Being a great salesperson is a lot like being a great comedian. You need to deeply understand your audience and seamlessly adapt your material to connect with them on a personal level.

In this post, we look at how techniques from stand-up comedy can help you better gauge and influence buyer intent during the sales process.

Stand-up comedy may seem like an unlikely source of inspiration for sales teams. But some of the skills mastered by talented comics can pay big dividends in the world of sales.

Read on for unique techniques from the comedy stage that you can use to connect better with prospects and ultimately win more deals.

Let’s focus on three key areas that will separate high-performance sales teams over the next year:

1. Lead with Human Connection, Not Technology

2. Deliver Value Throughout the Sales Process

3. Customize Sales Strategy Based on Buyer Intent

Mastering these capabilities will enable sales teams to build credibility, strengthen relationships with prospects, and win more deals.

How does your sales team uncover buyer intent. And why does it matter?

The #1 discovery question most salespeople aren’t asking isn't “What is your budget?” but “How did you come up with it?” This question uncovers buyer intent, giving your salespeople insight into where your prospect is in their internal buying process and how they can best help them.

It's a common pain point for founders - you're stuck doing all of the selling for your startup, putting out fires daily in the sales process. But you know you need to be working on higher-level business strategy, not just working in the business day-to-day.

So how and when can you start to remove yourself from the repetitive sales grind and focus your energy on scaling the business?

This is the story about how a frozen chicken turned an entire sales team around.

Quarter after quarter the team was struggling to hit its number. Nothing was working.

Until their manager rolled out a weekly sales contest where the winner each Friday was awarded a frozen chicken.

Here’s one simple lesson I learned from stand-up comedy:

Your stories don’t have be about what you’re selling to inspire your prospects.

This story is about our family vacation to the mountains during the pandemic. Yet at the end, I'm able to segue into the topic of sales.