February 12th, 2009
by Pamela Sherman
“The shortest distance between 2 people is laughter”…
At Web Marketing Therapy (WMT), we believe a healthy dose of laughter can help cultivate positive relationships with coworkers, staff, clients/customers, vendors and allies to support business success.
Think of all the salespeople you know… Those you enjoy being around, who present their products with a knowledgeable, professional, yet light-hearted style, do well! Being fun and enjoyable to do business with equates to doing MORE BUSINESS!
Since the Web possesses a large educational component for businesses, we take humor seriously - as it engages your customers with more effective teaching and learning. Many companies would benefit from considering the value of laughter and realize that “joking matters” (and that’s not a joking matter 
). “What distinguishes a boring classroom from a learning classroom? -Laughter,” as written in the book, The Laughing Classroom. The book discusses how a “laughing” teaching style inspires creativity, helping students to learn faster and better.
Humor… We find it in print, cartoons, YouTube and more. It’s peppered throughout our emails and our lives, whether inane or poignant. So, why not utilize humor as a tool to help your business?
The following are some benefits of using good, healthy humor in your business:
* Improving relationships, rapport and trust
* Increasing sales and productivity
* Educating with a more engaging and memorable style
* Improving and stimulating business communications
* Drawing greater awareness and attention for business promotion
* Creating better company morale
* Laughing all the way to the bank!
The following are just a few Ideas for improving company morale:
* Start meetings with fun activities to energize the team
* Encourage brain-storming and creativity through appropriate forms of “play”
* Have a “best joke contest”
Research has shown that people are far more creative and cooperative after they have been “energized” through forms of appropriate “play.” “Humor serves very real and very important psychological and social functions,” says Don Nilsen (a founder of the International Society for Humor Studies). “Humor is a very positive and effective ego-defense mechanism. It can be used for coping, for saving face, for gaining status, for testing limits, for social control, and for bonding.” Medical studies also show that laughter boosts levels of endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers and suppresses the levels epinephrine, the stress hormone.
Web Marketing Therapy Related Links:
- Business Success: Questions for Boosting Your “CUSTOMER I.Q.”
- Healthy Dose of Web Marketing Inspiration
- Can I PLEASE have a bowl of “Smart ‘n Funny”?
- Business Success: Use VALUE(S) as Your Springboard and Your North Star!
Lorrie
(February 16th, 2009 at 3:01 am)
I LOVE THIS POST (I know all caps is screaming and I am screaming with laughter!) I agree that you can laugh all the way to the bank. Professionals that work well together do because they play well together….