The Myth of the “Natural” Salesperson

“…I have to work hard to nurture whatever talent I have as an actor. I feel like it’s not natural to me. So I don’t take it for granted ….” — David Duchovny

As a rookie seller in the eighties, I would spend hours preparing to make cold calls, only to quickly hang up when someone actually answered.  Thank God this was before the invention of caller i.d!  Presentations could tie me in knots, my confidence often dissolving as soon as I opened my mouth to speak.  I envied those “natural” salespeople–you know who I’m talking about:  the ones who always seemed to be “on,” or at the very least, not on the verge of passing out!

What was I lacking?  After all, everyone said I was “good with people” and “would be great in sales.” What did these “natural” sellers have that I didn’t; and how could I get my hands on it?

Despite dozens of sales training programs, it wasn’t until I took an acting class that my sales career blossomed; it was there that I learned techniques which would help me break sales records, sell successfully to Fortune 500 companies and eventually lead a national sales team in New York.  Acting led me to this discovery:   Everything I needed to be a “natural” seller was already within me; it was just a matter of how to access it.

Famous actors like Anthony Hopkins, Meryl Streep and Al Pacino were not born great actors.  Though they may have been blessed with great potential, it was only through years of dedication and training that they came to epitomize what we consider great acting today.  And like anyone who is great at what they do, they make it look natural.

Over the years, I’ve worked with, coached and met hundreds of sellers who, like me, felt they lacked some innate talent for sales bestowed at birth to a select few.  Just as great actors are made, not born, I believe that we sellers have the potential to be great by discovering and harnessing our own unique sales talent.  I found that acting provided some of the best training for this.  Here’s why:

1. Acting requires strong communication skills
2. Acting is goal-oriented:  What do we want and how do we get it?
3. Acting is about relationships:  How do we get what we want from our scene partner?
4. Acting is about taking action!

Do you believe there are “Natural” salespeople out there?

Are YOU one of them?

5 Steps for Successful Role Playing

Role-playing:  love it or hate it, it’s a part of sales, a part of acting, and a part of life! Results-Oriented Role-Playing turns this dreaded practice into a successful tool that produces results – as opposed to just an exercise to please your sales manager.  Take a look at the following examples of Results-oriented Role-playing in Hollywood and in business:

Role-playing in Hollywood:
During rehearsals for Kiss of the Spider Woman, the lead actors, William Hurt and Raul Julia, were having trouble establishing a relationship; Hurt’s character, a sensitive, flamboyant homosexual, shared little common ground with Raul Julia’s homophobic revolutionary.  To better understand each other’s character, Hurt suggested they rehearse by switching roles.  The performance resulted in an Oscar for both Hurt and the film.

Role-playing in Business:
Bob finds his client Cynthia’s demands irrational and unachievable.  Using the five steps below, Bob prepares to role-play the part of Cynthia with a colleague and discovers what may be the real motivation behind her demands.  Armed with a newfound understanding of Cynthia’s point-of-view, Bob is able to address his client’s concerns and close the sale.

5 Steps for Results-Oriented Role-Playing:
1.    Throw out pre-conceived ideas about your client. Remember, they are a human being with REAL feelings, thoughts and goals, not some Avatar sent to make your job more difficult.
2.    Make a list of your client’s goals. Are they extremely value conscious?  Trying to please a superior, avoid a mistake or save their job? [...]

75 Powerful New Sales Actions

In sales as in life, we tend to choose the same habitual actions or reactions – even when they have failed to work for us in the past! This particular form of insanity can keep us stuck indefinitely. Here are a few steps to get you out of that rut, along with a list of potential new sales actions:

1. Get honest with yourself. It is only be becoming aware of what you are currently doing that you can replace it with a more informed choice.
2. Choose a new action to replace a habitual one; a new word can trigger a whole new attitude and open up surprising new opportunities. For example, how different does unveiling a new feature feel as opposed to just telling someone about it.
3. Experiment with these new actions by trying them in the different “scenes” of your life, before applying them to important 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, [...]

How to Keep Motivated when Sales Get Tough

A director tells an actor to walk across a stage, pick up a glass and say his line.
Actor: “What’s my motivation?”
Director: “Your paycheck.”

Sound familiar? Unfortunately, as salespeople, there may be more truth to this than we care to admit. And why not? Sales can be a lucrative career. Compare that to acting where 85% of the Screen Actor’s Guild members make less than $5000 a year. If money were the chief motivator – there would be a lot fewer actors in the world!

Most salespeople would turn and run from such odds. What drives actors if not a love for what they do and a consistent striving to improve? What motivates you?

“The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor find much fun in life.” Charles M. Schwab

How much effort do you put into your career when business slows down or competition heats up? Do you jump from job to job in search of that perfect combination of right product, right client and right timing? Or will you, like the best actors, continue to hone your craft, finding new ways to adjust and grow?

Financial Motivation Equals Efficiency:
Say it along with me: “Sales is a numbers game.” True, but beware! When approaching anything from a strictly financial motive, efficiency becomes your master, and any performance, whether you’re acting or selling, driven by efficiency creates cookie-cutter behavior and limited time devoted to finding creative solutions. And if there were ever a need for creative solutions – it would be now!

How to Find Your Most Powerful Sales Motivator:
Here are some steps taken from professional actors that I’ve adapted to sales to help you find and put into action a strong, personal motivation: [...]

7 Rules of Improv for Sellers (Part II)

Best laid plans can go right out the window any time another person is involved! This is as true in sales as it is in other areas of our life. Improv training provides some great sales tips for dealing with anything we hadn’t planned for — whether it’s an unexpected objection or an impromptu elevator pitch. Last week I introduced the First 3 Rules of Improv: Know Your Material; Fire the Editor and Be in the Moment.

The next 3 Rules have proven especially helpful in my sales presentations and client meetings. I hope you find them useful as well!

1. Commit to Your Choices
   Commitment? Yikes! As salespeople we reserve the right to change our opinion based on what the client thinks, right? Wrong! See your choices through; don’t be batted around by every wind. You may not win everyone over, but you’ll win something that is too often overlooked in sales: self respect. [...]