by TEJ | Aug 13, 2010 | Business humor
Introductory Note from Tim Jones:
Below is the conclusion of our two-part series of Superstar Strategies for Super Sales Success, from the renowned Sales Coach to the Stars, Biff Biven, motivational speaker and author of the not quite best-selling sales primer Everything I learned about Sales I learned in Prison. In Part two, Biff reveals the remainder of his A to Z Secrets for Sales Superstardom, starting with the letter P.
If you missed last week’s Part One, or you just need a refresher on the letters of the alphabet, you can read it here.
Now back to the Biff Biven’s guest post, Part Two.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Welcome back, evurbahdy. I’ve saved my best sales tips for the second half of the alphabet. So let’s get ‘er started.
(more…)
by TEJ | Aug 6, 2010 | Business humor
Introductory Note from Tim Jones:
For much of my career I have been in sales management. The first thing any new salesperson learns is the ABCs of sales. You know – Always Be Closing. Turns out, this is a totally five minutes ago approach. I’m delighted to have veteran sales coach and motivational speaker Biff Biven take the helm this week as my guest blogger, to tell VFTB’s readers about the NEW ABCs of sales. That’s Biff on the left.
Biff is proud to say he came just 3 credits shy of graduating from Rebel Yell Elementary School in Biloxi, Mississippi. He is a renowned expert on direct sales strategies, having done direct selling for several decades (on and off, when he was not collecting welfare checks or serving time). Some of his achievements include direct sales roles with KFC, McDonalds (where he once met Ronald), Stanley Steamer carpet cleaner, and Shucks Auto Supply, to name just a few of the 37 Fortune 10,000 companies he has worked with over the past 35 years. He is perhaps most proud of his current role with Dominos, where every day he is personally responsible for driving regional sales (in his 1987 two-tone Ford Pinto hatchback).
(more…)
by TEJ | Jun 5, 2010 | Business humor, Environmental humor
April 22, 2010 was Earth Day. But it was not a very good day for the earth – or for that matter, for BP. That’s the day the an explosion toppled over BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the blowout preventer failed, causing the earth to begin leaking thousands of gallons of oil from 5000 feet below the surface of the Gulf. In a bit of irony, the original Earth Day was April 22, 1970, thirty years ago to the day of this year’s spill, begun in large measure in response to another oil spill caused from a blowout of a deep sea drill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California.
Last week, the Gulf oil spill disaster surpassed the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the worst environmental disaster in American history. BP (the initials, which formerly stood for British Petroleum, have been changed to stand for “Best Polluter”) has taken full and complete responsibility for the oil spill. And by “full and complete responsibility”, BP CEO Tony Hayward went on to clarify that the Deepwater oil rig was owned and operated by Transocean, which, he went on to say was responsible for the safety on the oil rig. According to The London Telegraph, Hayward further clarified BP’s full and complete responsibility by saying, “This was not our accident. This was not our drilling rig. This was not our equipment. It was not our people, our systems or our processes. This was Transocean’s rig. Their systems. Their people. Their equipment.”
(more…)
by TEJ | May 29, 2010 | Business humor
Welcome to installment #61 in my periodic series of business lessons on how you can take your business to never-before-imagined levels of success. In this challenging economy, companies are forced to do more with less and continue to look for ways to squeeze efficiencies, often by means of painful layoffs and other draconian cost controls. I have a better idea: Hug your company’s way to success.
Recently the New York Times reported fascinating findings from a soon-to-be-published research study by scientists at University of California at Berkeley. They measured the level of physical contact between teammates in the National Basketball Association over an entire season. Their conclusion: Teams and individuals that hugged, high-fived and chest bumped their teammates more tended to outperform those that engaged in less frequent affectionate physical contact.
(more…)
by TEJ | Apr 3, 2010 | Business humor
This week’s blog post is a guest post by Steve Fisher, the funniest person I have ever known personally. Steve is based in Prague, Czech Republic, where he works in the field of Corporate Communications. On the side, Steve has had acting roles in several films and television shows.
It is my pleasure to turn this week’s post over to my life-long friend. In his commentary, Steve asks, Have you read the fine print on those online agreements lately? You might want to take a second look before clicking “I agree.” (Continued below…)
– Tim Jones
(more…)
by TEJ | Dec 12, 2009 | Business humor, Holiday humor
In this week’s business advice column, I thought it timely to discuss a few important aspects of management etiquette for your upcoming holiday office party. Any day now you’ll likely receive an invitation to your company’s Holiday Office Party. If not, don’t fret. This probably means you’re in line for the other invitation: to the meeting in the cafeteria starting in 20 minutes, letting you know you’ve been cordially invited not to return to work on Monday, so you can spend more time with your family, just in time for the holidays. My, how thoughtful. Let’s hope yours is the former invitation.
(more…)
