I just ended a part-time sales job last week. I was doing a fundraising campaign for a well known arts organization. I did this in part because, I needed the sales experience. I'm a fashion apparel and accessories designer by natural talent but, sales is a process that I have to develop and learn to be better at. I'd love to share with you some notes that I learned while on this job. It was very fascinating to me because, I stepped out of my comfort zone in order to learn something completely new. Some of you may already be great at sales so please do share your experiences.
Here are some quick and random notes that I've gained while at my job as a telephone sales representative:
*Targeting your market (sales 101)
Does not necessarily mean that sales will come automatically right away. You still have to work to gain your customers trust.
*Customers will buy from you because they:
-Trust you (these could be referrals as well as first time customers who trust you)
-Like your presentation or your product
*Gaining sales can be categorized as follows:
-Easy Wins
Those who are sitting ready and eager to buy. No need to convince them. Just close on the sale.
-Soft No's
Those who you have to present your case to firmly and pleasantly to. Let them know the benefits that they will receive of your product or service. The mission of your product or service has to be explained and presented in a way to let them know that without their support the mission could be in jeopardy of not existing and they would not get their benefits. It's about explaining the "win win" situation for all.
As it relates to fashion design, if you have an ecommerce site, make sure your copy is enticing and spells out the customer's benefits of purchasing your product. If you are calling stores, make sure your sales script precisely spells out the stores benefit of carrying your product. If you're face to face in a outdoor market situation and you come across someone who is not sure if they want to purchase now, engage them by asking where do they plan on wearing your product. Engage them on the experience of already owning your product and they will see how it benefits them to purchase it right now. Give them an immediate cause to purchase it now or else the price could increase, you could run out of stock...etc. It has to be a pure and honest engagement in order for soft no's to be converted. People will be able to see right through any type of untrue flattery. So be honest.
-Firm No's
Completely not interested and there's nothing that you can say to convert this type of person. They will not budge but, do keep them on your list only if they are interested because, they may purchase from you in the future.
I've learned that you have to go through a certain amount of firm no's to get to the easy wins and the soft no's. Some designers new to selling may be inclined to give up too soon by being offended of their encounters with firm no's because, these no's can be very abrupt. That's just the way it is. I've had the phone hung up on me countless times within a four hour period just to get 1 or 2 sales. The idea is to not let the firm no's affect your ability to keep going through your highly targeted list. You will connect with the people that you are supposed to connect to. These are the people who will gladly support your cause or your product. Whether you are calling boutiques or building your email list, you have to keep finding ways to target your market and clean up your list so that at the end of the day you have easy wins, soft no's and future prospects. Do not let the firm no's affect you from doing your job. Keep it moving.
Repetition with the desire to improve is key to mastering a skill:
With telephone sales you repeat your script within a matter of minutes, allowing you to get better and better with each call. So, by the end of your day if you've focused on improving you become so much better than when you started your day. Apply this to your communication with your prospects. Evaluate what works and what doesn't. Keep steadily improving.
Selling is really fascinating just as much as designing is to me as well. Selling is definitely a great skill to learn if you will be representing your own work. It's a very important part of business to know how to communicate with your prospects. The reward is their trust in your product or service. You win them with your script or your presentation. They trust you so much that they will hand over their credit card to purchase from you, to support your mission. How cool is that?
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