During his time as the regional manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Michael Scott was also a member of the town improv class. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find direct footage of Michael in class, however, the above clip does Michael’s true acting ability justice enough. Improvisation class probably really helped Michael as a salesman, as it would for most any salesman today.
In the past, salesmen relied on intense training and heavily scripted sales pitches, which resulted in a very controlled sales process (we see this with telemarketers today). However, today it is important for sales people to be spontaneous and be able to improvise when necessary. In today’s sales conversations there is going to be new information, depths of pain, goals, inspiration, conditions, and dynamics. To be successful salespeople, we will need to be able to think fast and adapt. The best practice is to come into the sales conversation with a light structure as opposed to a full-blown script. This allows for flexibility throughout the conversation while still being able to bring the conversation back on track and have an on going adaptable strategy throughout the entire process.
BoweryJE22
This couldn’t be more true! I use the same method when preparing for a presentation. If you write a word for word script, you trip up knowing you’ve messed up your script, but by having a basic agenda, or bullet points, you can cruise through the conversation no problem
Improv is essential in the sales process. Possibly even more essential, however, to Micheal Scott.
Improv is something that I’m certainly not the best at, but I agree it’s definitely something that’s essential in the sales process! Thanks for the post!
I love you use of The Office example. I think improv is a necessity when trying to adapt and engage with a prospect and the current sales situation. Having a heavily scripted sales pitch causes nervousness and unnatural conversation to happen.