Some people find the very idea of selling scary: others believe it is the best job in the world. Where do you stand?
David
http://www.vkabd.co.uk
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2 comments:
I have just got back from a jazz gig; it went well. It is late and I always take half an hour or so to unwind before I can sleep. I stumbled upon your blog for the first time.
I am a professional jazz guitarist and a painter of portraits in oils. Sales for me is a constant challenge. I am sure I do not sell my talents, such as they are very well. Our little band, Bejazzled, has an agent who presumably does some of the “dirty” work for us. As far as oil painting is concerned, I have put up a web site, and leave business cards around. These methods are relatively unsuccessful. It strikes me that must of my custom comes without any formal sales pitch at all. People often book my band in response to hearing our work (e.g. at a wedding or corporate function). People commission me for portraits on the strength of seeing work I have done at friends’ houses. Maybe I have got it all wrong, but I find this is the only way.
So as somebody on the outside looking in at your professional world of sales, I suppose I have some questions (which may be dumb). Why do a blog? Are you trying to promote the art of salespersonship, or David Marks, or your company?
From your few contributions it seems that you are trying to improve the image of sales. Why? The world is full of examples of poor salesmanship. Sales has a bad name it seems (cf mortgage problems in the US – a result of poor salesmanship.) For me, I could only get passionate about sales if I believed in the product. (Look at the marketing strategies and success of Linn and Naim – but upmarket hifi manufacturers in the UK).
If you get passionate about selling a bad product you are either foolish or conning somebody.
If you get passionate about a good product, you are doing the purchaser a favour.
Did you consider that the design agency you mention on your blog was unable to move ahead because it did not have a good product? Do you ever find yourself being that honest to clients – “You seem to be doing all the right things to sell your product, but the reason it is not selling is because it is not very good!”
Sorry to ramble. Hope it makes some sense. The reasons something does not sell are complex, and may have little to do with sales. See the Wikipaedia article on the Ford Edsel if you haven’t seen it.
I am sleepy now; however, as I do believe in my own products I will just mention my web site
http://yorkportraits.co.uk/
Don Lodge
Thanks for you response after your gig and thanks for your questions. I do not believe a question can be dumb, or to put it another way, "dumb" questions are a very powerful tool for the sales professional. To answer yours, my blog aims to help people to become more successful through selling more and selling better. As a guitarist and painter you sound like a creative businessman. Do you experience the challenge I deal with in my other post "Creativity v Salesmanship?" To answer once again, I find that most often people are failing to make sales NOT because of the product or service itself, but because of other elements of their Sales Process. I am interested in what you say about how you go about getting bookings and commissions - two comments: the Word of Mouth marketing seems to be working, and is something to develop; where you say "relatively unsuccessful", are you methodically measuring the response, and have you considered any other strategies for increasing your business?
www.vkabd.co.uk
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