By Gregory Ferrett
Welcome to Monday
In the film “She’s the Man” Viola, dressed as a man,
is coaching Duke on how to get a woman to like him. She says “If you can get a girl to laugh she will fall in love with you…?”
This line stood out to me as laughing is the one thing that breaks down barriers It made me think … how do laughing, kissing and closing a sale differ? What is it about laughing that opens a persons mind to make a decision? And how relevant is this in other life activities?
Laughter is one of the few activities which can change the chemistry of the whole body. A hearty well developed laugh provides input into three areas of the body;
Energy
Laughter is the simplest and best way to quickly recharge energy reserves. (You can read more about the energy in my article ‘What can you do when you hit the wall and nothing seems to be working’)
Chemical
When you laugh, you generate a wealth of healing biochemical compounds. Deepak Chopra says “…your body can produce any drug you can buy from your chemist or drug store…” and one short burst of laughter can produce the life saving chemicals which drug companies sell for thousands of dollars. When you laugh your cortisol and catecholamine levels reduce and the left and right side of your brain come back into electrical balance.
Physical
Laughter helps circulate lymph fluid and helps your organs by removing waste products, increasing your body’s ability to fight infection. Laughter also increases oxygen supply allowing your body to generate more energy. Higher levels of oxygen produce a natural ‘high’. Laughter, especially outrageous laughter, can give your body a real workout.
What about kissing and closing a sale?
There are a few high stress activities in life. Two of the items right up there are making a decision to buy something (especially something expensive) and closing in on that first kiss with someone you really like.
As it turns out laughter affects the brain and body in much the same way to reduce stress for both these activities.
One side of the brain is saying “You can do better than this”; or “Lets look at more options before we make a decision”.
The other side of the brain is saying “I like the way the colour will look in the living room”, or “I wish he would just get with it and kiss me”.
As the brain considers the ‘will I or won’t I’ statements each side of the brain produces a small electrical charge, one side (+) positive and the other (-) negative. This ‘battle’ in the brain of the positive and negative creates an imbalance of electrical charge and we experience this as stress. A good laugh discharges this imbalance. By helping a person laugh this barrier is reduced with the two sides of the brain coming back into balance.
Viola was right. If Duke could get the girl to laugh her barriers will come down as her brain comes into balance. Even if these barriers were raised by months of bad behaviour, a single session of laughter can bring all the barriers down.
This is exactly the same thing that happens in a sale. If a salesperson or business owner can reduce the stress being experienced by the buyer using laughter all the barriers come down. It is then just a matter of handling the real objections to getting a decision finalised.
Today’s question and action
So. how do laughing, kissing and closing a sale differ? Laughter is a serious matter for all three. Here are some things you can do to help.
- Be prepared with a series of really funny stories. Like I say to my mother “Never let the facts get in the way of a good yarn”. Practice them and use them appropriately – you will find people start to respond to you better as you develop your library of humorous stories.
- Do you present your product overly passionately? You may be surprised to find your intensity creating tension or stress. Make it into a point of laughter, with the joke being on yourself, and the watch the process move ahead.
The more you allow fun into your life you will be surprised at how more people will listen and allow themselves to be influenced by you.
Have a great week!
Exceptional Sales Performance
P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.
Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au
