What's Kramer's Racedar And What's The Color Of Money

[Dien Rice]

Hi Michael,

Originally Posted by MichaelRoss

Hey, no-one gave a rat's when Dave Allen used to lay it on thick on the Catholics (cattle ticks).

Just wanted to mention that I think Dave Allen was himself a Catholic (or maybe a lapsed Catholic?). Anyway, people seem quite forgiving of people "ridiculing" their own "type" - or (more rarely) people "ridiculing" everyone equally (including themselves)...

(For those who don't know of Dave Allen, he was an Irish comedian who for many years had a hit British TV show, which alternated between his "stand up" [or in his case, sit down]-style jokes - which were usually in the form of short stories - and funny sketches...)

By the way, this reminds me of something I think I read in one of Elmer Wheeler's books. (He wrote "Tested Sentences That Sell" - and coined the phrase "Don't sell the sizzle, sell the steak" - but I think this was in one of his other books, maybe a book on public speaking... I have a whole collection of Elmer Wheeler books...)

Elmer Wheeler said, if you want to use humor in a sale - use self-deprecating humor. That's because people often don't take kindly to being ridiculed! And ridiculing other people (even if it's not the customer) could make you look "nasty" and turn people off too... But if you ridicule yourself, nobody has a problem with that! So - at least - you won't turn off your prospect (since humor - as part of a business or sale - can backfire if you lose customers who feel insulted)...

- Dien Rice

(P.S. By the way... Notice how if you re-arrange the last 2 letters of my first name, it spells "Dine" - which means "eat"? And my surname is "Rice"! No wonder it's so hard for me to lose weight! )