Is The Answer More Low Hanging Fruit?

The commoditization of the piano is a blight on the efficiency of the industry’s sales population. How much meat do you think has been left on the bones because well meaning piano sales representatives didn’t have the proper follow up passion and protocol? I guess we’ll never know. 

Have you heard the pitch by sales coach Jason Evans? 

It’s a little schlocky and lacks some finesse for the luxury marketing space, but the statistics he rattles off on his radio pitch are solid and immutable. The one that would be VERY beneficial to a multitude of piano sales associates is the one: “80% of the sales happen after 5 attempts.” 

Now here’s the real world for selling in the luxury marketing space: easy has NOTHING TO DO with being an effective and efficient sales professional. The unvarnished reality is that the average piano sale of a cyberlead takes 15 outbound activity attempts. Some of the LARGE ticket items, with several month or year long gestation periods, take 30. 

If you are not working a “call in” or “walk in” with whom you have already done an efficient discovery with, you must reference the “5 Steps to Sales Success” article* and work on steps one and two before you approach three. If you don’t establish credibility and rapport first you can give a lot of good advice that falls on deaf ears. 

Low hanging fruit is not the answer. The appeal for easy selling is most effectively satisfied in the world of commodity sales, things with universal appeal that don’t deeply affect lifestyles and have nothing to do with travel, culture or the arts. We aren’t selling tires or Lysol wipes here folks. How do you make your leads pay off? First off, understand that it is not an ecommerce or buyer necessarily near the end of their buying journey. They filled out a form to get some information. The way to deepen the relationship is by becoming their concierge and giving them what they asked for… value added info. If you try to sell the appointment before you have yourself hired as the tour guide, they will run for the hills in most instances. Like coach John Wooden said,” Go fast, but don’t be in a hurry.” Keep things moving by being their concierge, but sell confidence before you sell the appointment or they will run from the pressure. 

Millions of sales are lost by sales individuals forcing the action instead of letting the game come to them. That fact is why I’m not a Jason Evans “high energy” disciple. Luxury marketing buyers need calm, educational engagement, not a used car sounding rep. Sometimes the timing and need intersect and it's time to write a deal, but the days of hard closers died with the readily available data of the internet. Work smart and play the long game. Have a catalog of “happy face client pictures”, links to articles and videos, and a “well of content” with which to keep them engaged until they pull the trigger. Feed them and eventually they will feed you. 

The amount of leads that the market will give you is not the most important thing, what you do with them is. If you are addicted to lead volume instead of learning how to vet them and find the quality needles in the haystack, you are buying into the commodity mindset. STOP! Just because someone isn’t ready doesn’t make them a bad lead; it makes them a future sales possibility. Quit focusing on “how many” and focus on “how” you process the leads and how many touches they get.     

If you understand the above in theory and would like help building a pipeline of cyberleads with which to change your sales fortunes, reach out to us. If we’re not already working with someone in your area, we will be happy to help.  

That is how you make your leads pay off and NO, low hanging fruit is not the answer, or the proper diet, to be as financially healthy as possible. There is nothing wrong with low hanging fruit; it tastes good. But the main course takes some preparation. 

“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” - Molière

*https://www.directsuccessent.com/post/5-steps-to-sales-success