In sales you have to prove that what you’re selling is worth it, and Improv really serves the act of selling well. For Leaf & Limb, a tree maintenance service that goes above and beyond to care for its customers, we created an impactful workshop for their sales team while making it fun, all at 8:00 in the morning!
The basics of Improv are all good skills for sales – positive energy, building the conversation, getting agreement, etc. There is also a principle in Improv of avoiding questions, but is it realistic to avoid questions when you’re in sales? No – you have to ask questions! Perhaps the goal in sales is to not ask so many questions that it hinders conversational progress. If a conversation seems like an investigation, Improv teaches us to avoid the question and focus instead on building the conversation. The Leaf & Limb sales team successfully addressed this in the Improv conversation exercises. Learning Improv can always positively impact someone’s communication, and good communication is key when it comes to the art of selling.
We began the workshop by demonstrating some of the basics of Improv. We then got everyone up and moving with some mirroring activities. Mirroring is a great warm-up exercise in Improv because it makes you pay attention to another person and get in the groove for the day. It is also a good way for sales professionals to practice focusing on the customer – observing their body language and other nonverbal cues to discern what they really want and need.
Mirroring begins with attendees standing face-to-face in pairs. In the first round, one person initiates movements which their partner follows, as if they are reflecting the action in a mirror. Secondly, the partners switch roles so that the follower is now the leader. In the final round, neither partner is the leader. The hope here is that each partner simultaneously follows the other. When this happens, it feels a little magical. We all got to witness this clearly with one of the sales team pairs.
Later in the workshop we role-played situations that might come up in sales conversations. Many people don’t enjoy role-playing exercises, but they are one of the best ways to practice applying new skills and preparing for actual sales conversations and realistic scenarios. We use role play situations in our Improv workshops so that the techniques we are teaching can best be applied to the challenges the teams that hire us may face.
For Leaf & Limb, one team member had a challenging scenario to role play: the customer who doesn’t want to leave their house to talk about the tree work they want done, but rather trusts you to do the job. She led the role play and other sales people got to observe. The challenge was what do you say as a sales person to build rapport in an odd situation.
A more challenging Improv exercise we included was “status.” Status is about the power shift that can occur in a conversation as different participants use nonverbal elements like position, gestures, and tone to control the conversation. The exercise isn’t about a power struggle but rather noticing how your willingness to listen, agree, or challenge what’s happening can influence the conversation. Are you willing to subordinate yourself for the good of the conversation to move towards a common goal? If so, you will be a more effective salesperson.
Overall, the sales team listened well and were ready to take risks throughout the workshop, which is what good sales people do every day. The participants were also quite humorous during the activities. One man impressed me several times with his spontaneous humor by just stating the obvious. He simply acted naturally and the results were funny without pushing the comedy envelope.
Improv workshops address a sales team’s practical needs while naturally fostering team building through shared laughter. It is always fun to facilitate with fun people. And who doesn’t like fun sales people like those at Leaf & Limb?
