Selling is hard. Selling is offensive to others. Do you think that way? Although selling is not easy it can be a pleasure to buyer and seller. The image of the self-promoting, pushy sales-type is not a positive one and it is the first image that comes to mind when people think about selling their music. It is no wonder you want to avoid being like that. Indeed, you shouldn't be like that because no good sales person is. Here are some ideas to help you become the most effective salesperson for your music and your writing.
Know and Love Your Product
The first step to being comfortable with selling is to believe in your product. If you don't think somebody will have a positive moment listening to your CD, or reading your words, then why did you create it? If you are not satisfied with your efforts-and quality control is good-then try again. Make a product you can believe in. Then forget that stereotypical pitchman you have in your mind when you think of selling. The best sales people do not sell, they make it easy to buy. If you are enthusiastic about your music and let it show, people are going to respond. Selling is easy and can be fun with this mind set.
Selling feels most uncomfortable when you are selling yourself. This discomfort is unbearable for most of us so we avoid any behavior that seems like we are selling ourselves. Enter the Artist Representative, the Booking Agent, and all the other people whose job it is to sell you and your work, thus removing you from the whole messy business. Of course, you are going to stop thinking like that and begin to love your product enough to make it a joy to show others. Until you can get a representative (and that is a sales job in itself) it is up to you to bring your work to the people. Know your product. Love your product. It's easy to sell what you love.
Know and Love Your Customer
Even though you love your product, and in your secret heart you think everybody else would if they gave it a chance, you know that a certain kind of person is more likely to buy it. Who is this person? Where do they live? How old are they? What do they do for work? What music do they listen to; books do they read? How do you tell them about your product?
The purpose of marketing is finding and keeping a customer. It is not trying to convince people to buy what they really don't want. At your gigs you have a nearly pre-sold customer base. Do you know who shows up? Is your mailing list easy to sign? Sprinkle several around the room and make sure each is attached to a clip board and that a pen is tied to the board. When people see and hear you they just might want to buy. Make it easy for them to do so with your product prominently displayed and a dedicated sales person next to it. A brief mention during your show is appropriate, "Thanks in advance for your support and I'll be happy to sign it, too."
Some advanced marketing techniques are: advertising (a flyer on a telephone pole), sampling (free gigs and free CD's), research (to make your advertising and sampling efforts pay-off better), testimonials (other people like you have purchased and like it). However, these corporate marketing techniques don't translate well to the grass-roots. I recommend you try www.ideavirus.com, also get the book Guerrilla Marketing to see how to get a low cost buzz going.
Once you have found a customer stay in touch with them via newsletters and gig announcements. If you have a new product coming out, let your existing customers know about it first and offer them a deal in thanks for their past support. Even if you have no news, no gigs, and no new products, invent something and send a post card at least once a quarter to your customer base. Keeping an existing customer is much easier than finding a new one.
If you know who buys your product and if you let them know how much you appreciate it, you'll do much better than if you don't.
See A Lot of People & Ask All To Buy
You do not want to sell people, rather you want to find those who want to buy and let them. The quickest way I know to find out if somebody wants to buy is to ask them. Canvassing and cold calling are old and honorable sales traditions. Every sales person has stories of serendipitous success when least expected, and cold calls are not famous for sales success. With practice you learn how to qualify quickly and move on, or stay and make the sale. You try to winnow the universe of potential buyers by learning about who your customers are. But you still must ask, "Will you buy now?" It is the question I recommend you practice everyday on as many people as you can. Just like a guitarist's tender fingers will develop callouses, you will become thicker skinned and rejection won't feel so bad. You will learn to covet rejection because each "No!" means you are closer to a "Yes!"
As to how your product will be received, it is best to understand that you have entered a narrow field of endeavor. I'm sure if you did a survey of how many people bought a book or CD from an unknown self-published singer or writer you would have to ask quite a few before finding one, especially if you excluded other singers and writers because at artistic presentations of all kinds (singing, speaking, writing, painting, sculpture) the crowd is often made up of producers rather than consumers of art.
We do the best we can and the market will decide. But if you don't love your product, if you are not squirming with anticipation to tell anyone who will listen, however briefly, then why should someone else be enthusiastic about buying it? All great artists love their art. It's easy to present what you love. The French Impressionist painter Manet was insulted by an art critic who said, "...he surely must be painting for his own amusement." Manet replied, "Of course I paint for my own amusement. Why else would I do it?"
The social imperative for personal modesty in all things is so strong that an artist who publicly acknowledges the slightest joy in his or her work is taken to task by some. Blowing your own horn is frowned upon. Shyness in this arena is understandable. My instinct, too, is similarly acculturated; but I refuse to knuckle under. Don't you either. Love your work. Tell them that you do. Ask them if they would like it. Deal with your feelings later, while you count your sales for the day.
Selling is a skill that can be learned. Go to Making The Numbers and sign up for a free daily sales tip from my friend Jack Falvey. We all need encouragement, go get yours.
Steve Rapson is the author of The Art of the SoloPerformer: A Field Guide To Stage & Podium
