Humor eases any tension that can arise in a sales presentation, and a metaphor can give one more power.

A good example of a metaphor is Shakespeare’s inimitable language in his play As You Like It. He wrote:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances….

I watched a commercial for an automaker and it reminded me of the importance of humor and metaphors in sales.

The salesman said, “You want to make a decision soon because the sale will be over.” The customer said, “I guess I will be out in the cold,” to which the salesman replied, “Like a wet pair of boots in the rain.”

These are great examples of humor and metaphors.

You need to incorporate humor and metaphors into your sales presentations to be more effective.

Here are some you might try:

Don’t say, “Playing an instrument is fun” but, rather, say, “Playing an instrument is finding your soul.”

Don’t say, “This amp is 300 watts” but, rather, say, “This amp will kill rats three blocks away.”

Don’t say, “This guitar has a low action” but, rather, say, “This guitar will practically play itself.”

Don’t say, “This guitar has a lifetime guarantee” but, rather, say, “This guitar is guaranteed longer than you.”

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I have kept my sales training to the basics because, just like in school, we aren’t able to read until we first learn our ABCs.
There is a lot of psychology connected to selling, because the customer is buying emotionally.
You all know that I hate psychobabble.
Unfortunately, in selling, the customer’s mind is making the decision to buy or not to buy.
A salesperson’s professional attitude influences a buyer, as can any other single factor. Develop professionalism in all the things you do; it pays high dividends in selling, as it does in business.
Many new salespeople are amazed at the change that sometimes comes over the prospect at the moment of closing. You have been getting along well. Every phase has seemed right. But then, for no apparent reason, the prospect freezes. He or she becomes nervous and tense. He or she might even become irritable, irrational or insulting. What has happened?
A moment ago, the individual seemed perfectly agreeable.
Psychologists explain this as the “crowd mind.”
Crowds, as you know, do not reason well. They are torn by indecision and are highly emotional, being capable of extreme emotions.
The buyer is suddenly afraid. He or she is afraid to buy. Thoughts of fear develop, such as, “I should wait before I place my order” and “I should talk this over with someone.” The question may arise, “How do I know that I can’t do better elsewhere?”
Your greatest weapon in combating this fear is your professional attitude. You must be confident, self-assured and poised.
The “crowd mind” wants a leader. Your professional attitude will give the prospect the leadership for which he or she is looking.
To overcome the “crowd mind,” you must…

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Persistence is a vital element to success.

Its basis is willpower. Willpower and desire, properly combined, make an irresistible team. You cannot win without them.

No matter what obstacles you face in life, you must persist.

When you have had a bad day and your sales are not what you want them to be, you must persist.

You must face tomorrow with an attitude that says, “I can.” Never tell yourself, “I can’t.”

As a manufacturer’s rep, I drove 50,000 miles a year, covering seven states. What kept me going? Persistence!

I knew that with goal setting, a product I believed in and a positive attitude, I would succeed.

This is what you must have in your daily endeavors.

Don’t be deterred. Know you have a service that people need and perform it to the best of your ability.

Now that you know what it takes, you’re on your way.

It’s April. People are receiving their refund checks from the IRS. What should they do with them? Hmmm…. Come to your store and buy a musical instrument, of course!

“Why would they do that?” you ask.

They would do that because you are going to advertise. How about, “We will cash your refund check with any purchase over $300”?

Every retailer in town wants to get their hands on that refund check. So why not you?

Do you remember the emotion that’s prevalent in April? The answer is “greed.”

We are in the second quarter of the year. How is your year going? Have you met your goals up to now?

Are you ahead, or have you fallen behind?

If you are ahead, why?

If you’ve fallen behind, why?

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Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

If you are not happy with the results you are getting by selling the way you do, then you have to change something.

We are all creatures of habit. We go about our lives doing things out of habit. We wake up about the same time every day because of habit. We put our socks on the
same way because of habit. We take the same route to work because of habit.

To change a habit, we must do it by affirmations.

It usually takes 21 days to change a habit.

Here are some affirmations to help you become a successful salesperson.

I will be a successful and professional salesperson because I am…

Dedicated: I go to work on time, I plan my work, I enjoy my work and I go the extra mile.

Ethical: I am honest and have my customers’ best interests at heart. I sell them the products they really need. I will not lie to make a sale.

Knowledgeable: I will keep up with all the advances in my industry and learn all I can about the products I sell.

Analytical: I evaluate the benefits of a product and am able to decide if it is suitable for my customers’ varied needs.

Imaginative: I am able to visualize my goals to benefit my company, as well as my customer enjoying the benefits of my products.

Diplomatic: When I have a disagreeable customer, I have the ability and tact to influence a change in his or her thinking without offending him or her.

These are affirmations that will change your bad habits into good ones. You must read these aloud every day and, in 21 days, they will become a part of you.

Work at making these good traits your new habits.

Og Mandino, author of The Greatest Salesman in the World, wrote, “It only takes a small step to go from ordinary to excellent.”

Take this small step and let me know if it

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By Gene Fresco

The five strongest emotions are Survival, Recognition, Love, Sex and Greed.

February is the month in which Love prevails.

Why? Valentine’s Day!

This is the month that people, usually but not necessarily of opposite sexes, express their love.

As a child, how many times did you bring home a Valentine’s card to your mom?

Music products retail stores will want to capitalize on this emotion by suggesting to someone who loves a musician—be it a son, daughter, husband, boyfriend, wife or girlfriend—that he or she give that person a musical gift.

I know that, by the time you read this, Valentine’s Day might have already passed. No matter! Keep these ideas handy for next year, and it’ll be a better February than ever before.

So, how do you capitalize on this, you ask?

Simple: Decorate your store with lots of hearts, cupids and other Valentine’s Day reminders.

Put a large sign in your store window that reads, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Put heart-shaped price tags on your products.

Play love songs on your store sound system.

In other words, get your customers in the mood!

Remember: People buy with their emotions and, later, justify it logically.

Once you realize this fact, you will be able to design your sales plan around these emotions.

Being in the musical instrument business is truly an emotional experience. What makes us laugh or cry? Music!

What’s more emotional than that?

I bought my twin grandsons a year’s worth of lessons when I heard they got guitars for their birthday. Why? Because I love them!

Love makes all of us do crazy things. Trust me…we are dealing with a very, very strong emotion.

You can make every February a banner month if you do what I am saying, and do it the best way you can.

Write down these five emotions, and have them written on top of whatever plans you have for a particular month. Decide how you will appeal to shoppers that month, and with which emotion.

For instance, most schools graduate in June.

What emotions do you think prevail in that month? If you said Recognition and Love, then (continue reading)

By Gene Fresco

The years just keep coming, don’t they?

This year, let’s do it right.

Most of you will be going to NAMM, because going will tell you what’ll be happening this year.

Manufacturers have made their plans for the coming year, and their new products will give you an idea of what they plan to sell to you and what you will be selling to your retail customers. If you don’t go to NAMM, their reps will be in your store soon to tell you about what you missed.

This is how it has been done for as long as I have been in the musical instrument business.

Luckily, you have The Music & Sound Retailer to tell you what you missed if you don’t go to NAMM.

When you finally decide what products you plan to sell in 2013, you have to make your plans on how you will sell them to your retail customers. This is the most important step to ensure that you have a successful year in 2013.

This is the time to sit down with all your personnel and plan the what, who, when and where of your sales in the coming year.

The “what” refers to the products you choose to sell.

The “who” comprises musicians—professionals or beginners—preachers, club owners or anyone else who needs an instrument or sound system.

The “when” is daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

The “where” is in your store, on your Web site, at a church, at a club, at a guitar show, at a band masters show or anywhere else the products you sell are needed.

At this planning meeting, all your personnel must be involved; you will be surprised how knowledgeable they are. You must include them in the planning and not just tell them what you want them to do.
READ MORE

By Gene Fresco

Zig Ziglar is famous for saying, “You can get anything in life that you want if you help enough other people get what they want.”

When we take the spotlight off ourselves and shine it on someone else, that person responds in incredible ways.

Showing someone that we believe in him or her is often the fuel that person needs to overcome great obstacles and succeed.

Your personnel are the most important asset you have to achieve success in your business. Their motivation for getting the job done can be the “make it or break it” ingredient in success or, unfortunately, failure.

Give praise when it is deserved and be patient when someone fails. Be precise in your instructions about what you want to accomplish and how you want to accomplish it.
Give people the tools necessary to get the job done.

Look ahead to the coming year with optimism and a definite sense of purpose.

Sit down with your personnel and plan the coming year. Get feedback from them about the good and the bad of your business.

Is there enough advertising? Are the hours you are open too early or too late? Do you have the right mix of products to meet the needs of your clientele? What products do your personnel feel you need or don’t need? Which of your personnel are willing to call on clubs, houses of worship or schools? Would sales contests for the salespeople be an additional motivation for them to perform better? Do your personnel have a workstation where they can call prospects?

One of the most successful stores I called on in Dallas was a store where every salesperson had his or her own desk with a phone and computer for his or her personal use.

They were able to sit a customer at the desk and do the paperwork to finalize the sale. They were truly stars. This is the best way to let your personnel act and feel like stars.
As Zig says, help people get what they want and you will get what you want.

I have lived and worked with this attitude and, I must say, I’ve helped many people get what they want. And, I have always gotten what I want.

It’s the same with a customer. You find out what he or she wants to accomplish with music—whether it’s just to have fun or to be a professional musician—and you give him or her the right product to accomplish that goal. It warms my heart when I see a musician on stage with an instrument I sold him or her, and that person has realized a goal…made it a reality.

This is what the music business is all about. We don’t realize how we have influenced people’s lives just by choosing the right instrument for them.

Helping people get what they want gives us what we want. Amazing!

The new year will soon be upon us, and there is a lot of planning to do.

Soon, some of you will be going to the NAMM show. It’s time to sit down with your personnel and formulate plans about what products you want to buy for the coming year.

Use your time wisely. Don’t waste time. Assign projects for each one of your personnel who is going to the show. The guitar person should check out all the new guitars; the piano person should check out the new pianos; the sound person should check out the new innovations in sound. This is serious. The success of your business is dependent upon them doing the right thing! If they don’t, you will be paying for it for the rest of the year.

Bring lots of business cards and give them out generously to sellers, as well as other retailers who might be able to help you out. Of course, get a picture with a star musician that you can hang on your wall in your store.

Let’s make 2013 a banner year. Let’s do everything right and leave nothing to chance. Let’s plan our days, weeks, months and the entire year so we get the results we want, and so we can help our personnel and our customers get what they want.

You’ve got to be in it to win it!

Don’t settle for second best. Be the best music store in town. Have motivated personnel who are proud of the business for which they work…who are stars in your eyes and in their own eyes. Recognition is the second emotion after survival. That is a strong emotion because survival is literally your emotion to stay alive. We all want recognition. When I was starting out as a salesman, my boss would give me a $50 raise just about every other month. But, all he had to do was say, “Gene, you’re doing a great job,” and he would have saved a lot of money. I smile when I pull into the parking lot at a big-box store and see a parking spot that says “Salesperson of the Month.” They know how important recognition is.

Be positive, be energetic, be fair with your personnel and customers, and definitely be a star maker.

I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year and look forward to helping you reach your goals.

Remember, I look forward to your mail. If you have questions about a selling situation, please send it to Dan Ferrisi, Editor, and I will answer it personally. Or, if it’s a problem I think my readers might also have, I might answer it in this column.

I wish you good selling.

By Gene Fresco

Years ago, when I was honorably discharged from the Air Force, I pondered what my career would be in civilian life. I read an article that said the three highest-paying careers were doctor, salesman and lawyer.

Well, I didn’t have a medical degree and I didn’t have a law degree. So, I decided I would become a salesman. I decided to take a class in salesmanship.

On the first day, the instructor picked me to go to the front of the room and lead the class in a cheer.

We all shouted, “Boy, am I enthusiastic!” We did that every day at the beginning of the class.

Our instructor knew the importance of enthusiasm, and that you can’t be a successful salesperson without it.

The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greeks. It literally means “God within.” When they saw a person excited, they thought he or she was possessed by a god.

They thought Apollo was possessed by a god because of his zeal for his religion.

Here’s what men smarter than me have to say about enthusiasm.

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Every person is enthusiastic at times. One person has enthusiasm for 30 minutes; another person has it for 30 days, but it is the person who has it for 30 years who makes a success of life.” —Edward Butler George

“Enthusiasm releases the drive to carry you over obstacles and adds significance to all you do.” —Norman Vincent Peale

Time to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself this: “Am I enthusiastic in my job?” If the answer is no, then you might have to seek a new career field.

If the answer is yes, then you have to demonstrate it every day.

Not just once in a while or sometimes…every day!

You probably believe that people don’t know what you are thinking. Well…wrong!

They know what you are thinking by your posture, your facial expressions, the tone of your voice, etc.

If customers come into your store and it takes five minutes to greet them, and you are slouched at your desk and ask them, “What do you want?”, they know you hate your job. They know you would rather be somewhere else and you don’t care that they came into your store.

On the other hand, if you jump off your seat, walk briskly to them and say, “Welcome to our store. My name is Gene. What’s yours?”, they’ll know you love your job.

They’ll know you’re happy to be there and you really are glad to meet them and help them.

That’s what enthusiasm is. It makes you want to succeed. It makes you want to be the best salesperson you can be.

I have been enthusiastic about the music industry all my adult life. I think it is a great service that I provide, and it has led to great enjoyment and, sometimes, great careers for some of the customers I have helped.

That is what you must believe to be enthusiastic about the service you provide.

If you are a clock-watcher and can’t wait to go home, then you are not enthusiastic about your job.

I have always hated the clock because it has kept me from getting more done.

I have talked about the subconscious mind and how you can tell it something and it will believe it.

I want you to practice looking in the mirror every morning and yelling, “Boy, am I enthusiastic!”

Do this every day and, after a few weeks, write me and tell me if it has made you more enthusiastic. I know it worked for me.

I have met and worked with many men and women who I knew were enthusiastic about their jobs and careers.

As a rep, I would attend the company meetings and, I’m sorry to say, most of them were boring, tedious and not very informative. They were what I called “nuts and bolts” stuff.

Later in the evening, I would have a meeting in my hotel room and the salespeople who came to them were enthusiastic. They weren’t clock-watchers.

We would explore the “sizzle” in the products we sold, not the “nuts and bolts.”

I have always said selling is 90 percent attitude.

Instead of saying you have to have a “positive attitude,” I’m going to say you have to have an “enthusiastic attitude.”

Love what you do and do it with love.

Really want to help people; really want to be a success in life. A person’s life is well lived if he or she is happy in his or her career and has a happy relationship.

The only way we can compete in this “viral world” in which we live is to give people more for their money. Make them realize an instrument needs maintenance and service. Have teachers who will make musicians of people. Let them know you appreciate their business and will be on call when they need you.

Enthusiasm is contagious. If you are enthusiastic, then your customer will be enthusiastic about buying a product from you and taking lessons so he or she can be successful in his or her hobby or career.

This is the problem in our industry today: It’s all about money. Of course, we are in the music business to make money. But, if you think the only way to close a sale is by offering the cheapest price, rather than by going the extra mile to make a friend of your customer and giving him or her the most service, then you’re wrong. If you see the customer as just another sales slip in the cash register, then you are definitely not enthusiastic about the music business.

I wish you good selling.

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.

Most Important Quarter Of The Year

By Gene Fresco

Retailers make from 47 percent to up to 60 percent of their yearly sales volume in the last quarter of the year.

It’s September, and now is the time for you to make your plans for the coming quarter.

The better the plan, the more sales you will have.

The four holidays in the last quarter are Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

You must have a precise plan on how to utilize these holidays to your financial advantage.

The first thing you must do, if you haven’t done it already, is create gift cards for your store.

Gift cards are on the rise in this economy, because they are a way of allowing the receiver to buy what he or she wants and needs. They also free the giver of any regret in getting the wrong thing.

I would advertise their availability and offer a discount to the buyer, such as, “Buy a gift certificate from Joe’s Music at 10 percent off. Get $100 for only $90.”

Have the cards displayed in every department. Have your salespeople tell every customer who comes in about them. Start doing this now!

The first holiday coming up is Halloween. Jump in with both feet on this one. Have a Best Costume contest for your customers and encourage them to come to your store.

Take their picture and post it on a bulletin board. Offer an extra 10-percent discount for anyone coming into your store wearing a costume. Have all your salespeople wear costumes on that day.

You must get all you can from the last quarter, so you want to be very thorough in your plans.

You must spend 60 percent of your advertising budget in the last quarter of the year. This is “make money time.” So, make some money!

The next holiday coming up is Thanksgiving. This is a little more of a laid-back holiday. So, you want to be a little more reverent in your promotions. One good idea is to give away turkeys. How about a free turkey with every sale exceeding $200? You can arrange this with the most popular food store in town. I would also include a promotion with churches, which are getting ready for their holiday services. The one I have had the most success with is offering a free check of their sound system to ensure good performance during their more elaborate services.

And, of course, the most important reason to thank God is for our troops, who make sacrifices every day to keep us safe. Always offer a serviceman or servicewoman an extra military discount.

The third holiday is the most important: Christmas. (Also not to be forgotten are customers of a different religion, such as Jewish customers who celebrate Hanukkah.)

This is the break-it-or-make-it month of the last quarter.

You have to come out with all you’ve got.

I would set up a tree and Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving and, again, stress gift-card availability.

Set up tables by prices. Have pre-wrapped gifts. Have a $25 table, a $50 table, a $100 table and so on.

You can hire some temporary help to wrap the pre-wrapped gifts and put a sticker on the outside to indicate what the item is.

Make it as easy as possible for your customer to buy a gift. Have a drawing to win a trip. You can buy trips to Las Vegas at a very reasonable cost nowadays.

Play Christmas songs that can be heard outside the front door as your customers enter.

Have your salespeople greet the customers with “Happy Holidays!”

You must put your thinking cap on and have all your personnel put on theirs, too. Have brainstorming sessions this month on planning the coming quarter.

You will be surprised how resourceful you and your personnel can be.

Mail or e-mail every one of your clientele a Christmas card, Hanukkah greeting or the like. Thank them for their business and wish them a happy and healthy New Year.

Of course, New Year’s Eve is the last holiday of 2012, and we all look for 2013 to be bigger and better. It can be, if you plan the whole year as you have planned the last quarter. Each month has a special holiday that can represent more business.

For the big department stores, January is “White Month.” That is when linens and bedding sales occur. You can have white instrument sales: all white instruments on sale.

February has Valentine’s Day, March has St. Patrick’s Day and April has Easter. May has Mother’s Day, June has Father’s Day and July has Independence Day. August has back-to-school shoppingz and September has Labor Day. October has Halloween, November has Thanksgiving, and December has Christmas and Hanukkah.

If you maintain this last-quarter attitude for every month of the year, you won’t have to scramble trying to make 60 percent of your sales volume during the last three months of the year.

Read the ads in your local paper, see what the big boys are doing and get on their bandwagon. They spend millions on surveys to find out what the trends are and how to capitalize on them. Let them spend the money, and then use their ideas to your advantage.

Madison Avenue advertising agencies spent $2 million to find out what words Americans respond to in advertising. They are New, Free, Happy, Love and Guarantee. Use all or some of these words and you will get good results.

I wish you all a happy and successful last quarter, and I hope I have inspired you to do great things.

I wish you good selling.