When I think about laughing so hard, that you get a stitch in your stomach or as some people say, you wet your pants, 3 particular occasions spring to mind.
The first happened when I was 22 years of age and was interviewing a young girl who was 20 years old for a job as my Marketing Assistant. At 22, I thought I was such a hot shot to have an assistant whilst many of my college counterparts were still in junior roles for the corporates that they worked for. As I interviewed this young girl with my serious tone of voice, I asked all the standard questions that I had been trained to do. She was confident and she didn’t hesitate with her replies. She was very excitable to the point that she told me so. “I am so excited to meet with you – I read about you in the newspaper,” she exclaimed. Not as excited as I was -obviously – that someone actually knew who I was. As the interview went on and on, her voice became higher and higher pitched and she began to jump off her seat as she was talking. Actually, her voice became a squeal and married with the jumping on the chair, I couldn’t help myself and I burst into laughter, that just as quickly turned to tears. I excused myself promptly and in my immature stage (afterall I was only 22), went and grabbed a colleague to come and see this person I was interviewing. In the end, the whole office was in hysterics and needless to say, the young girl did not get the job.
The second occasion I remember is when I met an older man in a bar in Sydney and he soon asked me out of a date. I was very keen because he looked quite handsome after a few drinks dressed in his Hugo Boss suit. A few days later he turned up at my place where I shared an apartment with a close friend to take me out on a date. As my friend opened the door, she burst out laughing, then raced to get me. I asked her why she was laughing and she said “you will see”. Inquisitive on what she was laughing about, I promptly walked into the living area to see a middle aged man (I was in my late 20’s), dressed in cheap tan leather shoes, white pull up socks, black jeans that were past his waist and a white linen shirt undone past his belly button. His hair was slicked back with grandfather grill cream and he had a chesmire cat smirk on his face like he was pretty pleased with himself. Now, once again, maybe you had to be there, but I was, and it was a frightful sight. My girlfriend was laughing so much, that I soon shot into a fit of laugher that just wouldn’t stop. In my superficial twenties, I was terribly embarrassed that perhaps someone would see me with this man who quite clearly had no idea how to dress. Beer googles at its finest!
The third is when my good friend Sami and I were travelling to the airport and she was dissecting her new boyfriend who she was very fond of. I had gotten off the phone to him just 10 minutes earlier. As she talked about things that are definately only for a girlfriends ears, I decided I would chuck a spanner in the works and say that I had accidently dialled his number when I dropped my phone. Her face was white as a ghost. I waited 5 minutes before telling her that I was just ‘joshing her’ which funnily enough she didn’t see the humorous side in.
Laughing really is the best medicine. In life and in business. If you can laugh alot at work with your colleagues, chances are that they will enjoy being there. If you create laughter or enjoyment from marketing campaigns that you do, chances are clients and prospects will remember you long after the last campaign they received.
When Dr Happy, a Sydney psychologist, came out in the media (a Siimon Reynolds invention I am sure) espousing to be the king of happiness – everyone was interested. Why wouldn’t they be? If someone can make you laugh, isn’t it just the best!
Next time you have a client interaction, think about how you can make your client laugh.
When you go to the office tomorrow morning, tell a good joke, or let everyone talk about their funniest stories.
LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE… NOW POUR SOME INTO YOUR BUSINESS.
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Mellissah Smith
Mellissah Smith is a marketing expert with more than 20 years experience. Having founded and built two successful marketing companies internationally, she is well recognized as a industry thought leader and innovator. Mellissah started her career working with technology and professional services firms, primarily in marketing, public relations and investor relations, positioning a number of successful companies to list on the various Stock Exchanges around the world. She is a writer, technology developer and entrepreneur who shares her thoughts and experiences through blogs and written articles published in various media outlets. Brag sheet: #2 marketer to follow on Twitter (2003), Top 150 Marketers to Follow (2015), Top 10 innovative marketers (2014), 60K+ followers on Twitter with 97% authentic.
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