Sales lessons from the stage

by John Carroll

My family is very involved in the theater. Lori, my wife, has a post-graduate degree in theater and education and works with teachers and schools on using drama to improve learning. Both of our daughters have performed in community theater productions. Erynn, our older daughter, now enjoys working behind the scenes with the crew of a show. As a result of this, I’ve been able to catch a few lessons from the theater and reflect on how they apply to the role of the sales professional.

1. Be in proper costume – Theater groups will spend considerable time and resources in costumes for cast members. The reasons are fairly obvious. The actor’s costume conveys a great deal about the character, the period and other details, all to enhance that character’s contribution to the greater whole.

Likewise in selling, your appearance helps communicate who you are and why you’re here in front of the prospect. There are many schools of thought on exactly what this means to the sales professional. Some will stick with the men’s suit and tie and woman’s business suit to meet new prospects, while others have relaxed their dress code to meet that of the business casual prospect. Still others will downplay the importance of dressing one way or the other, claiming that it’s less of a factor now than it has been in times past.

Don’t fall prey to this last line of thinking. If you don’t think strangers formulate opinions of you at first sight, before you’re even able to shake a hand or get the first few words out of your mouth, think again. You do it yourself and likely don’t even realize it. Without going into the whys and wherefores of it here, assume that your dress is critical. Give it the same level of attention and importance you would give to the sales materials you hand to the prospect or the condition of your product or service when your prospect comes into contact with it.

If you have a low awareness of this topic, read the book Dress for Success. You’ll find recommendations for how to dress in particular circumstances. If you find yourself disagreeing with the specific suggestions, at least pay close attention to the research and testing that was done to support the author’s conclusions. It highlights our typically human response of sizing up a person long before we’ve engaged in conversation and taken the opportunity to get a complete picture before we make judgments about total strangers.

In this sense, sales is theater. Your dress conveys the character you’re supposed to be portraying. If you’re portraying an ultra-successful sales professional, dress likewise. Does this mean a new fancy suit every day of the week? No, on the contrary, I recommend one nice business suit, worn only on those occasions when you’re meeting with new prospects. Wear another presentable suit or outfit for customer service calls and other work. If you’re meeting with new prospects every day, gear up accordingly and always look presentable.

One popular guideline is to dress one step above the level of your customer. Examples of this for men would be to wear a suit or jacket with tie in situations where your customer is in shirt and tie during the workday; wear a shirt and tie in situations where your customer traditionally wears an open collar; wear a nice open collared shirt when your customer is most likely to wear outdoor worksite clothing.

Men should understand that, at least in American society, facial hair of any kind can work against them in the credibility department. Please note that I’m not lobbying for or against facial hair. I’m simply in agreement with the research that shows a strong reaction of distrust among respondents who are asked to comment on people they’ve met who wear a mustache, goatee or full beard. Just consider the possibility that it may be a factor working in opposition to your efforts to build trust and credibility with your prospects.

2. Get into and stay in character – One of the primary responsibilities of the dramatic actor is to get into and stay in character at all times on stage. This supports the action and helps build the flow of the presentation. This is particularly true of the actor during someone else’s lines. Staying in character allows the attention to go where it belongs.

Surprises can occur during the show as well. Despite weeks and weeks of rehearsals, there may be an inadvertent mishandling of a stage prop, an important lighting or sound cue is missed entirely or an obvious part of the scenery is bumped or left behind in a scene change. Actors taking such things in stride and remaining in character during these situations help reduce the impact of such occurrences.

In theater as in sales, stuff happens. Be ready for the unexpected. Selling doesn’t always go quite as smoothly as we’d like. The top sales professional, then, is attuned to seeing that the show goes on and minimizes the distraction whenever and wherever possible. If the prospect can’t see you as scheduled, make a new appointment and know that, in most cases, that prospect now feels a bit more obligated to see you and consider your product or service since you’ve been inconvenienced with the unforeseen schedule change. Take that same time to make a call on a new prospect or existing customer in the area. Stay in character of the top-performing sales professional who doesn’t let such occurrences create emotional upset. Roll with the punches and make the best of what you have in front of you.

This is not to say that you simply go with the flow and fail to prepare properly for the task at hand. On the contrary, when your sales presentation involves the presenting of materials or the use of audio and visual aids, you certainly want to insure the proper working order and a backup to each such element of your presentation.

By the way, in terms of getting into character, I’ve heard the figure that 26 percent of the time, the sales professional is in plain sight of the prospect as he or she exits the car to enter the prospect’s building or office. Regardless of the accuracy of the percentage cited, the very possibility leads me to one of two conclusions. I should either park in a spot which I know to be out of the prospect’s sight or be in the character of the top-performing sales professional before I ever open the door to leave the vehicle.

3. Know where you’re going next – As an actor in a dramatic presentation, your blocking is planned very carefully to add to the presentation. In scenes heavy with dialogue, for example, movement through blocking helps keep the audience’s attention from fading. Such movement can also highlight a certain emotion to be conveyed in the scene from one or more of the characters.

Know where you’re going in your sales conversation as well. Don’t shoot from the hip, because it’s likely to become obvious. Worse yet, it can take you further away from your intended results.

For example, let’s say you are questioning your prospect to uncover some key problems that you’d like to solve with your specific service or product. You want to be sure to follow a line of questions that lead you in that direction. In other words, if you don’t know exactly where the answers to those questions can lead you, you may want to ask different questions.

In any case, know the position you’re in and the position where you’d like to go. Plan in advance the questions that can get you to that ideal position. Otherwise, you may lose yourself and your prospect, who can become bored or distracted when the questions don’t seem to be leading in a specific and relevant direction.

4. Listen for more than your cue – Acting is much more than delivering your lines on time. It’s responding to the person or persons on stage with you. Skilled actors "play off" one another to provide the full effect of the interaction; in other words, they listen deeply and respond rather than recite.

In selling, especially for the more experienced sales professional, it’s all too easy to tune out through the objection you’ve just heard for the umpteenth time. You find yourself waiting for the customer to take a breath so you can deftly handle this one as you have so many times before. Fight the urge to categorize it with all the former objections. Instead, listen deeply to your prospect and refrain from reciting product statistics or dropping the same old names of satisfied customers. Respond to this individual and be sure to answer the question hiding inside the objection.

5. Practice, practice, practice – Community theater takes an average of 6 weeks of near-daily rehearsal before a public audience is welcomed to experience the production. Day after day, actors and director work on lines, blocking and cues. They provide feedback for improvement through cast and crew notes to achieve and reinforce the ideal presentation.

How is your practice and preparation? When was the last time you did a role-play of your presentation to a major prospect? How about practicing asking your initial questions in front of a mirror? You can also use audio and video recordings, all of which can help you practice your work and refine how you will appear to your prospect. This may seem elementary or below your level of skills. Remember that even the top actors rehearse outside of a show that has been running for years. It’s how the best remain at the top of their game.

6. Know and deliver your lines – Here’s a basic and critical element for any actor. Drop a single line (that is, omit just one of your lines) and an entire page or more of the script of the show can simply go away. Actors take great care in delivering each line, because those lines provide cues for other actors as well as crew members throughout the production.

In selling, drop a single element of the sales process and you may lose your prospect forever. For example, take a big leap from hello and launch directly into a litany of product features, without asking the first question to check the prospect’s needs and situation, and your own "show" is cut short.

Remember that your prospect didn’t grant you the appointment to check how accurately you can recall all the specifications of your new product. The prospect has a problem or two and has a hunch you may be able to help address it. Get this problem out on the table where you can see it clearly and understand how much it hurts your prospect. Then and only then begin to address how what you offer can solve the problem, reduce the pain and increase the positive results the prospect wants and needs.

Take the time in each stage of the sale. Research this prospect as much as possible in advance of your meeting. Know your questions ahead of time so you appear confident and capable of solving the key issues your prospect is facing. Take every element of the sale very seriously and make sure you include all the steps necessary to make the sale.

7. Remain quiet backstage – In a theater production, it takes precious little volume off-stage to create distractions easily heard by the audience. Cast and crew members are constantly reminded to take any conversations far away from the stage area and use whispering to allow the show to proceed without interruption.

Likewise, it takes only one ill-timed comment in the course of the sales conversation to distract the prospect from his or her true issues. There’s a time for everything, so when it’s your turn to be silent, take the role very seriously and pay attention. Your job is not to interrupt and finish your prospect’s sentences.

Take the time and energy to put your prospect at center stage. Pause before responding to your prospect to make sure you’ve allowed him or her to add an extra thought or two. Quoting from a poster I found in a sales manager’s office, "Just because the customer takes a breath doesn’t mean it’s your turn to talk."

8. Do your part – The typical theater production can involve dozens, even hundreds of people. As someone has said, there are no small parts; there are only small actors (those who consider their roles unimportant). Fall into the trap of thinking that some people are more important than others and you begin to downplay the roles of key players, even your own role. That’s when things start to go wrong in a production

Few sales are completed a cappella, that is, without the accompaniment of coaches, team members, suppliers, etc. Therefore, it’s critical that you do your part and encourage others to do theirs. It only takes one of these team members to omit a step that can send your results plummeting into oblivion.

As a sales professional, you nearly always have the opportunity to sell in two directions. The obvious one here is that you sell to your prospect, allowing your prospect to buy what you offer. The second and less obvious sales role is that of selling back into your organization. By virtue of your closeness to prospects and your market, you carry important information into your organization. Take this role very seriously and make sure that you continue to work internally to clarify what your prospects want and how they want it delivered. This internal selling can result in improved product and service offerings as well as special offers designed to meet a specific short-term need in the marketplace.

Take note here that the work of convincing internal team members of a particular condition or situation in the market can be a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating task. Stick with it, using real-life examples as illustrations and reinforcement to support your requests for specific changes. Acceptance and use of this valuable input is often the mark of a top company and can be the difference in meeting your sales projections.

9. Respect your fellow cast members – In theater, this is an absolutely critical element of the success of any production. It is also closely related to doing your part. By handling your role and understanding that there are no unimportant parts, you have set the foundation for respecting not only other actors but crew members as well.

There is an inclination in sales to look at the sales professional as the one and only person who gets any respect in the sales and fulfillment process. Sales professionals who see it this way lose sight of the team that supports them. As a result, they often spend incredible energy on complaints and fault finding among their own inside sales and customer service teams. As a result, they fail to encourage and reward these people, upon whom they rely heavily. The mark of a top sales professional is one who speaks very highly of his or her support people involved in product or service delivery to customers.

In some industries, there’s at least one person who remains in the office by the telephone and whose purpose is to support the sales representative. If you have such a person, take great care of this relationship. Treat this person as you would your top customer. Speak highly of this person to your customers and your other team members. Create a very positive atmosphere for this person to help you and you’ll be much more likely to find help when you need it.

10. Take a bow – Actors take time to practice the curtain call. This is an orderly and rehearsed portion, allowing and encouraging the audience to recall and express their appreciation of particular actors and scenes. Done well, it leaves actors, crew and audience feeling positive about the event just concluded.

In your selling, you will occasionally have the opportunity to field a comment of appreciation or congratulations. Be prepared for this and have your own "bow" rehearsed and ready to go. You can take a bow gracefully by receiving such comments with a simple "thank you." The mark of a professional is to say nothing more or less and bask for just a moment in the warmth of such appreciation. Adding comments such as, "It was nothing" or "No big deal" simply diminish both the comment and its contributor. Smile, say "thank you" and leave it at that.

Take a few cues from the theater. Make your sales process a smooth, rehearsed and appreciated production and you’ll find more audiences for your sales.

John Carroll is President/CEO of Unlimited Performance, a Mt. Pleasant, SC, firm focused on organizational and individual performance improvement. He is the author of Sales Illustrated 68 Sales Lessons from Everyday Life. Contact him at 1-877-755-8844 toll-free, email at jcarroll@uperform.com, fax at (843) 881-6746.