Craig Harrison |
San Francisco Bay Area-based Professional speaker Craig Harrison's
Expressions of Excellence!™ provides sales and service solutions
through speaking. For information on keynotes, training, coaching,
curriculum for licensing and more, call (888) 450-0664, visit Expressions of Excellence.com or E-mail for inquiries.
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Craig Harrison
has written 5 articles for SB Informer. |
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Improve Customer Rapport with Improv!Improvisational Behavior. Craig Harrison
June 27, 2007
As we look for ways to improve our rapport with customers, clients
and prospects let’s cast our gaze to improv — improvisational behavior
popularized by those whacky folks seen in drama classes, theatre
troupes, on the entertaining television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
It
might surprise you to learn that even in something as spontaneous as
Improvisation there are rules at play. Three in particular have direct
relevance to our customer and client interactions.
Make Your Partner Look Good.
Improv is a collaborative effort. So too are customer relationships.
You are partners with your clients, customers and prospects on
projects, contracts, campaigns, programs and special events. When you
help customers get what they want, you get what you want. Always ask
yourself how can you help them look good, excel and succeed. When
Improv games work most effectively each partner's actions help the
other look good. As a sales and service professional your work
shouldn’t just be about making yourself look good. First, help your
clients look good and you’ll shine in the process.
Be Spontaneous.
So often we are bound by rules and regulations, restrictions and
proscriptions. Sometimes we're so bogged down we can't respond to the
issue at hand. There are times our colleagues and customers expect and
deserve our abilities to think and act on our feet in a spontaneous
manner. In a world where we are quick to champion an "adapt or die"
philosophy we must not forget the ability to be spontaneous, making
decisions by feel and impulsively as the case may call for. Be ready,
willing and able to eschew guidelines and apply creativity to solve
problems and your clients succeed. Give yourself permission to be
spontaneous and admire the results.
Say "Yes, AND… ." So
often we are apt to respond to comments, suggestions and inquiries with
some variation of "Yes, but…" The impact is immediate: whatever "offer"
being advanced is now qualified, mitigated, diminished or otherwise
muted. Your customer's world of possibilities has just been restricted.
The idea in question, once ripe with potential, has now been shackled.
When we instead respond "Yes, and…" it builds on what has been said,
allowing for both parties to co-create a solution. Instead of a
competition between ideas or a zero-sum game where just one point of
view prevails, now both parties are actively creating solutions and
future success scenarios.
Teaming With Success
Teamwork
is the lubricant of success in the marketplace. Spontaneity and a
sincere respect for your clients facilitates teamwork. Your spontaneity
is a gift to your customers. “…As in any artistic endeavor, we must
learn to trust our impulses and be ourselves." So says Kat Koppett,
co-founder of StoryNet, LLC (thestorynet.com), and author of the new
book Training To Imagine. Kat continues: "Improvisers learn that
bypassing the little judgment voices in their heads — daring to be
obvious, for example, staying present and reacting naturally - will
always stand them in better stead than trying to do or say the 'right'
thing. Kat helps employees learn to be in sync with the reality of the
moment. She believes that just as a live audience knows the difference
between real and contrived, so too does your co-workers.
I too
am a strong proponent of the use of Improv techniques for improving
team building, listening and overall communication skills, to say
nothing of sharpening your sales and service orientation. I invite you
to take an Improv class, employ Improv techniques in meetings and
off-sites, and look again at Whose Line Is It Anyway? for its value in
stimulating your creativity and enhancing the tools in your sales and
service tool kit.
Toastmasters are Masters of Improv
Another
great place to sharpen your improv skills is through Toastmasters
International, the communication and leadership program with thousands
of clubs worldwide. Since 1924 members have been engaging in Table
Topics, a form of extemporaneous speaking where participants are given
a topic and expected to think and speak on their feet, without prior
preparation, for 1-2 minutes at a time. It's simultaneously scary, fun
and fulfilling too. Yet the fear quickly turns into fun! Find a club
near you to experience the magic of Toastmasters: toastmasters.org or
call 1-800-YWE-SPEAK.
Now it's your turn to impress…through improv!
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