The Actor’s Craft

If actors can get all their customers to visit at one time, sit in silence for two hours, and listen in rapt attention to every word they say, can’t salespeople? While actors sell what is arguably the most elusive, intangible product on the market, some make millions for their performances.

Actors do much more than create the illusion that a series of events is “really” happening. Their craft is not about deception, but about enlightenment. By expressing people’s most profound thoughts and feelings, they help the audience connect with what it really feels and thinks. With such newfound clarity, people can go about the daily grind, make decisions and take action. That’s where selling and acting cross paths.

This article explains how skillful actors can create a demand for their product and shows how salespeople can benefit from their art.

1. PUT YOUR HEART INTO THE ACT

Every profession has its own litmus tests. If you pass the test, you have a chance to make it. Acting coaches can often tell from a short performance if the actor has what it takes. The famous actress and teacher Stella Adler asked her young students to walk on stage and state their names in such a powerful way that it would fill the entire theater. She was convinced that if you couldn’t tell your audience who you were with your entire heart, mind and soul and reach the back of the theater, you couldn’t make it as an actor.

Constantin Stanislavski, the great Russian director, wrote in his classic book, An Actor Prepares: “Our art demands that an actor’s whole nature be actively involved, that he give himself up, both mind and body, to his part.”

Isn’t this exactly why so many people love selling? Because it involves the whole person, the mind, the body and all the emotions that we’re capable of feeling? When we are with a customer, we need to give ourselves up to be there, to listen, to absorb, to understand. But salespeople are more than that. They are walking billboards for their companies and what they stand for. Good salespeople communicate “quality” and “added value” without saying a word while poor salespeople merely hold up a mask.

Stanislavski said, “The great actors should be full of feeling, and especially should feel the thing they are portraying. They must feel an emotion not only once or twice while studying their part, but to a greater or lesser degree every time they play it, no matter whether it is the first or the thousandth time.” To win in selling, give it all you’ve got.

2. LOVE WHAT YOU DO

To perform well in any profession, you must love your work. Jack Lemmon’s father was disappointed when he learned that his son wanted to become an actor.

He asked him, “Why don’t you want to become a baker like me? It’s an honest way to make a living.” Jack told his father that he loved acting more than anything else in the world. His father told him, “To do a job well, we must find romance in our work. The day that I don’t find romance in a loaf of bread is the day that I quit.”

We all need that romance to keep our spirits high enough to get through the days when we have to perform the dirty work that comes with every job.

Good actors love what they do. It is their love of giving to the audience that shapes their attitudes. It is their ability to manage their attitudes that transforms their art into masterpiece. The challenge for actors is not only to manage their own attitudes, but also to master the attitudes of the characters they play.

Great actors go to great lengths to study the attitudes of a new character. It is the character’s attitude that determines all the subtle moves, the tone of voice, the pauses and the body language. Next time you see a Jack Lemmon movie (Some Like it Hot or The Odd Couple), watch Lemmon’s body language. Authentic body language precedes the spoken word, whereas “acted” body language is expressed simultaneously.

Actors who are unable to “step into character” cannot expect to get leading roles in major productions. The same is true in selling. If we don’t act in concert with our true feelings, our customers will sense that we are just going through the motions. That is why it is important to keep the romance of our chosen profession alive. If we can’t keep the romance alive, we’ll be forced to put on an act that will show in every gesture.

3. SELL YOURSELF

It is the actor’s goal to win the attention of the audience. The salesperson’s goal is to gain a favorable response. Actors must earn the privilege of performing through an audition. Salespeople earn their customer’s respect by doing their homework. Actors can enhance their chances for selling their services by learning everything they can about the role before the audition.

I’ll never forget the day when I auditioned professional actors for an educational video. I needed a tough construction equipment supervisor to play the role of a reluctant customer. The acting agent had seven people waiting in the office for the role-call. After I had interviewed five actors, I began to worry about my ability to pick the right actor for the part because I didn’t like any of the five candidates.

Suddenly the door opened and a man appeared with a tough, determined look. He wore a red hard hat, grey slacks and a blue windbreaker. He had a clipboard tucked under his arm. As he entered, he said, “Excuse me” and immediately pointed to the opposite wall, looked at his clipboard, pulled a pen from his shirt pocket and said, “I’m just checking about getting your new safe into that corner.” His tone, his demeanor and his attitude were so authentic that I thought that he was sent in by the office manager.

Then he turned around and, with a big grin, said, “Now that I’ve got your attention, I’m here to audition for the part in your video.” I hired him on the spot.

4. GIVE 100 percent

No matter what the play, the script or the co-actors, you must give 100 percent of your enthusiasm, pride and integrity. No play deserves bad acting. No customer deserves bad selling. Conviction comes from deep within the soul of the actor.

Integrity plays a very important role in acting. Stanislavski said, “To play truly means to be right, logical, coherent, to think, strive, feel and act in unison with your role. If you look at the stage and you see a person wearing a crown, you see a bad actor, if you see a king wearing a crown, you see an average actor, but if you notice a troubled soul within the king’s character, you are watching a great actor who does not show his art, because there is integrity in his acting. His emotions are pure. They reflect the stirrings of his soul.”

The same is true with great salespeople. Because they are natural, believable and authentic, great salespeople never “play” the role of salesperson.

In fact, their customers never feel that they have been sold. Instead they appreciate the salesperson because they have been served.

Great salespeople don’t impersonate sincerity, fake enthusiasm or wear a perma-grin mask.

They have satisfied themselves that their product or service is the best solution for the customer. With tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures, they are saying, “I am truly convinced that this is the best solution for you.” Salespeople who don’t rank integrity as their highest value are only fooling themselves. The customer’s sense of trust is the direct result of the salesperson’s integrity and commitment to the truth. Integrity in selling is like oxygen. If it’s removed, the relationship – and the sale – will die.

5. Handle REJECTION

J.W. Marriott once expressed his philosophy about handling rejection with this little poem: “Good timber does not grow with ease; the greater the wind, the stronger the trees.” In selling, as in acting, the tallest oaks have stood up to the most violent storms of rejection.

Sarah Reeves, a former actress who teaches theater techniques to salespeople, remembered how she was rejected many times: “In one week, I was told that I was too tall, too short, too fat, too thin, too old, too young, too masculine, too feminine. Talk about rejection, every week I was being told that something extremely personal about me was wrong.”

Reeves told Personal Selling Power that it takes great courage to expose all your strengths and vulnerabilities during a five-minute audition where complete strangers are in charge of your future.

Reeves explained that good actors know that the more people they see, the greater their chances for getting a part. The same principle applies to selling. Once we understand the numbers game, success becomes inevitable. All we have to do is show up often enough.

When comedienne Joan Rivers was once asked to give an example of rejection she snapped back, “As far back as I can remember, I wanted a career in show business. And as far back as I can remember, people were telling me ‘no.’ My own mother said, ‘You have no talent. You’re throwing your life away.’ The talent coordinator for the Tonight Show said, ‘We just don’t think you’d work on TV.’

“But I couldn’t quit. I had no money. My office was a telephone booth in Grand Central Station. I lived out of one small suitcase, I made soup out of ketchup and slept in my car while my father threatened to have me committed to Bellevue. I knew that my unyielding drive was my most valuable asset. I waited thirty-one long years before the acceptance began.”

Ed McMahon (Star Search) told Personal Selling Power how he learned to deal with rejection: “First, you are not unique when you get rejected. It doesn’t just happen to you alone. When I first went to New York, I won the first audition. I figured that I’ve got this place in my pocket, but I lost the next thirty! That got me straightened out quickly.

“In selling, you know that you’re going to be rejected, that is the nature of the beast. It’s a built-in part, it comes with the territory. You can’t be a salesperson without it. Everybody has to find their own way of overcoming it. For me, it was perseverance, pressing on, discipline. It’s knowing that sooner or later you get back on track.” It is a simple lesson that we have to relearn every single day.

6. MOMENT-TO-MOMENT FOCUS

Actors learn how to focus on the here and now, and instantly adjust to reality from moment to moment. Cary Grant once gave this advice to a friend: “Just relate to the person you are working with, just be with them. Even if they can’t play the part properly, you must use what they feed you. Use everything you hear and be ready to adjust like a good acrobat.”

Grant uses the metaphor of an acrobat who must constantly adjust from moment to moment as he advances on the high wire. The acrobat has little choice, and without these small adjustments, he would fall.

Cliff Robertson (PT 109) told Personal Selling Power how salespeople can learn from actors and apply the moment-to-moment technique in selling: “The ability to adjust to different types of customers is the sign of a very sophisticated and highly successful salesperson. To me, that is just intelligence. If the salesperson is not flexible, adaptable and fluid, he or she is not going to succeed.”

It is astonishing how many people are mentally absent while they are at work. They get paid for their time, even though their minds are miles away. Good salespeople live in the present moment. They don’t hide from reality or retreat into their own little world when they are making calls.

The most difficult challenge for actors and salespeople alike is to be fully aware of every moment, to be fully listening and yet to be fully prepared to speak at any moment.

In his book, Acting in Film, the British actor Michael Caine described how a clever director asked him about a scene, “What are you doing in that scene, Michael?” He said, “Nothing, I haven’t got anything to say.” The director replied, “That’s a very big mistake. Of course, you have something to say. You’ve got wonderful things to say. But you sit there and listen, thinking of wonderful things to say, and then you decide not to say them. That’s what you’re doing in that scene.”

John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda) told Personal Selling Power how the salesperson can use the moment-to-moment technique to establish a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere: “If you sit down with someone, you have to make them feel as secure as possible because the more secure they feel with you, the more they feel that you are accepting them, the more they will give you the unbiased truth and the more you can then discuss how to solve their problem. The less secure they feel, the more they will try to conceal their problems. So the harder it will be for you to find out what they really need and how you can help them.” Cleese showed how he would get customers more relaxed by slowing his speech, his breathing and his body movement.

Moment-to-moment focus demands concentration. That is why actors strive to create inner peace before each performance. That’s why call preparation is so important in selling. When you go in poorly prepared, your nervous energy may rise and betray your true capabilities. Mastering a scene in the drama of selling from moment to moment means that you first have to prepare all external facts and your internal feelings. Above all, you must get your internal act together; without it you’ll never be a sales star.

7. DON’T BE SELF-INVOLVED

Young actors worry a lot. First they worry about not getting an audition. Sometimes they talk to over 200 people without getting an audition. Second, they worry about getting rejected during the audition. Sometimes they get rejected a hundred times in a row. Third, they worry when get the part – are they really up to it? Sometimes they get fired after the first show. Fourth… you get the picture.

The actor’s internal dialogue is often concerned with “I” and “me” and nothing else. While they are concerned with themselves, they are not reaching out to others and, as a result, they allow true opportunities to slip by unnoticed.

Cliff Robertson told Personal Selling Power, “If you have an honest, clear and healthy understanding of who you are, then the image that you portray will have a positive reflection on the environment around you. As a result, people will present you with opportunities that reflect that image.”

Salespeople who are self-involved often miss important closing signals, or talk themselves right out of the sale. Customers don’t want to compete with you for your attention. They want you to be available to serve their needs. Remember, it is you who called on them.

Ginger Friedman, the author of The Perfect Monologue, writes about the essence of acting: “To act is to give. You give gifts to your audience. You expose your vulnerability and share yourself, warts and all. You are giving love. You don’t make up or pretend anything as an actor. We all do that enough in life.” People who are self-involved always feel that they have little to give.

How can you get past that feeling? John Cleese once described himself as a gawky, very uncomfortable teenager, especially when he started growing so tall (he is six-foot-five). It was only when he realized that he had a unique way of using his body – a way that was very funny to people – he began to develop a presence around that skill.

John Cleese told Personal Selling Power: “As you get older you get a bit more comfortable with yourself and your own presence. You just say, ‘Well, this is who I am. It’s not perfect, but its fine.’ The more you know about yourself, the more you accept yourself.” It is that self-acceptance that ultimately gives us the freedom to get fully involved in life.

8. WHAT ROLE WE MUST PLAY

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts…” These words from William Shakespeare’s As You Like It suggest that we must be flexible and ready to play different roles. Wherever we go in life, from cradle to grave, we find drama and smiling directors who invite us to become players – no experience necessary, we’ll teach you.

Think back to your childhood when you first learned to play tag. What I found curious about the game is that when you’re “it,” two things happen: first, you have to run faster; second, you have to endure the laughing, taunting and teasing from the other kids. Some people continue to play a form of tag throughout their lives. They continue to play with people. Customers play with salespeople, salespeople play with their customers, subordinates play with their bosses, etc. A prospect may reject a salesperson’s great idea, just to watch his or her jaw drop. People love using other people as an audience.

As we grow up, we try out for new parts and test our abilities. The French actor Yves Montand once said, “Growing is like moving from one stage to another. If we choose to grow, new curtains will open up and we move onto a new stage. If we choose not to grow, we’re forced to exist on the same set forever.”

As we move from stage to stage, the drama of life forces us to look at the roles we play. Sure, everyone plays a number of minor roles in a number of major plays, but it is inevitable that we must prepare for one major role which is called “life.”

Even the most talented actors, the biggest stars in the world, often feel inadequate in that role. Tony Curtis wrote in his autobiography: “I am burning out of me those feelings of inadequacy, pain and anger that I felt for years, especially that mistrust…I was never quite reconciled to the fact that the world could be good and pleasant. To me there seemed to be a trap in every relationship, in every gesture.”

After years of struggling he found inner peace and realized that the quality of the acting is not the only factor that determines the ultimate success in life. He realized that “You don’t need to be in the vortex of this profession to be happy and complete.” Great actors teach us how to play our roles well, but when it comes to choosing what major role we want to play in our own lives, we’re all alone, sitting in that big director’s chair while a thousand voices around us say, “Action!”