In our Track Selling workshops, we encourage making selling - and life - fun. Here's some fun from British history.
Beginning in the 1890s, toilets came indoors. In England, an indoor toilet became known as a Water Closet, or WC.
In this story, an English lady was looking for a room to rent in Switzerland. She asked a local village schoolmaster to help her. A place that suited her was found and she returned to London for her luggage.
She then remembered that she had not noticed a bathroom, or she called it, a water closet. So she wrote to the schoolmaster.
He was puzzled by the initials WC, not knowing that she was asking about a bathroom. He asked the help of the local parish priest who decided that WC stood for Wesleyan Church. This was his reply.
"Dear Madam,
The WC is situated nine miles from the house in the center of a beautiful grove of trees. It is capable of holding 350 people at a time and is open on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday each week.
A large number of people attend during the summer months, so it is suggested you go early, although there there is plenty of standing room.
Some people like to take their lunch and make a day of it, especially on Thursday, when there is organ accompaniment. The acoustics are very good and everyone can hear the slightest sound.
It may be of interest to you to know that my daughter was married in our WC and it was there that she met her husband.
We hope you will be there in time for our fund-raiser bazaar to be held very soon. The proceeds will go toward the purchase of plush seats, which everyone agrees are a long-felt need, as the present seats all have holes in them.
My wife is rather delicate, therefore she cannot attend regularly. It's been six months since the last time she went. Naturally, it pains her very much not to be able to go more often.
I shall close now with the desire to accommodate you in every way possible and I will be happy to save you a seat down front or near the door, whichever you prefer.
Sincerely, the schoolmaster."
The water closet is a cautionary tale for sales people. The story's application is that it's not enough to believe we were understood. Sometimes we need to be so clear that we can't be misunderstood.
KIS-MIF: Keep it Simple and Make it Fun.
Good luck, good selling, and let's be clear.
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