If you are in sales and you are not using humour in your presentations then you are missing the boat. Experts have known for years that humorous jokes and stories can help you establish relationships, defuse difficult situations, and get your customers to be more open to hearing what you have to say.

The trouble is, many people who have not used humour before are afraid to. There is always the danger that your great sales jokes could fall flat but if you do a little preparation and homework you will be sure to get the reaction you are looking for.

Of course you aren’t going to become a top notch stand up comedian over night. The truth is you don’t really want to or need to. This is business and your goal is far different from that of the professional comedian. Your goal is to be professional yet appealing and funny. Even if you don’t have a natural affinity to humour you can take advantage of great sales joke in order to spice up your sales material.

Telling jokes and stories is not the only way to use great sales jokes and humour in your sales approach. PowerPoint presentations are the perfect way to subtly slip in jokes and cartoons about sales. There are literally hundreds of great sales jokes available on the Internet.

Of course when you are shopping for cartoons and great sales jokes you want to make sure that the ones you select are appropriate in content and for the audience you will be using them with. For example, if you are meeting with a group of sales managers then you would probably not want to find great sales jokes that deal with sales customer service.

The real key is to know your audience. As a sales person you should be well acquainted with this group anyway. You just need to take the information that you have already developed and think about how it applies to using humour and sales jokes. Select jokes that you can identify with and you think your audience will connect to.

The real great sales jokes are original and they deliver their humour in a way that is unexpected and surprising. If you can develop your own jokes, then all the better.

If you think about your life experiences with sales humour in mind, you will probably be surprised to find that you really have a lot to draw on. Your work, your social life, and your family can all be fertile ground for developing material. The best use of humour is almost always at least somewhat personal.

You can also poke fun at yourself. Don’t take it so far as to appear like a clown, but making jokes at your own expense can be very effective. Steer clear of making fun of anyone in your audience, however, since this type of humour can have unexpected results.

The first step to using great sales jokes is to simply get started. You can work out the kinks as you practice and develop your material but you have to start somewhere.