This post written from Starbucks in Cocoa Beach, FL

According to all the profiles I’ve read on match.com, no one is overweight anymore. It seems the obesity epidemic is over! What great news, we can now put the trans-fats back into our fries and roll those candy machines back into the schools.
Either the armies of singles on match.com are a genetically enhanced race of super singles or I’ve just stumbled onto the most talented group of salespeople I’ve ever seen!

When the motivation is right, ordinary people become extraordinary marketers. Not wanting to live alone is apparently a strong motivator. I’ve never seen a collective group so adept at marketing themselves. Everyone describes their “body type” as, “fit & toned”, “athletic”, “slim” or my favorite….. wait for it…….”a few extra pounds”.
You can sift through hundreds of profiles and never come across a, “plump and proud”, “chubby and cheery” or my personal fav, “large and in charge”.

A few extra pounds?!? What does that mean? Are you literally carrying a stubborn 3 extra pounds that just won’t go away? Don’t these people realize that the end game here is to “meet” someone live and in person? What happens then? No wonder online dating gets such a bad rap. You think you’re meeting Bo Derek and you end up having a latté with Bo Diddley.

The profiles are equally as inflated. No one has ever been at fault for a breakup or divorce. Everyone is looking for that special someone that “gets them”. Everybody is kind, understanding and just about the most terrific mate you could ever ask for. WOW! You can’t go wrong. Just pick one at random – you can’t lose!

Match.com singles are not the only great salespeople out there.  I’ve always touted the people pushing goods on the television shopping networks to be among the best sales people in the known universe. They have levels of enthusiasm that rival the winning team’s fans at a Super Bowl where the game is won with a hail Mary pass in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. I’ve always been impressed by the ability of Home Shopping hosts to be hyper-amped up about an air mattress one second and equally as jazzed about a set of china the next.

The baseball card collectible guy, Don Wagner is truly something to see. Best known for his intensity and my all time favorite catch phrase, “Be Dialin” Don Wagner could sell trading cards of local crack addicts and people would buy them! His enthusiasm level for what he is selling is off the charts! I am glued to the television when he’s raving about the latest collection of limited edition, rare, hard to find, gonna be gone forever, sure to be worth millions in the very near future baseball card collection.

In sales and marketing we all know that believing in your product is a must but in today’s noisy world belief alone just doesn’t cut it. We are deluged with grandiose online profiles and hyperactive pitchmen. We need to take it up a notch. In order to market we must have excitement that can be seen, heard and felt.

Excitement sells and passion is contagious. When the people you are marketing and selling to can feel the level of excitement about your product, service or even yourself, they get excited about it too.

If you’re chunky be chunky but be excited about it! Tell the single masses about your passion for great food and desire to hit the gym with the right person. Passion shines brighter than anything. When it comes to marketing always be honest about yourself, your product or service and always market with unyielding gusto! When others experience your fervor, connections will be made faster than the waistlines at the China Buffet.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2007 at 11:43 am and is filed under Marketing & Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.