How to use theater tactics to improve sales

I love the theater. I love the excitement, the creativity, the self-expression, and the costumes. I seriously love the costumes!

I also love helping people do their job better. At Millennial Guru we work with individuals and companies to transform the way they work together and empower them to more effectively use their skills to benefit the bottom line.

One way we do is through a variety of workshops, including a fun, unique workshop in which we use theater tactics to help our clients’ employees improve their customer service and sales skills.

For one of our theater-tactic workshops, I wrote a couple of scripts, based on my client’s business model. One of the scripts was an example of a customer service call gone wrong – not only did the customer service person in the script fail to meet the fictional client’s needs, but he fumbled a fantastic sales opportunity.

We began the workshop by assigning roles and then the employees acted out the entire script. Afterwards, we talked about how that service person could’ve handled the call better, how he could’ve capitalized on the sales opportunity, and more. We then re-acted the scene, using improvisation, to “fix the script.”

The Outcome

After the employees acted out the skit for the second time, we discussed the types of issues that could arise for the employees in the context of their day-to-day interactions with clients. As a team, they devised situationally appropriate solutions they could implement to raise the bar on their customer service and sales tactics.

Giving them the opportunity to brainstorm solutions was far more effective strategy than having someone (like their boss) come in and tell them what they were doing wrong and how to fix it. They were excited to put their ideas into action.

Why These Strategies Matter

In essence, everyone is in sales in some capacity, whether it’s working with people internally or externally. Using interactive theater tactics gives your employees a different way to think creatively about solutions to the work challenges they face.

The improvisation part of the workshop is particularly important because it helps employees practice thinking on their feet—a skill that’s incredibly useful in customer service and sales roles. Improv also helps employees to step out of their typical patterns and use critical thinking to provide a solution to a problem.

How To Implement Theater Tactics In Your Workplace

First, expect some resistance. Anytime we do a theater-based workshop, there’s some initial hesitancy as employees realize we’re going to ask them to act out a skit. But once we get started, they tend to be very engaged.

Millennial Guru understands that one solution doesn’t fit every client and all of our workshops are tailored specifically for each business. As a result, employees can relate to the scenarios we create, allowing them to offer valuable insight during our discussions and when we re-enact the skit in the subsequent improvisation section.

How Millennial Guru Can Help

Our theater workshops help employees focus on listening to, connecting with, and engaging with clients and co-workers. They learn to be more flexible and adaptable, meeting clients where they are, so they’re better equipped to use their professional knowledge to sell them the products they want and need.

Millennial Guru would love to hold a workshop for your employees to inspire them to find creative solutions to provide better customer service and improve sales. Schedule a free informational meeting with us today to find out more about how Millennial Guru can help your company meet or exceed its 2020 goals.