Outsell Everyone at Your Next Show!

Over the last year since we’ve emphasized our online presence so much I’ve been reading like crazy about all the different social media, mass email systems, transactional email, how to maintain contact with customers and deliver meaningful information (because of course that’s our business) and all kinds of other “technological” innovations that allow us to be in touch with you!  We’re always trying to come up with better ideas and more effective ways to do business so I try to read just about everything I can on the subject.  I just finished reading another article entitled “Email Workflows You Should Be Using in Your Marketing Automation.”  Of course some of this stuff just goes way over my head.  But in the end it made me realize that no matter the “technical” engine you put behind your marketing and sales efforts… it’s really just the same old thing!

As I write this article, the fall season is just around the corner and there is no time that is more important for us to sharpen our selling skills than when we’re in a position to come face to face with more customers than any other time of the year.  For quite a few people this time of year is when we take in about 50% or better of all the money we make all year long so if there was ever a time to maximize your sales… this is it!  I’ll provide you some of my thoughts on the subject.

At one point in my life I was involved in sales training.  And as such, I became very well versed in most of the techniques involved in selling.  All these are great… but one thing I learned was that 90% of all sales are made when you just simply stick to the basics of selling…  Let the customer know you exist… tell them what you do… show them how they can benefit by owning your work… and ask for the order.  So whether you’re selling paintings or pottery… sculpture or salsa… dolls or dresses… it really makes no difference.  The process or getting your work into the hands of your customers is just about the same.

Let the customer know you exist.  No one can buy from you if they don’t know about you.  I believe this is the marketing phase of selling.  It’s a program designed to raise awareness of the product you offer.  This can be accomplished by attending and exhibiting at events like we list here in our guide.  It can be a result of an internet website.  You could hand out flyers or talk up what you’re doing among friends.  Home parties have worked well for Tupperware and it’s become a household word.  You could advertise in a newspaper, magazine, on TV or maybe even the radio.  You may choose an email blast targeted to a specific group most interested in your kind of product.  Some people produce seminars or workshops where they demonstrate the product they are selling.  There are a million different ways to “get the word out” and let people know about you.  However you do it, the marketing of your work is a very important part of what you must do to sell.  This is only the first step in the process though and if this is all the further you’re willing to go then you’ll probably be heading home with just about everything you came with!

Tell your story.  The unique nature of what we create makes what we offer special.  And that special quality is what separates our work from some mass merchandised piece you may buy at Wal-Mart or Home Depot or maybe the Old Time Pottery Store.  Just like you, I’ve seen offerings very similar to what we see exhibited at shows… at a fraction of the price in a big box store.  So telling your story… how you came up with the concept… how it was created… what was the thought process behind it… is essential to helping the customer understand they are buying a unique work of art and they won’t see it at the next ten homes they visit!  Do you remember the Home Interiors parties back in the late 70’s and early 80’s?  That was the ultimate vision of mass marketed interior decorating!  Every home you visited had just about the same thing.  It didn’t look bad for the time… but talk about nothing unique.  You can be the antithesis of this type of trend… and luckily it went out of vogue.  But if you shop any of today’s chain store like “Rooms to Go” or “Kane Furniture” you’ll see they are still trying to relive the glory days of mass design.

So how do you tell your story?  What makes your work distinct?  How do you interact with the customer to let them know?  Well part of that starts with you.  It’s worth taking a little time to analyze your thoughts and organize them into a cohesive story that’s easy to follow.  You can even rehearse it with some willing participants.  Initially you could even write a script (that may later become a notecard you place with the piece).  For some people this comes naturally… for most, it’s a learned skill.  After you get a little more relaxed with the presentation it will come naturally but notes, rehearsal, role playing and the like will get you headed down the right path.

Show them the benefits.  Even though the customer may never tell you… the most important question they have is “What’s in it for me?”  This is where you have to put yourself in the customer’s shoes and try to look at the sale from their point of view.  How do we do that?  To begin with, lets ask them some questions and find out a bit about their life and the things they consider important… the kind of decor they like… the kind of things they own already… what are their favorite colors… their favorite artists… do they have a large home, a small apartment or a mobile home for example.  The more you know about them, the better you can make a meaningful recommendation.  Clearly the extent to which you go with this is somewhat reflective of the price point of the item you’re selling.  If for example you’re selling PVC marshmellow shooters for $6.00 each then the extent of the question might be “Do you have kids or grandchildren?”  If not… most likely that’s the end of the sales pitch.  But if you’re selling an original sculpture at $10,000 then it’s worth taking a couple of hours of fact finding!  In the end the question is still the same… “What benefit does the customer get by owning your work?”  They have to want your work more than they want their money!  Let them touch the work… maybe try it out… get them to picture themselves owning the piece.  Play on peer pressure by having them consider how jealous the neighbors or their friends will be.  Have them picture the spot in their house where the piece will reside.  Maybe you can use the status they will enjoy.  It all depends on what you’re selling.  The better you can answer that question, and the better you become at reading your prospective customers then the more successful you’ll become at selling your product!

Ask for the order.  OK… this is the close!  This is the step where they actually give you’re the money and you actually give them the work.  How do we do this… we’ll there are lots of ways… some more direct than others!  As simple as this sounds… and as logical as it is… you would be shocked at how many people do absolutely everything correct to this point, but don’t have the nerve to actually ask for the money!  They’ve done the presentation. They’ve done fact finding about the customer.  They’ve answered questions and overcame objections.  The customer is on the verge of pulling out their wallet and the exhibitors says something like… “Well think about it and let me know.”  Or worse… he says nothing at all to motivate the customer to move forward with the sale!  I’ve watched thousands of exhibitors sell… I’ve seen this kind of thing happen over and over again.  They go home with dismal sales while some guy a few booths down the row can’t find time to count his money!  What’s the difference?  ASK FOR THE ORDER!

That request can be something as simple as “Will that be cash or would you rather write a check?”  It can be assumptive… “Would you like to take it home right now or would you like to pay for it now and pick it up later?  Other times you may ask for the order and you’ll get an objection.  If that’s the case, you’ll have to revert back to the “Show them the benefits” phase of the sale and reenforce the points that got them to this part of the sale.  Here again… the better the job you’ve done to this point, the easier this will be.

If you still get some objection, you will have to also instill a “sense of urgency” so they make the buying decision today.  The world is full of “be backs” and “I want to think about it” types.  The reality is that even thought they may be seriously considering the purchase, once they walk out of your booth the chances of the sale actually happening drop to only a small fraction of what they are when you’ve got them there with the check book ready!  I used to tell people… “A lot of people tell me they want to think about it… really they want to forget about it!  But when they get home and someone else bought the work… or I’ve packed it up in the truck… they are sorry they didn’t have it at home!”  The truth is… this is a one time opportunity.  You won’t be making another one just like it.  You’ll be gone in a couple of hours and with your departure also goes the opportunity for them to make this work theirs!  Make sure they know that!

Sometimes you’ll get the price objection.  Mostly this isn’t actually true… most likely what they are looking for is an excuse to buy.  You may not want to ever concede on price.  But chances are if you don’t sell to this person now you never will.  NEVER give a huge discount in the initial negotiation! In fact, rather than a discount, sometimes it’s better to give added value.  That way it supports your price structure and if you have another customer considering a similar purchase you don’t run the risk of having to discount that sale too!  If you sell pottery and they buy a set of coffee mugs… you could for example throw in a sugar bowl.  If you sell prints, you could discount the frame by 25%.  If you do have to change the price, don’t ever offer more than just a very small discount initially.  This sets the whole pace of the negotiation and more or less defines the value of your work.  If it were a $100.00 piece I might discount say $5.00 and make it $95.00.  You’d be surprised at just how many people will go ahead and buy.  In a substantial number of cases the discount isn’t really the issue.  It’s the principal attached to the success of negotiation.  Or it’s that “little excuse” that gives them the reason to buy now.  It’s all really more a “mind game” than anything else… after all.  If $5.00 really makes that much difference in the purchase… or $25.00 for that matter… what the heck are they even doing here!  They need to be spending their money on food and housing… not on art! Well that’s about it.  Everyone has a built in fear of sales to start with.  When you stop to think about it what is that fear anyway?  After all… who is afraid to take money and see happy customers walk away with their work?  No one I know!  The fear of sales is really the fear of rejection and especially when you’ve conceived the work yourself, created it with your hands, put your personal expression into it… and sometimes you’ve laid your soul bare to present it… you’re bound to take it personally if someone doesn’t like it!  Well the reality is that the art or craft we create is unique.  And there is absolutely nothing “objective” about a personal creation.  To some we’re a creative genius… to others we are out of our minds and all out taste is in our mouth… it’s just the nature of the beast.  If you’re going to sell art or craft, then you must develop a thick skin and divorce yourself from the very emotion that allowed you to create the work in the first place.  Get elated when people love what you make… and learn to accept that some people just have really bad taste!!!  In any case… keep in mind the basics.  Let the customer know you exist… tell them what you do… show them how they can benefit by owning your work… and ask for the order.  These simple steps will serve you better than all the fancy sales techniques and closes you’ll ever study!

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It’s Just Too Good To Be True…
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It's Just Too Good To Be True…

You met him at the last show.  He loved your work, took your card and promised to give you a call later in the week. 

You’ve heard that story before, right.  How many actually call… close to zero!  But this time it was different, the phone rang on Tuesday and not only did he actually do what he said… he placed a big order.  The only catch is that the order needs to be shipped immediately to a location 800 miles away.  Don’t worry though, you’ll be getting a check through overnight express that will not only cover the cost of the product but the shipping too and even a little bit left over for the extra trouble you have to go through.  SWEET! 

You’re caught up in the excitement of making as much money as you have during the last four shows… in just one call.  And you’re thinking about how you’ll have all the money to buy that new equipment or maybe take a little vacation.  What a stroke of luck… Or is it?

I’m not saying this kind of good fortune never happens, but when it does you still have to approach it with caution.  The exact scenario I described above did actually happen to an exhibitor many of us know.  In fact, his wife approached me with the idea of writing this article.  As it turned out for them, this was a scam!  Sure the customer was real… and the deal he offered seemed on the surface to be legitimate.  But when they finally got over the excitement of deal and started actually investigating a bit more all of a sudden things weren’t adding up.  The chances of this being a scam increase exponentially when it involves a check from a foreign account or a secondary shipper who will be handling the arrangements while your customer “relocates.”  I did a quick search online to see if other artists or craftsmen were experiencing scams too, and I was shocked at just how many there were!

We always worry about being ripped off by someone promoting an unreliable show.  But unfortunately, there are always people out there who are willing to rip you off in plenty of other ways too.  And as the big box retailers, banks and other big businesses increase their ability to rid themselves of these threats, the con artists and thieves turn to easier prey… you.  Our law enforcement people have their hands full of much bigger concerns than someone trying to take advantage of you for a few hundred or a few thousand dollars so you don’t get exactly top priority when it comes to handling your particular case.  As a result, you are left to your own to make sure your hard earned money stays in your pocket rather than in the pocket of some crook!  Here are a few things you can do to protect yourself.

1.  Make sure to be objective when you get an unusual order.  It’s great to be excited and certainly we want to see you be successful.  But once the smoke clears and your emotion subsides you’ll want to take an objective view of what you actually have here.  Everyone wants fame and fortune, that’s understandable… and of course when it appears that just may have happened emotion takes over and common sense goes right out the window.  As I mentioned before… if a buyer is just a little to urgent in his requests, involves foreign bank accounts, third party shippers and other things that don’t add up, be skeptical!  If you’ve received emails as part of the correspondence make sure to look at the MIME code to see if the email is coming from where it appears to come from.  Is the wording of the correspondence consistent with a person who is capable of making a substantial purchase.  I know it sounds like were profiling here, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck… chances are good that it’s a duck!

2.  Don’t ship your work until you’ve confirmed the payment.  Just because you’ve received a check or money order doesn’t mean you’ve been paid..  Checks from foreign accounts can take weeks to clear.  Money orders can be forged.  Official looking paperwork can be faked.  Double check with your bank to make certain the money is actually in your account and there is no way you can be charged back by anyone.  If any of these financial instruments are found to be fraudulent you’ll be held responsible for the full amount plus any additional fees.  With bounced check charges, international fees, recovery fees and more a transaction gone bad can cost you dearly!

3.  If someone appears to have been too generous… they may indeed be a bit of a philanthropist but it should certainly raise your suspicions.  Once again this may be designed to either win your confidence or to cloud your good sense with the emotion extra money can provide.  Whatever you do, don’t ever agree to return the overpayment because if the deal goes south not only will you be out your work, the shipping charges, the sales tax and all the fees associated with a bad check or money order, but you’ll also be out the money you sent them to refund the overpayment.  That’s really adding insult to injury!

Trust your gut feelings.  When it feels as though something isn’t right… it very well may not be right.  That combined with a couple of other clues may help you “see the light.”

4.  The case of the vanishing gallery.  This happens more regularly than you may think, it applies to both artists and craftsmen and I know more than one person who has been ripped off this way.  When the “gallery owner” initially approaches you with his or her request to include your work, naturally you’re flattered.  Con artists love to stir emotion to mask good judgement.  There are two variations here.  The first gallery invites you to be a part of their exhibit and then suddenly there is a fee for this, a charge for that… but don’t worry… there are no commissions!  It doesn’t take long to realize that the gallery is making their money from the fees, not the sale of work.  In fact, that being the case… what motivation does the gallery have to actually sell your work?  They certainly have a motivation to gather a lot of artists and craftsmen to exhibit.

The second gallery looks great. They have a brochure telling you about all the benefits, a web page that is impressive and a prospectus for marketing your work that would be the envy of anyone.  You go to look at the gallery and everything looks perfect so you commit to exhibiting some of your best pieces.  Everything seems to be going great.  You may have even sold a piece or two.  It’s been a while since you’ve heard from the gallery so you go down to drop in to say hello and all you find is a locked door and an empty store.  One night they just cleared everything out and left town… along with all your work!  As they open up in the next town (which you’ll certainly never hear about) it become evident to you how they have such nice work on exhibit… almost all of it stolen from someone just like you.  What a deal for the gallery… 100% commission on everything sold!

5.  Be cautious if the customer is trying to get you to ship immediately.  Typically the scammer will try to get you to ship before any funds have cleared.  The obvious reason is that if you knew the funds wouldn’t clear then you would certainly never ship!  Many people believe that a postal money order or cashier’s check is virtually the same as cash.  It isn’t.  In fact, it can take up to a month before you know you’ve just been had.  Because of “privacy laws” put in place to protect consumers, banks usually can’t tell you much about a check before it processes through their entire system.  Naturally by the time everything goes through all the right channels you owe a ton of fees to the bank.  It’s amazing how “privacy laws” work to the financial advantage of the banks and hurt so many consumers they are designed to protect!

6.  Go online and do some research.  From what I’ve seen a lot of these criminals use the same or similar names wherever they go… and you probably are not the first victim.  Do some searches for the names of the principals involved.  Look into the names of the gallery.  Ask for references if it’s a big purchase.  What other work do they own and who have they dealt with?  Check out several of the blogs from people who have been ripped off previously.  You’ve got a substantial investment in time and money in your work… keep a level head about sales no matter how big and use the judgement that will keep you in business.

7.  Take action if you’ve been scammed!  Although you may not get top priority from law enforcement agencies, you should definitely report the action.  And even though you’re a small concern if you’re vocal enough about it then you should get some attention.  The State Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Affairs is not only a source of information but a good place to go regarding any suspicious contacts by email, the mail or the phone.  If the US Mail has been involved then talking to your postmaster may be a good option.  Online there are plenty of websites listing names of companies and individuals who have committed fraud in the past.  There are suspect email addresses, websites and more right there for you to find!  If the internet has been involved, then the Federal Trade Commission can become involved too.  You can find out more about them by going to their website at www.ftc.gov or the Internet Fraud Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

Whether it’s by a gallery, through the mail, over the internet or by an unscrupulous show promoter it’s never fun to be ripped off.  It’s tough enough to be in this business and to make ends meet let alone losing money to crooks who pose as business allies.  Make sure to be vigilant, remain skeptical and be cautious in all your business dealings.  If you’re in doubt, then trust your gut and double check the deal you’re about to enter into.  Ask others, go online, check references and do the things that would allow you to make a good decision.  We don’t want you to miss a golden opportunity, but we don’t want you to lose your shirt either!

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Don’t Make Your First Sale… Your Last!

Once you’ve made your presentation, sold the piece of work and taken the customer’s money, the  sale is over, right?  WRONG !  You are right in a way because the first part of the sale is over, but what could be the most profitable part of the relationship has just begun because every customer who buys from you once will probably buy again given the chance. 

An old salesman once said that the best place to look for new sales is among those who have already purchased from you before.  This does make a lot of sense too because you already know the customer likes your work, thinks it’s well worth the money and given the right opportunity they will buy.  This doesn’t mean we don’t ever look for more customers, but it does mean we have a ready stable of proven buyers and it’s simply a matter of regular, effective communication with those people that will turn them into repeat clients.

The next question is, how do I communicate?  The first step is to make sure you get the name, address, email address and phone number of the customer.  These can be stored either in a program on your computer or even in many applications available right on the web using the internet.  If you don’t have a computer, then just keep them in a cardfile… it’s low tech, but it works!  How ever you store the names, get them and keep them.  The communication can be as simple as a hand written note that you photocopy to an elaborate four color brochure developed by a design firm.  Another way to contact customers on a regular basis is by email and internet web sites.  Here I’ll offer a word of caution… it used to be that you could just blast off a bunch of email messages to whomever you wanted to.  Those were the good old days!  But today the internet service providers are a lot more picky about what gets sent.  If you find that all of a sudden your email account has been blocked then you can bet that the ISP has got your number.  Try not to send out too many emails at once… that means more than about 25 per minute in most cases.  You can actually use Microsoft Word to send groups of emails and it has “throttling” features in it that allow you to slow down the sending of the message.  Alternately if you’re even a bit more of the techie type you could even set up your own mail server.  There are lots of free programs that allow you to do that!  Facebook is another way to stay in touch with your customers.  It’s simple and easy… you can share everything from pictures to movies to personal greeting or for that matter just about anything else you can put into a computer.  The great thing is that most of these tech ideas are either free or close to it!

No matter how you contact your potential buyers, the important thing is to keep telling them where you’re going to be selling, new products you have and all the reasons the should be buying.  Remember that the more reasons you give a customer to buy, the more they’ll purchase from you.  Don’t assume they know you have special Christmas items, don’t take for granted they know you take special orders, make sure your customers realize you change the items you carry or the work you produce on a regular basis.  If you’ve started a new line or found a new application for something you already produce let the world know !

Even if you’ve already told all you customers about all these things, tell them again.  Most people forget virtually all you’ve said to them as soon as they leave your booth.  Major retailers know all this and use it all the time.  After all, who doesn’t know that Wal-Mart carries school supplies?  But I’ll bet every one of you got a flyer from them telling you about all the exciting paper, pens and pencils!  Consistent, redundant exposure creates sales.  No matter what you said before… say it again in a new way.  Most people just aren’t paying attention and it takes several attempts to get through to them.

All this effort translates into one important thing… more sales!  And that of course is the ultimate goal… it’s what puts the gas in your car, the roof over your head and the food in your mouth.  The better you can accomplish that then the better off you’ll be!  There’s just no good reason to let your first sale to a customer be your last.

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