When Sales Isn’t About Selling Anymore
Yesterday, my team and I led a corporate improv training program for the elite sales division of a leading global pharmaceutical company. Their challenge? They’re being asked to evolve beyond presenting products and data. Their role now is to build deeper, more strategic relationships with senior leaders — helping to solve complex client challenges while building long-term trust.
What we noticed right away was this: the team leaned heavily on the content of their materials. They had the data. They had the competence. They could make a case for anything and back it up with three nicely packaged facts. What was missing were the human elements — emotion, passion, warmth, and presence.
In most sales training programs, these qualities are discussed conceptually. They show up as buzzwords on PowerPoint slides — but they’re far harder to embody than even the most experienced professionals realize. When teams self-assess, they usually rate themselves high in emotional intelligence, confidence, and connection. But in real conversations, confidence doesn’t always equal connection.
That’s where improv business training provides a powerful edge. By practicing real-time communication through corporate improv workshops, sales professionals receive unbiased, in-the-moment feedback — not just about what they say, but how they say it. Improv creates a mirror, helping people see the subtle habits that either strengthen or block trust. Our role is to help professionals unleash the authenticity, curiosity, and emotional intelligence that help clients feel seen, supported, and genuinely cared for.
As sales roles evolve, expanding data and knowledge isn’t enough — capacities must expand too. Preparation matters, yes. But so does the ability to pivot in the moment, read emotional cues, carry a conversation with curiosity, and project calm under pressure. This is the heart of improv for corporate training: helping teams strengthen their adaptability and connection skills in dynamic environments.
A common concern we hear is, “If I add more warmth or enthusiasm, won’t I come across as fake?” The research says otherwise. In our improv for business sessions, participants who lean into emotion and energy are consistently perceived by peers as more authentic, not less. Why? Because it’s not about replacing what already works — it’s about unlocking the natural presence and enthusiasm that’s often sitting just below the surface.
One participant from the session stood out. A tall, commanding man who prided himself on being calm, steady, and logical. Over the years, he’d been coached to tone down his intensity to avoid intimidating clients, so he relied purely on content. It worked — until it didn’t. To step into this new role, his clients needed to feel his passion. When he finally allowed enthusiasm and warmth to emerge, everything shifted. His presence became magnetic — and by the end of the workshop, he was named “Most Improved.”
Actors know this truth well: to evoke emotion, you must first feel it yourself. Great performers know how to connect internally so that others can feel it externally. Thanks to our brain’s mirror neurons, when we witness emotion, we experience it too. For sales professionals, that means if you want clients to feel enthusiasm, confidence, or curiosity — you must connect to those emotions yourself. Without that connection, even the best message risks falling flat.
And the data backs it up:
Salespeople who build trust and demonstrate emotional intelligence earn 47% more share-of-wallet (Harvard Business Review).
Engaged employees who bring energy and enthusiasm deliver 23% higher profitability (Gallup).
93% of communication impact comes from tone and nonverbal cues — not words alone (Mehrabian).
The next level of success for leaders and sales professionals doesn’t come from knowing more — it comes from embodying more. Competence opens the door. Warmth, enthusiasm, and emotional intelligence invite others to walk through it with you.
“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
