In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains what sales lessons we all can learn from an art fair……..and what we can do differently to dramatically improve our sales results…..
This month’s article came from a sponsored ‘art fair’ lunch I was invited to by my accountant. The fair was held by a client of theirs, so was a nice way of supporting their client, and also saying ‘thank you’ to some of their other clients as well.
It was interesting as we went around the exhibition and interacted with the artists, curators and exhibitors how many lessons a salesperson or business owner could learn from their ’sales’ techniques (both good and bad!).
So, here are the ’sales lessons’ from an art fair…
Sales Lesson Number 1 – Sell With Passion And Enthusiasm
This is a big lesson for most salespeople and business owners, and is something that artists and curators of their work have in abundance! If you’re looking to persuade someone and get them excited about your product or service, you’ve got to talk about it with passion and enthusiasm yourself first!
Business owners in particular have no excuse here, as if they can’t be passionate and enthusiastic about their own business, how on earth can they expect anyone else to be! In a market where it seems there is bad news on a continuous basis, the people that are passionate, enthusiastic and positive stand out. You do want to stand out from your competition, don’t you?
If a salesperson or a business owner isn’t passionate and enthusiastic about their product or service, it shows in the way they talk about it, their presentations, their demonstrations, their objection handling and their closing ratios. Why on earth would you take a gamble on all of that, when you can change it really easily?
Sales Lesson Number 2 – Qualify Your Prospects
This happened almost every time we interacted with someone exhibiting at the fair, and you’d be surprised how many salespeople and business owners make the same mistake.
In one particular case, our group were given a ’speech’ by a salesperson from an insurance company, specialising in insuring art. Now I wouldn’t class myself as a connoisseur of art, very much a novice who falls into the category of ‘I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like’ category. From speaking to them, the majority of our group fell into that same category.
So what would have been a good idea for that salesperson to do at the start of the talk? Talk to the organiser of the trip, or the leader of the group to find out about us beforehand? At the start of her talk, ask the group what their experience of art or art-buying was? Find out how many of the group were collectors, amateurs or people very new to the art world? All of those would be good ideas, wouldn’t they?
However, she chose not to do any of them! Instead, we just got a big speech about the insurance company and how they could help us insure the art we purchased, or already had. And that got me thinking – how many salespeople and business owners often make the same mistake? A lot!
If you fail to qualify your prospects (or your audience) before you start your speech (or sales pitch) then you run the risk of ‘losing’ them as they don’t see your speech as relevant to them. A little time invested beforehand (or at the start of your speech) pays big dividends in sales results later….
Sales Lesson Number 3 – Don’t Apologise!
This is something I see a lot of, particularly from people who are struggling or under pressure, someone new to sales, or someone who doesn’t consider themselves a ‘natural’ salesperson.
Far too many sales calls or presentations start with the salesperson or business owner apologising! This is normally down to nerves, or not feeling comfortable, although I’ve heard some trainers teach it as a ‘technique’. What a scary thought! Their idea is that by apologising, you get the audience or prospect on your side. That idea is….quite frankly…ridiculous.
The true impact that has is make the prospect or audience think ‘this person doesn’t know what they’re doing’, ‘oh god, here we go again, another boring pitch’ or for some people – ‘give me someone with authority and credibility, and get this idiot out of here!’
I was looking at one exhibition stand with some very nice photographs of New York, when the artist concerned engaged myself and my accountant in conversation. He was an interesting guy, and after asking about our experience of art and photography and why we came to the exhibition (see sales lesson number 2 above), was telling us the history behind some of the photographs we were looking at.
Sales Mistake Coming Up….
Just at the moment where we were becoming more interested he suddenly got uncomfortable, apologised for being pushy and said he’d leave us alone to have a look, then walked away. HUGE sales error!
This happens a lot with people new to sales, under pressure or not feeling like they’re a ‘natural’ salesperson – they’re afraid of being pushy! Let’s make a distinction here – the only time you’re being ‘pushy’ is when you haven’t taken your prospects needs into account, and you’re trying to ‘push’ something on them they don’t want. That’s probably happened to you in the past, so you don’t want to be seen to do it to others. Invest a little time in speaking to your prospects and finding out their needs first, then it won’t be a problem for you.
Sales Lesson Number 4 – Remember Your Objective!
This is something that was missing from everyone at the art fair, and something that many business owners and salespeople miss too. You need to keep your objective in mind at all times, and make sure you’ve achieved it (or as close to it as possible) by the end of the conversation.
If your objective is to close for the sale – then make sure you’ve asked some questions during the conversation that will give you enough value to be able to close afterwards. If your objective is to make an appointment with your prospect, then make sure you’ve put enough value into the conversation for them to put time in their diary and meet you (and not talked too much about your product or service before the meeting of course!).
If your objective is to come back for a further meeting, demonstration or conference call/WebEx, then make sure you’ve booked that before you put the phone down or left the meeting – it will be a lot harder to do afterwards!
You can ask any questions about this article or sales in general, by contacting Andy here
Andy Preston is a leading Sales Expert, Trainer and Motivational Speaker. He runs the Ecademy ‘Sales And Cold Calling Tips Club’ as well as writing for magazines, newspapers and trade journals all around the world on anything related to sales and selling.
You can get Andy’s free cold calling and sales tips HERE
You can also see more about Andy’s training for small businesses at www.salesbreakfast.net
This article is copyright Andy Preston 2009. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines. Media enquiries – details here
