Ben Stein How Not to Ruin Your Life

Times are hard. So far there's no recession, and maybe there won't be one. But there is a slowdown. It can be felt in stores and factories and it's for real, unless you're in the energy business. Slowdowns are especially hard on people in sales, and sales is the single largest category of occupation in this nation.

Therefore, just for this once, I won't talk about investing. Instead, I'll tell you a parable about sales. It came to me from my friend Barron Thomas, a real estate man and also a seller of private airplanes all over the country. Barron has been my friend for many a year, and I think I can say I've learned more from him than from any other human being, except possibly my wife and my late father and mother.

A few days ago, I called Barron just to shoot the breeze. I asked him where he was that fine day. He said he was in San Diego. I asked him why, since he lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. "I'm down here repossessing an airplane," he said matter of factly.

"I didn't know you did that," I said.

"I do," he said. "I'm pretty good at it. And since the airplane business was slow today, I thought I might as well make a few dollars doing the repo."

Now, Barron is a well-to-do guy. He lives well and always has, and I don't think he would die if he didn't do any work for years, if not decades. But like the sensible fellow he is, he chose to add value whenever the marginal cost of the job was less than the marginal return. (This just is basic common sense, but it's amazing how few people know it. I'm endlessly astonished by how many men and women I know who are broke but who just spend their time watching movies or TV. Some people who aren't broke are endlessly working and figuring out new ways to make a buck even after their normal workday ends.)

Anyway, to continue my little parable, I asked Barron how he would go about repossessing the plane.

"I've already done it," he said. "The worst-case scenario is that I get a chain and throw it around the propeller and then attach it to a ring on the runway and then it's done and my job is over.

"But I don't like to do it that way. That hurts the guy whose plane I'm repossessing. So I just called the owner up and told him I was working for the bank that lent him the money for the plane -- which I am -- and that I was coming over and would like to take him to lunch and would he please bring the keys to the plane and the paperwork on the plane."

"How did that work out?" I asked him.

"Great. The man showed up and I told him what I felt about it. ‘It's not your fault. It's just the times we're in. It's got nothing to do with you as a person. It's just that we're in hard times. So, let me do you a favor and take the keys, and then the plane is officially repossessed and the bank stops charging you for the added interest.'

"He agreed and I said to him, ‘You know, you'll get through these times, and when you do I'll be the first guy at your door to sell you another plane. I've been through tough times myself and I know what it's like.'"

"Barron," I said, "that's great."

"I bonded with him," Barron said, "which is the great rule of sales. I bonded with him and became his friend, and you know what? I will sell him another plane someday soon. And I got paid for the repossession and I expect to do a lot more. It's not like it is on TV. It's all about salesmanship."

So, here are your lessons for the week: Get out there and work even harder and more creatively in these difficult times. When you do your work, bond with your client or whoever you're working with. It shows respect, and it'll get the job done right -- and it'll lead to more sales.

I know these are super tough times for real estate and car salespeople. But they can be overcome and at least gotten through if you can sell your product, your service, and yourself the way Barron Thomas does.