Salespeople occasionally get uncomfortable when I suggest they are playing a role, but if you think about it, we play dozens of roles every day:  employee, spouse, parent, yoga student.  Unlike schizophrenics, we don’t turn into an entirely different person.  Instead, we bring specific parts of ourselves to the role at hand and leave other less appropriate parts out.  For example, we don’t greet our boss like we do our dog and we don’t talk to a prospect like we do our mother (hopefully).

Making a conscious choice about what qualities or characteristics are best suited to facing a challenge or achieving a goal are skills shared by great actors and great salespeople.  We all have within us the ability to play many roles with authenticity.  Johnny Depp–who has played some pretty out there roles–said it best:   “With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it. There has to be, otherwise it’s just not acting. It’s lying.”  To paraphrase my buddy JD, if there’s not a part of you in your sales role, it’s just not selling.  It’s lying.

Like an actor in a one-person show, there are actually several “mini-roles” within the primary role of salesperson that we take on.  I’ve identified seven of the most common, however you may have a few others specific to your industry:

• Cold caller
• Interviewer
• Presenter
• Entertainer
• Negotiator
• Persuader
• Closer

If you are not performing to the best of your ability in each role you are limiting your sales potential.  It’s like driving a car with a flat tire (I know.  I’ve done it.)   Identifying the roles that are holding you back and applying the steps an actor uses to take on a role will help ensure that you are firing on all cylinders and increase your chances for success.

Next week, we’ll take a look at the 5 Steps to Role Development, including a few tricks from actors on how to take on a role with ease and confidence.

Even though I worked in advertising long after the Mad Men era, the ghosts of Don Draper and Roger Sterling could occasionally be glimpsed roaming the halls after a long day, ice tinkling, cigarettes glowing.  The agencies I worked for grew in huge exponential bursts, expanding from two employees and a part time receptionist to a thirty person staff over night after landing a big account.   It was hard not to get caught up in the frenzy and power that often accompanies a winning streak.

While much of the bad behavior exhibited by Don Draper & Co. has lessened in this day and age (or at least it’s less obvious) what struck me most about the much anticipated premiere of Mad Men was how little some business behavior has changed.  The same types of mistakes are being made – perhaps in a less egregious manner -  but if you look around many sales organizations, you can occasionally spot them.  And they can still cause as much trouble as Don Draper on a bender.  Here are a few mistakes worth avoiding entirely:

1.  Don’t humiliate the competition.

This includes saying negative things about them, rejoicing in their losses or drawing undue attention to their mistakes.   Just like lying, this always backfires.   Maybe not immediately, as in the case of Roger Sterling’s jab at competition Y&R for stealing the Pond’s account, but eventually it will catch up with you.  Example:  When Sterling Cooper ran a help-wanted ad in the Times in order to call negative attention to Y&R’s poor treatment of minorities, they were called on their bluff and forced to hire a new (minority) secretary to save face.   A risky and costly mistake for a firm that is barely making payroll.  Whether it’s the sixties, the nineties or the 2000’s, the same rule seems to hold true in business:  Keep the focus on yourself.  Maintain your integrity by acknowledging both your competitor’s strengths and keeping their weaknesses in perspective.  You’ll earn more in trust and respect than you ever will by throwing your competitor under the 42^nd Street bus.

2.  Check your ego at the door.

Sure a little internal competition can be good for business but when Pete Campbell and Roger Sterling play a cat and mouse game to determine who is more important, who needs the bigger office and who should meet with clients, they waste valuable time and resources pounding on their own chests.  Using clients as pawns in a power struggle to stroke needy egos is behavior most businesses and salespeople can’t afford to indulge in.   It’s more important than ever to show a united front to clients.   You’re inviting them into your business “family,” and if your family includes infighting like the Jacksons or Lohans, they may not be anxious to accept.   Are things always fair?  No.  (I’m sorry if your mother told you differently.)  Take the long view.  Next time you’ll get the bigger piece of cake, or office or i-pad.

3.  You can show a client a dancing bean, but don’t expect them to bite.

Hard-working creative Peggy Olson shows off a cutting-edge campaign for Heinz in which the beans seem to “dance” in space.  She is quickly cut off by the client who reminds her that kidney beans are slimy, organ-shaped vegetables that no one wants to see.  When Don Draper sides with the client, Peggy is miffed.  Has Don lost his edge?  Maybe. But I think more likely he is learning to pick his battles.  Had Peggy spent as much time researching the client as she did the state-of-the-art technology that could create “dancing beans” she probably would have found that Heinz wasn’t a good candidate for a cutting-edge campaign.  They weren’t ready to show the beans, much less dancing ones!  In the same way, pushing a client to take a leap that is significantly outside of their comfort zone is best done in small steps.   It requires knowing their history (what have they been doing?) performing discovery (what are the boundaries of their comfort zone?) and building a solid case to advance while addressing risks along the way.

4.   And finally, don’t drink at office parties. 

Or at least, know your limit and stick to it.  Lest you end up telling off your boss (Peggy Olson) or doing a sexy song and dance for the boss in a french accent (the new Mrs. Draper).   At least in the sixties what happened in the office stayed at the office.  Now there are a hundred new reasons not to make a fool out of yourself at business parties (camera phones, Facebook, twitter, etc.) and yet the news is full of stories about people getting canned or at the very least, embarrassed after being memorialized at the office party engaged in distinctly un-business-like behavior.   Unless you are Don Draper, you likely can’t pull it off and show your face unscathed the next day.

The Oscars offer a great opportunity to see how the stars and those behind the scenes handle (or mishandle) their moment in the spotlight.  Out of character and costume, free of directors, scripts and props, even as we expect them to show an appropriate level of professionalism, gratitude and humility, we are also hoping to be entertained.  Some disappoint (Natalie Portman) others surprise (Emma Stone) and a handful almost pay off for the three hours we’ve invested in front of the T.V. (Christopher Plummer, Robert Downey Jr.)

A business audience, whether they are clients, prospects or employees, expect a certain level of both professionalism and entertainment from you as well.  Are you delivering on all fronts when you step into the business spotlight?  Here are some lessons to be learned from this year’s Oscars:

1. Be prepared with a strong opening (winners):
   How many times did we hear “I wasn’t expecting this!” or “I’m so surprised!” followed by an awkward grasping for words or incoherent string of thoughts?  They did get the invitations, right?  (In fact, Octavia Spencer had won the Golden Globe and the Sag Award for her role in The Help, yet she was the most shocked winner of the evening!) Knowing your first line greatly increases your confidence, sets the tone and provides momentum for the rest of your presentation.  I’m not sure anyone topped last year’s opening by Colin Firth:  “I think my career just peaked,” but you have to at least give the sound editors from Hugo props for their, “You go…No, HU-GO” bit.
2. Be prepared (presenters):
   Last year’s best actor winners Natalie Portman and Colin Firth both gave tribute to each of this year’s nominees for best actor/actress yet while Colin’s delivery was heartfelt and fresh, Natalie acted as if she’d just been handed the lines backstage.  If even Academy Award winning actors need to rehearse to give a winning performance, shouldn’t you consider giving your pitch or presentation a few run-throughs for that important client or meeting?
3. Be specific:
   Oscar winners have to thank others, but how much more engaging was Christopher Plummer’s sincere and specific thanks delivered to a select few than those grocery lists of names or even Hugo’s sound editor who thanked “anybody who’s here tonight or not,” and “anybody who’s ever been born”?  General information, whether you’re talking about features, value propositions or experience are far less effective at making an impact than bringing to life a few specific, unique and memorable details, so choose wisely, but do choose.
4. Assume the audience likes you:
   I love Meryl Streep but her self-deprecating “I bet half of America is saying ‘why her again’” seemed to undermine the confidence she has more than earned in my book. While a far cry from Sally Fields, “You like me, you really like me!” in 1985, displays of insecurity make your client or your audience uncomfortable and may even drive them to question your competence.  So own the stage.  Consider the audience a friendly group of peers, not a dark force to be won over at all costs.
5. Use what’s given to you:
   This rule of improv works as well in life as on stage.  Being in the moment allows you to use opportunities that arise and further connect with your audience.  The best example of the evening has to be the winners for the Best Adapted Screenplay, The Descendants, who, after accepting their award from presenter, Angelina Jolie, adopted her oddly threatening “look at my leg” stance.  I’d never heard of them before and hadn’t seen the movie yet I instantly liked them for their ability to lighten up an awkward shared experience with the audience – especially during a highly charged moment of their own.  In business we are often presented with opportunities to “go off script” yet we may resist that urge in an effort to remain “professional.”  Next time use those opportunities to humanize your presentations or pitches and strengthen the connection with your audience.

Treat every moment in front of a client or prospect as your turn on stage and see if you aren’t soon winning business and awards.  And if all else fails, I suggest bringing in Billy Crystal or Cirque du Soliel.

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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?