By Gene Fresco
What is the greatest cause that makes a salesperson fail? Distractions!
We have many distractions in life: personal problems, financial problems, our love life, our family, indebtedness…and now we have the greatest distraction of all: the computer.
It’s a temptation that cannot be resisted. Every one of us has one on our desk. There are games to play, horoscopes to read and many other “evils” we must learn to avoid.
The computer can be a blessing or a curse. If we use it wisely, we can increase our sales and this “distraction” can become the best thing that has happened to us.
If you have made it a point to acquire the e-mail addresses of all your customers or have invited them to join you on Facebook or Twitter, then you can use your computer to keep in touch with them on a daily basis.
You can write a blog on a monthly basis and give your customers important information about your store and its upcoming events. You can give them information about keeping their instruments in working condition. You can give them information about upcoming sales.
In the social media era that we live in, you must learn to use it every way you can.
Don’t let it be a distraction; make it an effective sales tool.
I know that, to some of you, selling musical instruments is just a “day gig” and playing in a band is your real profession.
I’m sure you give your best to the band by practicing every chance you get and playing your heart out at the gig. But, you must expend the same effort in selling.
Then, there are those of you for whom selling is a profession, and you want to succeed at it.
To all of you, I say, “Don’t be distracted!”
If you want to succeed in selling, you must have a definite purpose.
You must do all the things you have read in my columns on a daily basis.
Selling can be very financially rewarding. I also want to say that selling can be fun.
I can’t think of any profession that is more fun than selling is. Every customer is different, presenting a unique problem that must be solved.
Every selling is situation is different, whether it is selling a $500 guitar or a $100,000 sound system.
The daily challenges in selling are awesome, and I look forward to the next problem to be solved.
This is how you must feel about selling. And, if you do, you will be successful.
Selling in the music industry is the most fun of all! You’re not selling vacuum cleaners or insurance: You’re selling an art or, I should say, the tools that can create art.
Music is very important in our lives. Humankind has been making music for centuries (if not millennia), and it’s still very important to our well-being. We need music when we are happy and when we are sad. The medical community is exploring how music can be used to help patients get better more quickly.
I want you all to look at the big picture and realize how important the things you do are.
I am asking you to understand the service you provide, and to provide it to the best of your ability.
There are only 24 hours in a day. You probably work eight hours a day. Every minute or hour you are distracted by your computer is time wasted, unless you are using it to increase your sales.
I want you all to Google “Elmer Wheeler.” This will be a great use of your computer. Elmer Wheeler is my personal sales hero, and I want him to be yours.
I have learned 90 percent of what I know about selling from him, and the other 10 percent I learned by applying his knowledge in the field.
Salespeople are not born; they are made.
We all had our sports heroes when we were kids, and we would copy the way they played the games we were into back then.
I want you to copy the way Elmer sold. If you do, when you master his sales knowledge, you will be a great salesperson.
I’m sure, if you read my September column, you are planning to make your last quarter of the year a great success. Think big and make this the best last quarter you’ve ever had.
Keep your distractions to a minimum and keep your eye on your goals.
Here is a story from the road that you might enjoy.
I had a dealer who had an old Gibson guitar and case, which were pretty beat up. He had them for three years and couldn’t find a buyer. He put up a sign, reading “Not for Sale,” and he sold them the same day for more than he ever expected to get (and charged extra for the case).
So, I guess, if you have something you can’t sell, put a “Not for Sale” sign on it. I told you selling is fun!
With all the electronic gadgets available today—smartphones, iPads, texting, etc.—it’s easy to become distracted. Face-to-face communication is becoming a lost art. Don’t be distracted. Zero-in on your goals and get the job done.
Check out “Elmer Wheeler” and let me know what you think. I have never met Elmer, but his writings changed my life.
Write Dan Ferrisi, the Editor, if you have any questions about selling. He will forward them directly to me.
I wish you good selling.