you any personal branding tools other than a standard business card. But so what? Who else in your line of work is handing out a business card that has a funny movie about their product, their services, and themselves on it?

What makes this work so effectively is my theory that "the more specific the humor, the more terrific the humor." Again, you're not trying to be a stand-up comic here with a generic routine about airplane travel or your pets. Your humor is relevant, about you and your wares, and gives you the incredible "humor advantage" over your competitors.

If you're reading this and saying to yourself, "But Self, I'm just not that funny" -- not to worry. You can outsource the humor! There are plenty of professional humorists like myself that you can hire to write (and produce) the script for your CD-ROM video, or create the humor for your sales presentations or marketing materials. If you go that route, remember: the prospect has no idea that you "bought" the humor (and, frankly, doesn't care). All they'll remember is the fact that they saw something about your business, and they laughed. (And now they want to do business with you.)

David Glickman works with organizations that want to add some "comic relief" to their events in order to make them REALLY fun and memorable. He's been the opening act for The Beach Boys, has worked with Steve Martin, and even performed at Gloria Estefan's birthday party. He is the author of "Punchline Your Bottom Line: 76 Ways To Get Any Business Audience Laughing". David also works with CEO's and Sales Professionals to "punch up" their speeches and sales presentations with humor. You can order David's book or contact him through his website, www.DavidGlickman.com or by phone, 813-920-8283.

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Your Business Card Humor Outsource Partner: www.showoffcards.com