The “Soulful Salesman” invites guests to provide the best “salesman-related” advice they’ve seen, heard or created and add to this message board. Your site’s host will begin the dialogue with a personal favorite by Martin Luther King: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well’.”
Monthly Archives: April 2017
Must be an Irish Sitter
The sportsman went to a hunting lodge and bagged a record number of birds with the help of a dog named “Salesman.” The following year the man wrote the lodge again for reservations, requesting the same dog, “Salesman.” As soon as he arrived at the lodge he asked the handler if “Salesman” was ready to hunt.
“The hound ain’t no durn good now,” said the handler.
“What happened,” cried the man. “Was he injured?”
“Nope! Some fool came down here and called him “Sales Manager” all week. Now all he does is sit on his tail and bark.”
Say, mister, got a match?
An early 20th century “humor” magazine, Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang, was the source for many jokes, like this one, used by comedians of the day. In fact, one comedian contacted the magazine for more, because his Whiz Bang inventory has been destroyed in a fire. The following is a good example of many that used the salesman theme.
Some of these corn-fed damsels around the farm are sure coy. Not long ago one of them was hiking along a cross road, when she caught up with a peddler who was carrying a large iron kettle on his back; in one hand he had the legs of a live chicken, in the other a cane, and he was leading a goat. They sauntered along together until they came to a lone clump of woods, when the simple maid drew back.
“I’m afraid to go on,” she said, “You might overpower me and kiss me.”
“How can I possibly do that?” the peddler retorted. “I have this iron kettle, a live chicken, a goat, and a cane. I might as well be tied hand and foot.”
“Well,” responded the coy young thing, “if you stick your cane in the ground and tie your goat to it and turn the kettle upside down and put the chicken under it, then you might wickedly kiss me in spite of my resistance.” (Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang, June, 1924) Note: This publication was created by Capt. Billy Fawcett (of Fawcett Publishers fame). The name? Capt. Billy served in WWI. And when he returned home he decided to publish the magazine, giving it the “whiz bang” name as that was he recalled hearing regularly in the field of battle — the “whiz” of shells before “banging” into the ground.
More about Ben Feldman
I had a personal contact with Ben Feldman when I worked for the Million Dollar Round Table as its public relations director. We produced a documentary about Ben, called “The Man from East Liverpool.” During the filming, the producer, director, and cameraman were so impressed by Ben that they ended up buying insurance from him. Ben was especially notable for his introduction of a product called “Key man insurance.” It was successfully promoted to CEOs and other top level officers in companies. -Ron
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