Showing posts with label Sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sales. Show all posts

Holiday Hints For Book Selling Success at Craft Shows

Labels: , , | at 9:01 PM

It's often said that a bookstore is the worst place to sell books. Few people go to a bookstore for a book signing. What an author needs is a place where there are a high number of people present who came with the intent to spend money. Especially at this time of the year, one of the most effective places to sell books is at an art or craft show.

Holiday craft shows are held in most communities ranging from bazaars in church basements to large shows in malls, gyms, arenas, and even at colleges. While I know of several church bazaars that have been good venues for authors, the bigger the venue and the more traffic, the more likelihood to sell books. To find the best shows to sell your book, ask other authors or crafters you know which shows they recommend, and be willing to commit to a full day or even a long weekend to sell your book.

Larger craft and art shows can have substantial vendor fees ranging from $50 to several hundred dollars. However, if thousands of people are expected to attend the event, chances are you will break even at worst, and I know many authors who have made five or ten times what they paid to attend the show. You can also save money sometimes by bringing your own chair and table, purchasing a smaller booth, or not requiring electricity for your booth. It's also recommended you pack your own lunch so you don't have to pay for food that is usually overpriced at these events.

Be prepared before the show. Don't wait until the day of the show to get ready-you will have a better time if you're not rushing at the last minute. I suggest you pack your car and collect everything the night before. Besides your books, be sure to bring your table and chairs, tablecloth, pens, paper and anything else you might need.

Bring bags for your books. See-through are the best because the person will carry your book around the rest of the show advertising it, or you can buy plain bags and write your book's name on them. Even if you just bring plastic bags from Walmart, be prepared for the customer who will want a bag.

Besides your books, make sure you bring business cards or brochures. People will ask where they can buy your book if they don't have the money to buy it right then, or they might want to buy it for Dad, but they aren't sure if he already has it. A brochure with your website, or a list of local stores that carry your book is a good item you can give them to help with their decision making. Also be sure to put a sheet of paper on the table to collect email addresses so you can send out emails to customers about your next book and future events you will have. You want to build a long-term relationship with your buyers from this event.

Don't forget to bring change-a large number of one-dollar bills as well as a collection of coins, and some fives and tens. If you have a credit card option, make up a sheet to collect information. That said, most people tend to pay by check at these sales.

How do you get people to notice your booth? Yes, you can have gimmicks, but for the most part it's sufficient to set your books on the table so they are visible, propping up a couple so the covers are visible across the room. A large poster, collage, or other type of display also helps. Avoid any audio that might annoy rather than attract customers. Often people try to give away freebies-bookmarkers, candy, etc. but these generally don't attract people to your table. The one time I brought candy, I watched people grab a piece of candy and keep walking. Not one person who took my candy bought a book and not one person who bought my book took a piece of candy. So don't waste your money on extras.

Wear something that makes you stand out-it doesn't have to be flashy, but a bright shirt or blouse, a Christmas sweater or tie will attract the eye. Dress professionally but look approachable and friendly as well.

Because you got everything ready the night before, the morning of the show, take time to sit still with your cup of coffee and visualize how much you will enjoy the show. Yes, you can visualize books sold and money coming in, but mostly just put yourself in a cheerful frame of mind. Anticipate all the wonderful conversations you will have. I also like to visualize my books being excitedly unwrapped as presents on Christmas morning. Taking these few minutes to put yourself in the holiday show spirit will do wonders for your energy during a long day as well as help your book sales.

You probably will ask someone to help you during setup. At the very least, get a dolly to help you carry your book boxes into the show-these are a Godsend if you live in snow country or the venue is the size of a football dome. Whatever happens-a table falling over, a poster getting wrinkled, your help showing up late, keep your cool during this time so you remain in a good mood during the show. Be sure to thank whoever helps you-you wouldn't want to lug all those books around yourself.

Once you are set up and the show begins, don't just sit behind your table. Yes, if you're going to be there all day, you'll want to sit at some point, but try to save that for lulls in the show. Stand and walk around in front or behind your booth. Smile at people. Say hello to them and ask how they are. You're not being pushy, just friendly.

Find a balance between talking to people and letting them look. Say hello and then let them pick up your book and read the back cover. You don't want to distract them if they are focusing on your book. After a few seconds, feel free to offer some explanation or to answer questions.

A couple of suggestions for making small talk are to comment upon the customers' clothing, particularly if they have a place name or logo on their clothes. For example, if a shirt says "Martha's Vineyard" and you've been to Martha's Vineyard, or would like to visit it, ask them when they were there or what was worth seeing there. Your interest in them will make them more likely to buy from you because as studies show, people buy from people they like.

It's also helpful to ask people what they like to read so you can point out how your book is that kind of book. At holiday craft shows, the majority of traffic is women, and they will often buy books for their husbands and other men in the family-history books especially do well as gifts for men. Women are also more prone to buying when their husbands aren't with them, which is often the case at craft shows. Ask the women what their husbands like to read so you can describe how your book fits in with that interest.

You might feel frustrated by people who will spend a lot of time talking to you, blocking your booth from view, yet not buying anything. I've learned the best thing to do in these cases is just to go with the flow-most people won't talk more than a few minutes, and they might come back later to buy. That said, if another prospective customer approaches, feel free to turn your attention to the person more likely to buy. The less inclined customer will understand and usually move along.

A craft or art show, or even a book signing, can be a tiring or an exhilarating event. Go with the intent not just to sell books but to enjoy yourself. You will meet new people, have interesting conversations, and hopefully find that your books have sold themselves.

Happy Holidays, Authors!

Source : ezinearticles.com

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read Comments

How to Craft Sales Offers That Work Easily and Often

Labels: , | at 8:59 PM

You might recall the old saying "It's not what you say, it's how you say it." I'm not sure that holds true for everything, but I do know that it's the truth when it comes to crafting your sales offer. Many different studies using split testing have proven that changing the marketing message changes the number of sales. So what's the secret to crafting sales offers that work easily and often?

The biggest mistake that I see business owners make is trying to sell on logic rather than emotion. Logic tells but emotion sells. When people say they buy on logic they are almost always mistaken. We buy based on our emotions, and then we proceed to justify what we've just bought based on logic.

I saw a great example of this just recently when I was in Mexico with some friends. They have long held negative feelings about the many timeshare offers proffered along Mexico's beaches, stating over and over again that they would absolutely never do a timeshare deal. For at least 4 years now they have visited Mexico's beautiful beaches and attended numerous timeshare presentations, taking the free gifts offered but never biting on the presentation. But this time around, they bought! I was shocked at first, but then I began to apply what I know about sales offers to what happened with them. Why they bought then became crystal clear.

The couple attended a presentation and were asked a question they'd never been asked before. "How do you feel about the hotel you normally stay in when you are here?" That simple question unleashed a torrent of frustrations and complaints from the couple, who had seen their favorite hotel at the beach change from a great resort to an ill-maintained and understaffed property. The crowning blow was the outdoor hot tub, which had been broken the entire two weeks of their stay.

What did the sales agent's question do? It brought up the couple's emotions. All he did was sit and listen - and then he led the couple to a five-star, brand-new timeshare unit. Talking to them about the property's seven-year maintenance program while he showed them brand-new pools, and gorgeous two-bedroom units with big closets and full kitchens, he only had to structure a price and payment schedule that met their financial circumstances to do the deal.

What I noticed, though, was that once our friends came back to the hotel to join us, they didn't quite know how to explain what they'd done. After all, they'd adamantly told us for many years that no one in their right mind would purchase a timeshare. So, they started telling us all the logical reasons they bought, which to me was comical. This couple did not buy based on logic. They bought on emotion and then tried to justify with logic what they had done. Of course, there's nothing wrong with buying a timeshare (or anything else) if that's what one wants and what one can afford. The point is, this was an emotional purchase - and almost all purchases are exactly that.

A second mistake I see business owners make is related to the first. I so often see business owners talk about what they have to offer from a logical standpoint, trying to be professional and without emotion. It just won't work! You want to make an offer that does one of two things. It either helps the person get what he is passionate about, or it solves what the person is in pain over. Simply, your offer must do one or the other. The most compelling offers do both. An example? Think of a parent whose child is sick. The parent is passionate in their love for their child, and is in a great deal of emotional pain that the child is hurting. Whatever that parent is offered that will feed their passion and cure their pain will be a winning offer!

Often, a business owner can talk about passion or pain from their own perspective, telling their own story and how they came to be offering what they do. "I once had an Internet business that made no money at all, and I was determined to figure out what I was not doing right. I've studied, gone to workshops, and spent hours changing things around. I can quickly and easily tell you what you need to know so that your website makes money, too." That's an example of a story that evokes pain.

A third mistake I see business owners make is creating vastly different copy (or script) for their offers depending on how the offer is made. But if you stop to think about it, you want to make your offers fit what the prospect wants or needs (their passion or pain) more than you want to change it around based on how you make your offer. If your sales copy "bones" are good, they will work no matter if you are selling one-on-one, from the platform, in a teleclass or teleseminar, or from an Internet sales page. You might change the length of the offer, but the sales copy can remain much the same. If you make the mistake of writing completely different copy for each type of sell, you run the risk of making the simple hard and losing sight of what your prospect's passion or pain is. It's important for all your sales methods to showcase a consistent message.

Here's an easy way to get started writing (or speaking) sales copy. I owe this to John Carlton, who taught me this in a sales copy workshop. Begin by filling in the blanks of this sentence: I help ___ to do ____ even though ____. For example, I help solo professionals build six-figure businesses, even though they have been in business a while and not been profitable yet. Or, I help bald men grow more hair, even if they have been bald for a long time. Or, I help overweight women get fit, even though they may never have exercised before in their lives. The beauty of this sentence is that you already highlight what a prospect may have in his head as an objection, and take it away. Additionally, you begin to evoke emotion! Emotion sells, remember?

Sometimes I work with clients who insist they cannot find any emotional triggers that apply to the product or service they are offering. This tells me one of three things:

1) You don't have something that is salable.
2) You are looking at what you have to offer from the wrong angle, and need to change your perspective completely to come at it from the prospect's point of view.
3) You need help in understanding what you offer and the problem it solves, quickly!

If you are using the right emotional triggers for what you have to offer, sales will move right along. You can check this by thinking about why your most recent customers bought. If they've done testimonials for you, review them and make a list of the underlying emotions. Change your sales copy to reflect these emotions and test it out - you will probably increase your sales! Remember to talk about the problem you solve in terms of passion or pain relief, and you are on your way to frequent and easy sales.

Source : ezinearticles.com


  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS
Read Comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)