Their weekend assignment was to sell something, then give a talk on
productive salesmanship. Little Sally led off: "I sold girl scout
cookies and I made $30," she said proudly, "My sales approach was to
appeal to the customer's civil spirit and I credit that approach for
my obvious success." Very good," said the teacher. Little Jenny was next:
"I sold magazines," she said, "I made $45 and I explained to everyone
that magazines would keep them up on current events." "Very good,
Jenny," said the teacher.. " Eventually, it was Little Johnny's turn.
The teacher held her breath ... Little Johnny walked to the front of
the classroom and dumped a box full of cash on the teacher's desk. "$2,467,"
he said. "$2,467!" cried the teacher, "What in the world were you
selling" "Toothbrushes," said Little Johnny. "Toothbrushes," echoed
the teacher, "How could you possibly sell enough tooth brushes to make
that much money?" "I found the busiest corner in town," said Little
Johnny, "I set up a Dip & Chip stand, I gave everybody who walked by a
free sample." They all said the same thing, "Hey, this tastes like dog crap!"
Then I would say, "It is dog crap. Wanna buy a toothbrush? I used the
Julia Gillard method of giving you something shitty but that looked
good, for free, and then making you pay to get the bad taste out of
your mouth." The teacher was speechless ... Little Johnny got 5 stars
for his efforts, bless his heart.
