How to Use Variety and Showmanship

It may surprise you to learn that you are compared with Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. Perhaps you don’t claim to be a singer. None the less, you’re compared with these and other singing stars, including Patti Page and Dinah Shore. You may not consider yourself an actor. Yet people compare you with Marlon Brando and Spencer Tracy. You are continually compared with the top names in show business even though you’re not an entertainer. Here’s why . . .

Whether John Q. American is “out of town” or is withdrawn to the privacy of his living room, he can see professionally staged programs. Even in the intimacy of his bedroom, he can enjoy radio and television. Such entertainment is supported by multi-million dollar networks. It’s the product of experienced writers, producers, directors, technicians, prop men, make-up artists, and others. Thousands of dollars are spent on piddling details. Everything is carefully worked out. Perfection is more than an aim-it’s an obsession.

Salespeople demand the best

The result of all this has been a loss of tolerance. People have become less and less tolerant of a mediocre production. They want the best and expect to get it. And, what’s more, they expect the best in all types of programming-even sales meetings!

Audiences have been conditioned-not to a slow pace set by a succession of boring speeches. They are accustomed to a lively pace, a good selection of subject matter, skilled dramatizations, proper timing, a refreshing variety of events, and the many other elements of good showmanship. Since they get good showmanship elsewhere, they understandably frown on a sales meeting in which it is lacking.

What a challenge! A sales executive should be such a good showman that his stage presence compares favorably with people of the entertainment profession. He should have timing, color, humor, change of pace, adroitness, resourcefulness, tact, urbanity, and sensitivity. Showmanship is a prime requisite. It’s the difference between a meeting and a good meeting. You can meet this challenge, in part, by building your meetings around a central theme. Also, you can be dramatic, bizarre. You can do the unusual. But an additional step toward meeting the challenge is to stage a variety of events.

Tags: sales meeting

Kindly consider linking to this article by just copying and pasting the code below on your website/blog ( press Ctrl+C to copy the entire code). The text link will look on your website like this: How to Use Variety and Showmanship

<a href="http://www.sales-meeting-ideas.com/how-to-use-variety-and-showmanship.html">How to Use Variety and Showmanship</a>