The foundation of any sale is trust.  Without it, the potential customer will never move beyond the “just looking” phase, and trust is a very fragile thing.  It must be developed and cultivated throughout the sales process, but it has to be established first.  A professional salesperson achieves this in many different ways.  A car salesperson, for example, dresses appropriately for their business situation, and the good ones carry themselves with an air of confidence that says, “I know what I’m doing.”  Most creative people do not wear business attire on a regular basis, nor should they.  In most cases when it comes to clothing, what would work for selling a car won’t work for selling a form of art.  However, there are still things a creative person can do to come across as professional.

First and foremost, always look your customer in the eye and maintain eye contact as much as possible.  People who cannot do this, even if it’s just from shyness, come across as having something to hide, and few people want to spend their money with someone who seems shady.  If you have trouble with eye contact, work on it.  If you are good at what you do, don’t be afraid to look at your customer as you talk about your work.

Also, if you don’t already have a brief synopsis of what makes you a professional in your field prepared, you need to develop this now.  This synopsis needs to be brief and poignant, conveying in less than twenty seconds why you are qualified for what you do.  A good synopsis avoids personal information and focuses on your background in your field.  Mine is fairly simple, and I use it at almost every show I attend:  “I have two books on the market and am currently working on the third in the series.  I have a Master’s degree in writing from the University of Memphis and have worked as an English Instructor for over eleven years.”  That’s it. 

Obviously, this statement has evolved over the years, and if you are just starting out and feel like you don’t have much to offer, don’t worry.  Talk about your influences and study in your field, but don’t overload your customer with “data-dump.”  Few people have the patience to listen to your dissertation on the cultural influences of the Aztecs on Spanish pottery.  Just mention the names of your two or three biggest influences and be done with it.  If the customer wants to know more, they will ask.  If you are more established, avoid overwhelming your customer with all of your achievements, as this can be just as annoying and might make you come across as pretentious.  In terms of this synopsis, brevity is the key.

The most important part of trust sounds obvious, but it can sometimes be the most difficult to maintain.  Be honest about yourself and your qualifications.  Don’t exaggerate yourself or embellish your background.  You may get over on some people for a little while, but eventually, you will be found out.  If your credibility ever gets damaged, you will have a hard time getting it back, and in the long run, your career will suffer.  For those of us still in the early stages of our careers, we sometimes feel like we need to “puff-up” our accomplishments to stand out from the crowd, but in my experience, talent shines through in the long-run.  Trust yourself and your ability, and your customer will trust you.

www.thirdaxe.com

From my experiences working as a professional salesperson during my hiatus from education, I’ve been contemplating writing a sales book for some time.  However, with the deadline for completing my third novel looming and a fairly heavy teaching load, there simply isn’t enough time to take on another book, so a very close friend gave me the idea to share my ideas via blog.  I hope to share what I learned about the sales process so that other creative people can improve their skills in marketing and promoting their work.  This blog is not geared to one particular group such as fellow writers.  Rather, it is intended to be an overview of the general sales process so that creative people regardless of medium can benefit.

Let me start by saying that I wasn’t a salesperson when I first started.  I was forced into the profession by circumstances, and I entered it reluctantly and believed some very common misconceptions about sales.  Let me also admit that I am not the greatest salesperson on the planet.  In my experiences, I have encountered some remarkably talented people who are true professionals and know how to adapt to almost every sales situation.  That being said, I personally have been fairly successful at every sales position I’ve held, and once I learned what I was doing, I consistently remained in the top ten percent at my last sales job.  Also, I have taken what I’ve learned and applied it to selling my books at conventions and festivals and have seen a pretty good increase in total sales per show.

That’s enough about me.  Let’s take a look at the sales process.

In any sales situation, you have to think about the customer’s mindset.  Very few people leave their house thinking, “Today is the day I’m going to buy a painting” or “I need to find an unknown author to read.”  They may think those thoughts randomly from time to time, but very few people make it a point to leave their home and their daily routine to achieve this purpose.  Even someone who is purposefully going to a gallery or a convention is doing so with the mindset that they want to know what’s out there.  In other words, in their mind, they’re in the “just looking” stage.  The challenge for the artist is to move them from the preliminary stage to the close.

To achieve this, you have to follow the four stages of the selling process.  Very simply, these stages are 1) Trust, 2) Need, 3) Assistance, and 4) Urgency.  Without all four steps working together, the sale will not come to fruition, and the artist will consistently hear, “Let me think about it.”  Let me explain something, most people who want to think about it are sincere.  They have every intention at that moment to consider your work and come back to buy it later, but then they get back in their car and start remembering trash day, soccer practice, the dentist appointment, and everything else in their day to day life.  The next time they think about you is a long time later, and by then, they have forgotten everything they wanted to think about.

That’s where the sales process comes in.  A successful salesperson understands that people love to be sold.  They love to be convinced that a product is right for them.  Even people who claim to hate salespeople deep down inside love the game.  It’s not salespeople they hate; it’s bad salespeople who make them feel mistreated or misguided that they hate.  That’s another big point about the sales process.  You don’t have to lie and cheat to sell.  A professional salesperson doesn’t try to fit a square peg in a round hole.  If the product you’re selling, whether it be a painting or a CD or a book, does not work for that person, don’t waste your time with them.  Find the customers who are the right fit and sell those people.

That’s all for now.  Tomorrow, I’ll start talking about the first stage, Trust, and explain some of the ways to establish the foundation.

www.thirdaxe.com