Life Experiences and Stories

from Jay Martin

My father could give more worthy advice in less time than any person I ever knew. For me his words of wisdom have lasted a lifetime although they were given in a matter of minutes. I can hear his voice now:

“Anybody who says he won’t lie to you is in mid-lie.”

“Don’t mess with other folk’s money.”

“You’ll never come out of borrowing. Banks have the biggest buildings in town for a reason.”

“Doctors need to doctor & preachers need to preach.”

“Watch out for a person who can cry on cue.”

There were many more, but I need to stop there for now. Several years ago a partner of mine and I went to Florida to check out some devices designed to filter water. We looked at a half dozen or so products and eventually found one we felt we could market. The owner of the company that manufactured this filter was an enthusiastic lady who seemed overly glad to see us. We told her we had direct sales experience, thought that her product was a natural for that type of marketing strategy, and we would like to talk with her about the possibility of our being her sales and marketing arm.

At that point she responded by telling us that the business had actually belonged to her husband and he had managed it until he passed away three weeks ago. She then shared with us the details of her husband’s passing from diagnosis to death, during which time she began to cry. She said her husband had told her, as he was leaving this earth, that one day two gentlemen would walk in who wanted to help her with sales and marketing, and she would know it the minute it happened. Wow?

“Gentlemen, that day has come. You are those two gentlemen.” By this time her tears had subsided, but our BS meters began to vibrate.

However, we liked the product so well that we muted our meters and negotiated a short term trial period which we still hoped might lead to a more permanent relationship.

As we were driving away we turned our meters back on and my friend summed it all up in one sentence, “Tomorrow, three gentlemen will come.”

Just to be sure a couple of months later we sent three gentlemen, and yes, she cried again, and yes, these were the three gentlemen, and yes, her husband had died again just three weeks before their visit. Watch out for a person who can cry on cue.

Jay Martin

President and Founder

The Juice Plus+ Company