The following is an excerpt from Michael’s book, The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank
It’s great getting customers to sing your praises, but what about getting them to open their wallets more often… or wider?
A study by Karen O’Quin and Joel Aronoff found that a bit of humor can influence people to pay more during negotiations. In the study, participants had to negotiate with a seller over the purchase price of a painting. The seller made a final sales offer in one of two ways. Half the time the seller said he’d accept $6,000, the other half of the time he gave the same final offer, but this 
time he added a little humor by offering to throw in his pet frog. The impact of a little humor had a huge effect. Regardless of gender and regardless of the degree to which the seller’s final price was above the amount originally offered, would-be buyers made a much greater compromise when offered the pet frog. So, either everyone in the study had a ten-year-old boy at home or, more likely, the humorous aside helped relax the buyers and put them in a more generous frame of mind.
Another study by humor researcher Dr. Paul McGhee found that when a salesperson used more humor, the buyer was willing to pay a higher price. The study found that humor helped break down initial objections the buyers may have had and helped create an emotional bond with the seller, product or idea.
And a study described in the book, Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be More Persuasive, by Steven J. Martin, showed that simply sending a funny, inoffensive cartoon to the person you are negotiating with generated higher levels of trust and led to 15% larger profits. Recipients of the funny cartoon were more than twice as likely as those who didn’t receive the cartoon to make an opening offer that was deemed acceptable. The use of cartoons even resulted in shorter, more efficient negotiating time.
Legendary adman David Ogilvy once said, “All the world may love a clown, but nobody buys from one.” Fair enough. I’m not sure I’d want to buy my next big-ticket item from a clown, either. But as any veteran salesperson knows, selling is all about relationship building. It’s about making a personal connection and establishing trust. Positive humor can help break the ice, soften our image, humanize us and strengthen trust. So although coming across like the office clown may not be the best approach, teaching your salespeople and front-line employees to use humor safely may pay off more than you might think.
Michael Kerr, 2017. Michael Kerr is a very in-demand international business speaker and trainer. For more great ideas and inspiration that will transform your workplace culture be sure to purchase a copy of Michael’s book, The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank, also available as an audio book or e-book. And be sure to sign up for Michael’s free weekly e-zine, Inspiring Workplaces. Michel is also the author of The Jerk-Free Workplace and Hire, Inspire, and Fuel Their Fire.
