A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

This is a post about soccer, which gives me an excuse to show you one of my favorite "demotivators" from Despair.com.  Hey, that's soccer right there in a nutshell, right?

The U.S. World Cup soccer team lost their opener, 3-0.  Yet somehow, we all managed to get up and go to work the next day.  We Yanks have a stiff upper lip, don't we?

Actually, we Yanks pretty much could care less about the World Cup.  Sure, you have some die-hards around the country who live and breath soccer and lust over this international competition that takes place every four years.  But here in the U.S., by and large, the World Cup will come and go with barely a whisper in our collective consciousness.

Why is that?  Why aren't we "buying" World Cup soccer?  The reason I'm asking is that if you can answer that question, you'll also learn some lessons in what sells - and what doesn't - in your business.

Some observations I've made about the World Cup that may relate to your sales and marketing efforts:

• Everyone else loves it.  Sometimes, peer pressure doesn't work.  Sometimes, people like rejecting something that everyone else says the should love.
• They say it's exciting, you think it's boring.  Whoop-eee!  A 0-0 tie!  Soccer purists will tell you that's the most exciting game you could see.  But just because someone tells you that, doesn't make it so.  Remember that when you excitedly tell someone about something you want them to buy.
• We're already satisfied customers.  We love our NFL, NBA and MLB.  Soccer against the Congo?  Yeah, right.  There is only so much attention the normal person can pay to sports, and for most fans the "big three" tend to dominate our attention - along with golf and NASCAR racing.

That's my take on it.  If you have any thoughts, comment below.