Looking for a way to reinvigorate your sales approach? Try taking cues from the acting greats. Sure, there are a few differences between making sales calls and mugging for the camera, but there are also some key similarities between acting and selling. Both involve conveying a message to an audience and keeping that audience engaged during a narrative.

Sales trainer Helen Berman says one of the best ways to examine your sales approach is by thinking about how the best actors approach their work. Here are a few of her best tips:

Prepare. Forgetting your lines isn’t pretty, either on stage or on a sales call. Acting isn’t simply rote memorization, just as selling isn’t about a clever pitch. Great actors dive into their material. For example, Berman notes that for her recent role in “Medea,” Annette Benning not only read the Greek tragedies, but also studied how the original plays were performed. Like actors, great exhibit salespeople immerse themselves — in analysis, competitive studies and industry trends. Every moment of research shows in the “performance.”

Identify obstacles. Every play or movie boils down to this, Berman says: Character, obstacle, change. Some movies deal with emotional obstacles, some with situational obstacles, and many,many with obstacles to true love.Whatever the story, whatever the obstacle, the lead character always struggles toward a positive change. In effect, that’s a lot like selling, she explains. Pretty much every sales call is the “story” of your attempt to get clients to change buying behavior. During your “performance,” you might face physical obstacles (“We don’t have the budget”), emotional obstacles (“I don’t like your venue”), or situational obstacles (“We’re downsizing our company”). For your “story” to have a happy ending, clearly, you must supply the solution (your exhibition) that will ensure your client’s trust.

Don’t just act — react. Generous actors are the actors who get work. They’re the ones who have the ability to set up a scene so the star can shine. They can feed the straight lines with sincerity, listen attentively and reflect the energy of the lead player so that the audience buys into the story. More salespeople should be like that, Berman says. You have to be willing to let the client be the star. One example: You enter your “scene” thinking that your client should contract for a 10x20 booth and a sponsorship program. As you start talking, you begin to hear your client talk about how she’s going to be in charge of virtual events. Now it’s time for you to “give up your good story” (as they say in improv) and switch the discussion to how to implement the program that excites your client. The ability to “adjust” (to use the acting term), Berman says, is central to success, no matter which stage you’re on.

Helen Berman, President of the Helen Berman Corp., is a booth sales trainer and author with 30 years of experience in training media and booth sales personnel. She can be reached at www.helenberman.com.