In chapter 8 of Daniel Pink’s book “To Sell is Human,” the reader learns the importance of improv to sales. When I first read that, I didn’t understand how those two things could be related, but the more I read, the more I understood that the reason sales and improv go hand in hand is because sales and listening go hand in hand, and listening is key to mastering the art of imrov. I grew up particing in the theatre and watching many theatre performances, so though I never specifically participated in improv, this chapter really resonated with me. The 3 rules Pink provides to guide improvisation include “hear offers,” “say ‘yes and,’” and “make your partner look good.” Below I will summarize those rules and how they can be applied to sales.
Hear Offers
The improvisation rule that Pink introduces first is to “hear offers.” This relies on attunement. Pink encourages us to really listen when we are talking in a sales conversation. He notes that most us do more waiting rather than truly listening. We simply wait for the prospect to finish speaking so that we can ask our next question, but instead we should be intently listening to ensure that our next question will be the right question and will align with what the customer has told us.
Say, “Yes and . . .”
The next rule that Pink introduces us to is the rule of “yes and.” The use of this phrase encourages the conversation to move in a positive direction and allows the conversation to continue. Many people tend to use “yes, but,” however this phrase tends to lead to frustration and can come off more as the pushy kind of salesman that we try to avoid, so next time you have a sales conversation, try using the phrase “yes, and.”
Make your Partner Look Good
The last improvisational rule that Pink covers is “make your partner look good.” This rule encourages the salesperson to go into a sale looking for a “win-win.” The purpose of this is to ensure that both the salesperson and the customer will leave the sale happy rather then one or the other. This is a great mindset to have in sales, as ultimately in order to receive repeat sales, it is important to gain a “win-win.”
Conclusion
I hope this post served as a quick brush up on Pink’s improv chapter and encouraged you to practice your improv skills before your next sales conversation.
testacr22
This is so true, at first I was the same, not thinking that improv and Sales could go together, but once again Pink Has showed us otherwise they are quite able to go together, in fact they work better than script and sales.
mike scott was good at improv and great at sales. Clearly what you are saying is that there are similar skills
So true! Being able to think on your feet and adapt to situations is critical in a sales environment. Even being able to mirror is a form of improv and getting the potential client comfortable in his environment.