Having Fun In Business

One of the first professional pieces of advice I received when beginning my career in sales was from best selling author and sales trainer Jeffrey Gitomer way back when he was promoting his very first book “The Sales Bible“. One of Jeffrey’s first stories he told from the front of the room ended with the phrase:

“Sales is a game, and you’re not having enough fun.”

It inspired an epiphany that no matter what I did in life — where I worked, the job I was doing, the people I chose to hang around with, etc. — I was my own fault if I wasn’t having any fun while I was doing it.

Take a look at the photo that accompanies this article…
Pretty fun, right?

A little funny business can make business fun

Your initial thought might be that her friends doused her with a bucket of water, or she’s in a dunk tank, or may be she’s at a water park.

But, what if she owns a pool fence company and this is the photo on her business cards? What if she’s a real estate agent that specializes in selling homes with swimming pools and uses this image on her billboard or park bench advertising? Perhaps she’s the CEO of a very serious big-time cosmetics company and uses this photo on the bio page of her corporate website to illustrate how great their moisturizer cream works?

The point I am trying to make is that there is the normal, everyday, professional (boring!) way to do things in the way people have grown accustomed to seeing — and then there is the crazy, awesome, fun, extreme, and unexpected way to do things that makes people smile, laugh, wonder about the story behind the scenes, and to take notice and remember you and your company.

And you get to choose which approach you want to take (and the impact and impression you want to make)!