Improv and Sales

To some of us, the skills needed to be a great salesman come naturally. For others, they may not have great listening skills or be naturally inclined towards empathy. It may seem hard to practice these kinds of skills, but improv is actually a great way to learn them! My brother, Jake Compton, is the owner of the Harrisburg Improv Theatre and has given improv lessons to businessmen as a way to improve their business and sales skills. It’s legit!!

One of the major rules of improv is called “Yes, and”. This is the idea that in a scene, you agree to what the person just said and then you contribute to it. It would be a horrible improv scene if your partner called you his uncle and then you tried to change it to be his brother. Rather, if your partner calls you his uncle, then you are his uncle. This requires great listening skills. You have to be constantly listening to what your scene partners are saying and doing and be in tune with them. In addition, this requires you to be attune to the mood of the room and to the mood of your fellow improvisers. While you may want to take things one way, you have to have an open mind and follow what your fellow actors are during.  Similarly, in sales, you might want to take the sale in one direction, but your customer actually needs to go in another direction. It is up to you to follow them, not have them bend to your will.

Another skill that improv helps you to gain is empathy. In order to believably play a character, you have to be able to see where they’re coming from so that you can portray them complexly. This requires you to learn how to empathize with people who are different than you and makes you see things from their perspective. Often times, the characters that you play in improv have nothing to do with your life. You have to be able to share their perspective. This can help make you a better salesman by seeing things through your clients eyes.