DeNiro’s got it.  So does Streep.  Newcomer Carey Mulligan has it in spades.  Keanu Reeves?  Never had it.  What is “it?”  Presence.  If you’re alive and taking up space, you have presence, too.  It’s simply a matter of degree.  Do you have enough presence to command the attention of one, ten or a hundred people?  For how long?  Ten seconds?  Twenty minutes?  Two hours? Presence is not just an important quality for actors.  It is a critical component in business if your job requires you to engage, motivate or lead others.  So can presence be developed?

It’s helpful to know what presence is.  Here’s a definition:

• The state or fact of being present  (don’t you love it when the dictionary defines a word with the root of the word itself?)
• An impressive quality, personal appearance or bearing
• An invisible spirit felt to be nearby

When Webster’s struggles to pin it down, you know it’s hard to define.  It can perhaps best be described as an energy, an attitude and a bearing that makes other people want to connect with us.  Since it is more than just a physical quality, simply mimicking the behaviors of others will lack the authenticity and impact of real presence if we don’t have our own inner spark.

Early in my acting career I rather timidly took the stage and after a few uncomfortable moments, the director yelled, “Own the stage!”  Unsure what he meant, I immediately started making big, dramatic gestures.  I bounced around from one side of the stage to the other at random. I practically shouted my lines and over-emphasized every other word. As you can guess, this is not what he meant.  It took me months to understand that he was challenging me to create a bigger presence from the inside out – not vice versa. Luckily it doesn’t have to take you that long.

Actors continuously work on developing and enhancing their presence in order to move an audience.  Here are some things I learned to apply from my acting career that have proved to be equally effective in business:

The “Three “C’s” of Presence

1. Confidence:  An actor with presence exudes confidence.  They know they’re good at their craft because they’ve spent weeks, months and years honing it.  They take classes and workshops, study, rehearse and train with coaches.   They are ready for their moment in the spotlight.  Are you? How much time do you spend training your instrument to command attention in the business spotlight?  Read some tips on how to prepare your instrument in an earlier blog post.
2. Connection:   When is the last time you were really moved by an actor’s performance?  I bet you can think of at least one recent example.  Now, when was the last time you were really moved by a business presentation or a sales pitch?  Not so easy, is it?  Great actors make an emotional connection with their audience, drawing them in and inviting them to come along on their journey.  Great salespeople and leaders do the same thing.  Instead of talking at us, relying on the information to make the connection, they establish an emotional connection with their customers, their employees or their teams.  And because of this, they are able to inspire them to think about something in a new way or motivate  them to change their behavior.
3. Commitment:  Actors with real presence know precisely what they want and are completely committed to its attainment.  If it is evident that the actor is not truly invested in the outcome, the audience certainly isn’t either.  The same is true of our customers or prospects.  Yet how often as business professionals are our intentions vague, our goals unclear?  Keeping focused and committed to our overriding objectives like impacting our audience’s thoughts, attitude or behavior, can make for a much more compelling presence.

You don’t have to settle for average presence.  Make this the year you embrace the Three C’s and up your presence quotient to superstar status!

“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your life extraordinary.”
–Robin Williams, Dead Poet’s Society

These powerful words spoken by Robin Williams’ character in the 1980 movie inspired a group of students to reach for greatness, and more than 30 years later inspire over four million search results on Google.

As an actor, I learned the importance of the language I used to motivate myself and direct my actions on stage — and it’s just as critical in business. Actors are always looking for the strongest choices for their characters. Weak characters with unclear actions and goals aren’t interesting to watch. Neither are weak salespeople. The more specific and powerful the words you choose, the more focused and powerful your actions.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there are 171,476 words in current use, and about 25,000 of these are verbs. That is a lot of words to choose from; however, most of us end up using the same words over and over, even when they have failed to inspire us in the past. If you take the same old actions, nothing new happens. If your life were on stage, the audience would get bored and leave at intermission. If you’re in sales, your prospect will get bored and leave you emptyhanded.

Simply replacing the habitual words you use with stronger, clearer action verbs can trigger a whole new attitude, stimulate your creativity and open up new opportunities for growth. Here are mportant sales calls.

Here is a list of 75 potential Sales-related actions to stimulate your imagination. Try one on for size!

Address, advice, agree, appeal, assess, assure, challenge, charm, clarify, coax, confirm, convince, debunk, defend, demonstrate, describe,discuss, display, document, elaborate, emphasize, encourage, establish, expand, explore, express, focus, help, highlight, identify, incorporate, integrate, introduce, investigate, jolt, justify, list, maintain, mention, motivate, move, note, observe, offer, outline, persuade, pinpoint, prescribe, probe, propose, prove, recommend, recount, reinforce, refer, remind, reveal, review, share, shift, specify, speculate, stimulate, stress, substantiate, sum up, surprise, tease, test, unearth, unify, unveil, urge, validate, vindicate, warn, woo.

What New Sales Action Words are you going to try this year?

Ah New Years. A time for boring resolutions, like go to the gym, get organized, close more business….  Here’s a radical resolution for you:  Resolve not to be boring!  Boring doesn’t win business.  Boring doesn’t open doors.  Boring doesn’t get you remembered.  (“Hey, lets call that guy that had something that was going to help us do something…”)

Clients are busy.  Competition is fierce.  If you can’t rise above the din, you may as well stay home.  Start your resolution not to be boring with those first words out of your mouth:  the elevator speech. The standard elevator speech is tired, dull and predictable:  “I sell (insert product or service here) for (company) and we help businesses (pick one: increase sales, reduce costs or improve efficiency.)  That sentence is so boring I had trouble staying awake while writing it.

If you want to be memorable this year, make a radical change in your introduction.  I call this the “anti-elevator” speech.  I covered the basic rules of the anti-elevator speech in a previous post (read it here) but now lets look at three ways you can create an introduction that will set you apart, inspire conversation and keep your listener from dozing off:

1. The advertisement  

Typically, advertisements have three parts:  The headline that grabs your attention.  The subhead, which provides more details and encourages you to read the body, which answers some of the questions raised in the headline.  Here’s an example:

Headline:  127 Hours (grabs attention and begs the question, What happened in 127 hours?)

Subhead:  Man cuts off his own arm (prompts more questions, Why?  How?)

Body:  True story of a climber who has to amputate his own arm after being trapped for 127 hours.  (Wow! Tell me more.)

You can easily adapt this to business.  For example, using this format I might say:

“I turn salespeople into stars.” (How?)

“By giving them tools from an industry that engages and persuades billions of people around the world.” (What tools? What industry?)

“I show them how to use techniques from highly competitive acting auditions to quickly break through the noise, get in front of busy prospects and close more business.” (Sign me up!)

2.  The simile or metaphor

When writers pitch a script to movie studios they often combine the ideas behind two successful movies to come up with an entirely new concept, for example:  “It’s like Die Hard on a bus” (Speed)” or “Alien meets True Grit” (Aliens vs. Cowboys).  This isn’t limited to movies; you can compare what you do to anything in popular culture.  For example, Jean Claude Van Damme calls himself “the Fred Astaire of karate.”

A real business example I love is from fellow Coloradobiz columnist and founder of Executive Lattice, Ann Spoor, who calls herself “the Jerry McGuire to Corporate Executives and Professionals.”   Here are a few more examples: I am the matchmaker of real estate. My business is like LinkedIn meets Klout.  You get the idea.

3.  The Star of the Story

By placing whoever you’re talking to into a story about what you do, you instantly engage them and give them a firsthand experience of what it would be like to a) have the problem you address b) receive the solution you offer.  For example, if Bob asked me what I do, I might respond:

“Bob, say you were having a tough time getting in to see decision makers and an even harder time trying to close them.  All of the old tools you’ve been using just aren’t working any more.  I would show you performers’ secrets for quickly grabbing an audience’s attention, keeping them engaged and drawing them along on their journey.  Then I would help you apply them to getting appointments, handling objections, delivering memorable presentations and closing with confidence so that you can win more business.”

Those are just three examples of an anti-elevator speech, however there are as many varieties as there are advertisements, movies and people.  Just make sure yours is succinct, expresses your personality and most importantly, make sure it isn’t boring!

Tis the season to network like crazy! Opportunities to make new business connections abound in December, yet most people fail to make a lasting first impression simply because they are not prepared to answer that common question, “What do you do?” in a memorable and succinct way.

Much of the advice on how to introduce one’s self, commonly referred to as the elevator speech, is seriously outdated.  Why?  Because both elevators and people are a lot faster now!  Experts used to think you had the length of an elevator ride, say 30-60 seconds to make an impression, now they think its closer to 7-10.  And though its name would suggest otherwise, don’t be deceived: an elevator speech is not a speech!  It is a conversation starter.  It should pique interest and inspire questions and dialogue — not make the other person wish they had never asked.

Test your elevator speech against the following four points to make sure you don’t get stuck between floors:

1)    Is it interesting? 
Think about when you ask that question: “What do you do?”  Nine times out of ten, aren’t you just being polite?  And yet, isn’t there a small part of you secretly hoping the other person will say something really interesting, like I’m an astronaut or I’m on the Canadian Luge team?  On a more realistic level, wouldn’t you be happy if they could offer help or be a professional or personal resource?  I’m not suggesting you lie or grossly exaggerate, but there is something unique and special about what you do or how you do it.  Use it to differentiate yourself in the first few seconds and you will dramatically increase your chances of being remembered.

2)    Is it specific?
Are you focusing on one or two specific things or pouring out a stream of information?  The latter will have your listener tune out before you can say “second floor, please.”  Think of this as a teaser for future conversations.  If you get their attention initially you will be invited to continue or given permission to elaborate at a later date.

3)    Is it conversational? 
Have you ever listened to yourself give your introduction?  Often what we write does not easily translate into the spoken word.  You can test it out by trying it on a friend or coworker, or by leaving it on your voicemail.  When you listen to it, ask yourself honestly: Would you have a conversation with that person?  Whenever it gets boring or self-serving, hit the delete button.  That’s exactly what prospects will do on the phone and mentally what they’ll do in person.

4)    Is it buzzy? 
Industry jargon or popular buzz words send listeners’ eyes glazing over. Try eliminating any trendy business words, like “I…facillitate, strategize, empower, impact, integrate…etc.”  Even if that is, in fact, the best way to describe what you do.  Yes, you have to take into account your listeners, but in general, it’s a good rule of thumb to always use the simplest words possible to express yourself.  Think more Hemmingway and less William Faulkner.

So now you’re set for holiday networking…almost.  Next week I’ll be covering several different styles of elevator speeches, or as I prefer to call them “anti-elevator speeches.”

Thanks to your support, ACT Like a Sales Pro is a finalist for “Sales and Marketing Book of 2011!” Please cast your vote here by December 12th!

“You need to create urgency!” 

How many times have you heard this as a salesperson?  I realize that this may go against the sales manager’s manifesto, but I don’t believe we can force urgency upon a person.  They either have it or they don’t.  I do believe that we can help our prospects uncover and reconnect with their needs and encourage them to take action on them.

Keep in mind that I am not referring to the manufactured “This is the last one we have left,” or “I have another buyer waiting” kind of urgency.  Although occasionally true, people can smell false pressure tactics a mile away.  The seller who screams “fire sale!” too often is soon taken as seriously as the boy who cries wolf.  I am talking about authentic urgency:  needs that the client or prospect has perhaps chosen not to handle because they’ve become overwhelmed with decisions or distracted by other priorities.

In order to help a client reconnect with their needs and the urgency to act upon them, it is helpful to employ a technique used by actors called “raising the stakes.”  An actor uses this tool in order to understand their character’s urgent need to reach their goal or solve their problem.  Have you ever seen a movie where the character’s goals or problems are not of the utmost urgency?  A character that doesn’t have a complete commitment to solving his or her problem makes for a pretty dull film.

Raising the stakes involves making a series of associations that escalate the importance of making a decision and the consequences of either indecision or a poor decision.  Movies offer great examples of raising the stakes: If the hero doesn’t find the bomb by midnight, the city will be destroyed.  If the city is destroyed, the country will go to war.  If the country goes to war… We’ve all seen this movie, right? The stakes keep getting higher until it is inconceivable that the hero will NOT to everything within his power to find the bomb!

Although the stakes may not be quite as high for your client or prospect, the same premise of escalating associations and consequences works just as well.  Here’s an example of raising the stakes in sales:  You’re a real estate broker and your client is considering selling her home.  She says she’s in no real hurry so she wants you to put it on the market at a price that you know will not sell.  What are the consequences of her poor pricing decision?

• The house sits on the market too long, becomes stale and buyers start to think there’s something wrong with it.
• Buyers assume the seller is desperate and make even lower offers

Bottom line:  the house doesn’t sell.  Now try raising the stakes even further.  Imagine it is one year later and perhaps your seller has to move in a hurry because of a new job or change in family circumstances.  Now what are the consequences of her initial poor pricing decision?

• Having exhausted all active buyers in the original price range, the seller will have to lower the price again in order to generate renewed interest.
• There may be a greater supply of homes available on the market, driving the price down even further.
• Interest rates may rise limiting her ability to purchase the home that she wants.

The net result: The seller loses money on the sale of her home, can’t afford to purchase her dream home or is forced to wait out the market indefinitely.

While clients may convince themselves that they will avoid the pitfalls of indecision or a bad decision, we are the experts, and as the experts it is our responsibility – and in their best interests – to raise the potential consequences in order to help them make a fully informed decision.  After all, don’t these negative consequences of indecision happen to us all the time?  We don’t act on an investment tip and we miss a big payout.  (Hello, LinkedIn ipo?!)  We hesitate on the perfect house and someone else makes an offer on it.  We don’t ask out that cute guy or girl and someone else does.  Everyone has experienced wanting something, sitting on the fence too long and regretting it.  You have the power to to help someone avoid this painful experience.  And the next time you’re told to “Create urgency!” Don’t bother arguing with your manager about the absurdity of their request.  Instead try raising the stakes.  If you’re successful,  no one’s the wiser and you’re both winners.

Learn more about Discovering Authentic Urgency plus 100′s of other innovative acting tips for winning sales in ACT Like a Sales Pro!