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Death of a Sales Trap
Now Playing at the Incubator Theatre
On Broadway and Technology
Cast & Characters in Order of Appearance
Narrator — GPS Lady
Tom Sales — Paul Szklarski
Betsy Sales — Stephanie Szklarski
Ann Tithesis — Sandy Spadaro
Trap Wizard — Howard Yermish
The Selling Universe — Sandler Training/Rhine Associates
Synopsis
This compelling story unfolds in a Philadelphia suburb not far from Exit 4 on the Jersey Turnpike. Having had a vision of a better Selling Universe, where no Objection is left unturned and no Sales Trap is seen coming, Tom Sales (Paul Szklarski) makes the life-changing decision to start a family business of expert sales trainers, including daughter Betsy (Stephanie Szklarski). Years later, his dream has come to fruition. Droves of corporate and small business sales teams are trained to match & mirror, qualify prospects and deliver seamless presentations, ultimately leading to … making the sale.
Joined by supporting characters, Ann Tithesis and the Trap Wizard, Tom and Betsy’s conviction remains tried and tested, despite the grueling jokes and innuendos about sales people. The Sales Trap is proven to be a myth and the dark fear of salespersons no longer exists in The Selling Universe.
Scene Highlights
Act One: “The problem with ‘people’ people is that if you don’t buy from them, they get their feelings hurt. They think that you don’t like them anymore.”
Act Two: “If you sound like a salesperson, you’ll be treated like a salesperson. If you want to have a real conversation…you have to do the work of making them like you and you have to genuinely like them.”
Act Three: “You could literally hold up a card that says ‘I’m doing it to you’ and you still won’t see it.”
Act Four: “There are really very few things that if you did it wrong, you would kill a sale. You didn’t have it anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
Act Five: “So we went very meta there… I asked you a question and that question in itself was a trap!”
An official apology from the management: Episode 14 experienced a traffic delay, causing the overall trip to be four minutes longer than the prescribed ten minutes. Consider it bonus time.
