Here’s Your Sign!

The late comedian David Brenner used to perform this routine called “the worst doctor.”

The skit was based on the premise that somewhere in the world and of all the people who held a license to practice medicine, someone logically had to be the worst doctor.

I suppose that tragi-comedic theory could be applied to any profession although I would think that it would be somewhat safer physically to be the victim of the world’s worst CPA than the worst doctor or engineer.

Conversely, sometimes good professionals make the worst decisions. Like the owner of a firm in Michigan who was looking to merge up and confided to me that his landlord just offered him a terrific deal on a 5-year lease renewal.

Along those lines, another comedian, Bill Engvall, used to joke about giving people who did idiotic things or asked asinine questions to which the answers were painfully obvious, a sign that said simply “I’m Stupid.”

So I told the practitioner that what he did to save a bit of money effectively eliminated about 90 percent of the firms who may have been interested because now any successor firm either had to eat the lease or try and sublet the space.

By the way, here’s your sign.

It’s all perception until it’s not

Perception is a quirky thing.

As a lifelong boxing fan, I’ve witnessed decisions in bouts that today still defy reality. I’ve seen car accidents where one person is clearly at fault but contended however preposterous, that it was the other guy’s fault for being there.

How about CPA firms with a 90-plus percent realization rates? On a perception level that might seem outstanding, but one might ask, are their billing rates too low?

How about at the end of a meeting with a sales or a client prospect? Whether it went well or not often depends on whom you ask – or for that matter who dominated the conversation.

Which brings me to today’s topic.

Two types of people that have always impressed me are great bartenders and great salespeople.

You know why?