Houdini was a master magician.  Indeed, he was a master salesman.  Every magician must convince (sell) his audience that his “illusion” is not an illusion at all; that it is, in fact, the genuine article.

Those of you who work in sales should ask yourselves how adept you are at illusion.  Let me clarify the illusion I speak of in this context.  It is not an illusion of trickery whereby the sales person sells something for the sake of selling without wanting to understand the needs of the buyer.  No, the illusion I speak of here is one of the master sales person convincing his employer that he is performing at optimum expectations.  How good a magician are you?

Sales people are generally (hopefully) attuned to their employers’ needs to track their activities and results. Therein lies the problem. The key word in that sentence is “employer”.  The employer will give all the accountability documentation to the particular sales person and the sales person, donning a black cape and top hat, will most probably return the documentation to the employer in some sort of completed state.  What happens then?  Generally nothing.  The employer or sales manager will not have the skills, policies or procedures to manage the RESULTS of the documentation.