I once took a sales management training course on how to give speeches. The well-meaning sales trainer told us the best way to “warm up” the audience he said was to open your speech with a joke.

“A priest, a rabbi and a sales manager walk into a bar…”

Excited at the prospect of finally finding the key to great sales management speech-making, I ran out that night to my local Barnes and Noble and bought myself a joke book.

Being not a particularly good public speaker, I memorized a few jokes and then tried it out at my first sales meeting after that Sales Management Training.

When I told the joke it was a disaster. I stumbled on the setup and flubbed the phrasing in the punch line.

I bombed big time.

Why?

First off, it wasn’t funny.

Secondly, it wasn’t relevant

And third, it wasn’t mine. I am a horrible joke teller, its just not my thing.

Not exactly a formula for sales management success….

The Sales Management Speech-Making Secret

In previous sales management trainings we have talked about the importance of story telling. As much as you may not like it, making speeches and speaking in front of your sales team are things you have to do on a regular basis, its just part of your job.

So you really need to get good at it.

The problem is that “public speaking” is that in almost every poll on the top fears, the number one fear of human beings.

Curiously, “fear of death” is number four.

Jerry Seinfeld once joked: “most people at a funeral would rather be in the casket than be at the podium making the eulogy…”

But as a sales manager, making speeches is a way for you to connect with your sales team and set the direction for success. It is a critical sales management skill to master.

So back to the sales management training I received on speech making…

I realized after the training, I had missed a few critical elements to good speech making. I realized that although my joke was horrible, as well as badly delivered, it had absolutely no relevance to my message. And since I got it from a joke book, it wasn’t mine.

So when you are making a sales management speech, you actually can start off with a joke, but you need to make sure you follow these guidelines:

1. Make sure its funny

2. Make sure it relevant

3. Make sure it yours

Making Sales Management Speeches “Yours”

The day after a massive incentive compensation shakeup at the company I was working at, I was schedule to make a speech in front of the sales force. The incentive compensation change had negatively impacted the entire sales team and the buzz was that they were all really ticked off.

It was a tough decision, but one that had to be made based on the revenue projections of the product we were selling.

So the next day, I was scheduled to speak in front of the sales force to talk them through it and explain the “whys” behind the decision.

To make matters worse, they all knew I was in on the decision, so I knew the crowd would be particularly angry with me.

The night before the speech, I went into my kids toy closet and found some old knight gear from a previous Christmas, tried it on and stored it in my briefcase for use the next day.

When I walked out on stage the next day in full “knight gear”, much to my relief, as soon as the crowd saw me in this ridiculous getup, they roared with laughter….instead of throwing coffee cups and half eaten donuts at me.

I went through my speech, explaining the situation in clear terms as to why the decision was made. I also explained why it was not only good for the company, but good for them in the long run.

Did I turn everyone in the room around to my way of thinking?

Most likely not.

Were most of them still ticked off?

Probably.

But I had successfully navigated the situation with humor. My kind of humor, not some humor I learned from a joke book.

Also the humor I employed was a bit self-deprecating, which always helps. I’ve always found that people are far less likely to rag on you if you rag on yourself first.

And lastly, the humor was highly relevant because of the built up tension in the room and the silly looking knight costume.

So when you do use humor in your speeches, make sure its funny, make sure its relevant and make sure it is yours.

All other use of humor in a speech may just make you fall flat…and the next speech you make after that you may in fact need a knight costume too.

What’s your funniest speech?

If you liked this post and want more, be sure to check out our sales management training that covers way more than just sales management speech making.