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Just a few years ago, I saw the greatest salesman I’ve ever witnessed plying his craft.
It was at the mall, either in Dallas or Austin, in the food court, and he was an employee of the Chinese food joint. The food court is overcrowded with miniature restaurants, with bright neon signs, tantalizing smells, and great deals on cheap food all battling for the attention and the lunch dollar of John Q. Mallshopper (and of course, his wife, Susan P. Storebrowser – she kept her maiden name).
This guy stood out in front of the Chinese place holding a tray loaded with bite-sized tidbits of chicken on toothpicks, and as passersby passed by (as they are wont to do) he called out, in a voice that carried all the way from Chick-Fil-A to Hot Dog on a Stick: “YUMMY CHICKEN TERIYAKI!”
I wish I could accurately capture his inflection here in text form, because that was really what made it so effective. The way he said it was like, “YuuuUUUMMMy CHIIIIICkenteriYAKI!” And he kept bellowing this, over and over, so that we really had no choice but to grab a toothpick and have a taste, because who could turn down chicken teriyaki that’s YuuuUUUMMMy? On tasting the sample, I found that it was yummy, although how much of that impression was due to the power of suggestion I can’t say.
But the fact is, it was sufficiently yummy that my whole family ended up ordering the chicken teriyaki meal, and I saw many other food court patrons doing the same. To this day, whenever I hear or read the phrase “chicken teriyaki,” I instantly hear that guy’s voice in my head.
And that’s why the food court Chinese food guy is the best salesman I’ve ever seen.
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As I remember it (and it's certainly possible that my mind has exaggerated it a bit in the years since it happened), he also gave it a kind of glissando up the scale, from a low note on "YuuuUUUMMMy" to a higher note on "teriYAKI!" A bit like the "Let's get ready to rumble" guy.
In any case, it was definitely very effective. Like you, I can't hear the phrase "chicken teriyaki" without adding a "yummy" in front of it in my head. |
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Just hope that nobody offers you chicken teriyaki at a job interview.
Unless it's an interview to be a yelling-about-chicken salesman. |
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Jason: I did my best to accurately reproduce the guy's delivery, but it's a bit difficult in text. Glissando is a good word.
Michal: My dream is to someday get a job as assistant to the regional chicken-teriyaki-yeller. |
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| For real, not only did the guy make me want to eat chicken teriyaki, I felt like I could conquer the world! I wanted to eat the chicken while running up the stairs and pumping my fists, or on the way to shut down the tobacco corporation or something. I think you guys are right though, it was like a beautiful song, the plea to eat chicken teriyaki. The sad thing is that it's one of those things that whenever you hear the phrase "chicken teriyaki" and you have the urge to recreate this beautiful moment, no one around you really gets it. I wish he would go on tour or something. |
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I wasn't even there, and now I want chicken teriyaki.
He's like a chicken teriyaki ninja or something. |
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| Need more info about Multi stress syllable word? You are welcome! on [spam link removed] |
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| So, thanks to seeing the comment above in my RSS feed I ended up reading Ryan's post again last night, and I actually started salivating. This despite the fact that I had even had chicken teriyaki for dinner a few hours earlier. Even so many years after the fact, the guy still gets to me. |
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| He was such a good salesman that his technique crosses all boundaries of time and space. Once you hear his siren call, you have no choice: You MUST have some yummy chicken teriyaki. |
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