Bad Comedian Lessons #2: Listen More
My previous post highlighted how being completely about yourself and being unable to relate to your audience, leads to negative results in both stand-up and sales. The same way that I don’t want to hear 15 minutes of jokes about specific experiences most people have never had, no marketer wants to be told how great […]
“Things Sales Pros Can Learn From Truly Terrible Comedians” #1
Remember 90s Britpop band Pulp? The 5th scene in Jurassic Park? That epic pro wrestling match where The Undertaker suddenly sat up and choke-slammed his opponent…TO HELL? Yeah, me – and the vast majority of the audience at shows I’ve performed on – neither. Yet, poor comedians craft material around these topics. They get no […]
The Future Meets The Past
Justin Michael: Man, machine, or plant-based protein beverage? No clue. Probably a mix of all of the above. The guy operates at a level I can’t fathom. He makes me realize “I don’t know what I don’t know, will probably never understand it, so I’ll just let him talk and nod politely”. Which is why […]
You Can Learn (Some of) This
Since I launched the mad science experiment of a livelihood that is “Comedy Writing for Revenue Teams”, I’ve come up against more doubt than a flat-earther at a conference for sane people. Some think that anything that anything with the word “Comedy” in it should be kept far away from sales. Others don’t ask questions […]
Surfing Salesguys Give Comedian PTSD
Last week, I replied to a post on LinkedIn which encouraged sales pros to do a better job of building relationships. I replied “What’s the point of building things that can’t scale?” (swish! That got me a bunch of laughs and likes). Or…CAN they? In January 2018, I travelled to Austin – my first trip […]
Funny Enough
When am I NOT funny? 1) When I’m with my parents. Between my sarcasm and their disinterest in pop culture post-1973, I bomb hard with them. 2) On sales podcasts. You’d think that as guy who does stand-up comedy, I’m ALWAYS super hilarious. And I am – on a stand-up comedy stage or when I’m […]
Perspective is Everything
Apologies if the tone of this blog post is a bit more serious than you’re expecting. Ten days ago, it dawned on me days ago that COVID-19 is a big deal and cancelled my trip to Mexico, which was to be my first proper, stress-free vacation in 5 years. I booked it to fall in between […]
Authentic or Ironic?
From what people tell me, “Comedy Writing for Sales Teams” is the first of it’s kind, and I’m pretty proud of that. Not being able to be uber-unique is part what I disliked about being a sales rep. That said it hasn’t been easy launching something new. They say the first one through the wall […]
Misconception #2: “Humor’s not appropriate for our prospects”
Of all the misconceptions – this one’s mah fave. I hear 2 common variants of the above title from sales leaders: “Our prospects deal with serious issues. Making them laugh is TOTALLY inappropriate.” There’s no shortage of subjects that a sales rep should avoid joking about, particularly when dealing with industries that deal with victims […]
Busting Misconceptions. #1: It’s About the Jokes
“I love this – I’ve never heard of this before!” is what so many of my prospects have replied when I would tell them about “Comedy Writing for Sales Teams”. I don’t know if I’m the only one who offers such a training & workshop, but there’s often confusion & misunderstanding with any new, innovative […]
