Improv For Authorities

Improv and authority don’t feel like words that should go together, do they?

And yet, Jonathan and I argue that being able to improvise in the moment is a critical skill to keep growing your authority business:

Why even as an authority, you don’t need to know everything.

The “rules” of improv and how to develop your own framework.

Handling Q+A after a talk (hint: positioning your talk strategically almost guarantees you won’t get stumped by a technical question).

Running sales calls with a three-step process that allows you to let go of the formalities and focus on your client’s desired outcomes.

How to get the most out of exploratory meetings with potential partners and influencers.

Quotables

“In a sales interview…or a sales meeting, you’re on the spot. You don’t get a do over. You just have to look at it as practice for the next time.”—JS

“It is almost impossible to be stumped if you’re positioning the talk with a strategic intent. People probably aren’t going to be asking you technical questions—they’re going to be asking you the strategic or even visionary questions.”—RM

“If you’re doing Q + A and somebody hits you with a stumper of a question, you could turn it back to the audience…and say, ‘Ah, interesting question. Does anybody else have the same issue?’”—JS

“When in a sales meeting, I want to be the instrument to get them where they want to go.”—RM

“If you’re looking for an improv framework, look no further than the why conversation, where I talk about the three different why questions for running a sales interview.”—JS

“If the conversation is a little too tactical, asking that next level up question, or even two levels up question is going to help make it strategic. And it’s also going to frame how they see you.”—RM

“In the sales meeting, there’s this back and forth. It’s like a volley of tennis—back and forth—and you’ve just got to keep hitting the ball back over the net.”—JS

“You don’t want to be the guy on the white horse coming in with all of the answers on what their transformation should look like. The answer is in the client and it’s our job to ferret it out.”—RM