The Sales Psychology of Proper Event Selling-PI Sales Academy Blog/Quiz #14
The purpose of this document is two-fold:
First: To define historically-proper event protocol. Second: To explain the reasons for and benefits of sales psychology. This entire flow is based upon a successful theme and marketing plan executed to cause traffic that needs to be processed efficiently. It also presupposes a group of attendees created by an efficient appointment desk event coordinator.
We will begin by citing a company who is very successful and takes control of the flow of the sales process by their very design, CarMax. Unlike your typical dealership, you can’t walk around a CarMax lot unattended randomly viewing vehicles. There are never any wandering soles unescorted on their properties before being vetted out. To get to view and experience a CarMax vehicle, you must experience a well thought out process with an intentional physical and chronological order. There are no groups of sales persons sitting around a gazebo swapping bad jokes waiting for their Up, poised like vultures to descend upon the next willing victims. Conversely, you will be greeted by a well-trained sales professional and asked if you’ve ever been to a CarMax show lot before.
After the greeting, you will be invited to have a drink and sit in a sales pro’s office for some light-hearted conversation. Some credibility about the company is shared and a “fact finding” is conducted–only after the representative has a clear picture of your wants and needs will you be invited to consider a small group of 2-3 cars for purchasing. The braintrust at CarMax built a well-crafted physical and psychologically sound system of presenting their products. To this day they are innovative by creating an “Omni-channel” online experience which uses AI to deliver a seamless online experience–including the ability to book an appointment. They are America’s largest and most successful car company and the primary reason is because their sales process is well thought out and fundamentally sound. Successful piano event selling should be similar in principle with a few embellishments.
Based upon a strong theme and a good appointment setter who sells the opportunity and not specific pianos, a well-funded event will create responses. The other critical element would be the marketing mix and harvesting of interested piano prospects. However, the focus of this writing is the proper processing “on site” of the attendees who have honored their appointment and actually show up at the event site. The main difference between a car buying experience at CarMax and a piano event is the urgency created by the integrity of a temporarily reduced inventory price reduction only applicable during the sale period. The believability of the pricing is tied to the theme, which needs to sound legitimate and not trumped up.
My initial entry into the piano industry as a marketing and sales support specialist was executing the marketing support for special event sales weekends. The fundamentals and proclivity to pay attention to the buyer experience was a springboard for me into understanding efficient selling. It is my STRONG opinion that many of the psychological sales fundamentals explained below should be adopted in some form or fashion for the most effective “day to day” sales. The staging recommendations to follow are 100% in lockstep with the 5 Steps to Sales Success Method I’ve used to sell over a million dollars worth of marketing services to the piano industry over three plus decades. For your reference that article is available through this link: https://prospectsint.com/sales-success.
I believe that if any of you unpack this carefully you will find some nuggets that will be helpful, and I trust that reading about selling is a fun and positive time investment for you.
Element #1: Parking Lot Prep and First Impression
My first topic has to do with the first impression a potential visitor has when they show up. The parking lot and the building are the first impressions. Off-site parking needs to be clearly marked, explained by the appointment setter, and defined in an email to confirm the appointment. On-site is simple BUT it doesn’t hurt the first impression to have “Piano Event Parking” signs in the parking lot as it begins to take control of the sale process psychologically before the attendee even enters the building.
Element #2: Exterior Building First Impression
The second first impression (I say this in jest) is the way the building is prepared on the outside. An exterior banner communicating the theme of the event large enough to let passersby know that an event is in progress is a good idea. Also, it is highly recommended that any exterior windows are either papered with plain brown or white paper so no one can see in before entry. Another option is to have posters inhibiting the view of the inside with verbiage that mirrors the name of the event theme (e.g., for an Inventory Clearance Piano Sale, the windows should repeat the theme, saying it in every available outside looking window and on the door). The preparation of the building and layout after the potential buyer enters should visually say “This is not a typical showroom floor setup.” It should give the impression of being designed to process visitors in a certain manner.
Element #3: Greeting Visitors
In the old days of weekend piano selling there would typically be a “holding area” where a Greeter would be sitting sectioned-off from the instruments. The Greeter would get some information from the visitor, such as: why they are interested in buying a piano; who will be playing the instrument; the type of piano they are most interested in; and other basic preliminary questions. This would hopefully be delivered in a casual and friendly manner to set the proper tone of the buying experience. This area was often visually-restricted so that the pianos could not be seen…the old “take it away” was in place to reinforce the special attitude of the event and make the visitors feel fortunate even before seeing the pianos. The pianos were a special item not to be viewed randomly by unescorted attendees. It conveyed special processes and preparation–and it worked well!
I would not advocate the “pipe and drape” method these days, but it’s important to understand its purpose: To set and take control of the sales process. In today’s psychological and transparent buying society I would just as soon allow a visitor to see the pianos before they can experience them as they are being initially processed. The greeter should no longer ask the attendee to answer a “few brief questions” by filling out a printed registration form. Instead, ask them directly and type the answers into a spreadsheet that will be viewable at an introductory “pre-talk” conducted by the next sales person in the rotation. The greeting area should be temporary and functional in design–an area obviously non-existent on a day-to-day sales floor, and be nice but not too comfy.
Element #4: The Pre-Talk
Located away from the Greeter and near a front corner of the showroom (before visitors walk by too many pianos) should be a very comfortable area where the visitors meet their Piano Specialist. The first function of the sales pro is the “pre-talk”. The pre-talk sets the tone by nailing down the credibility of the event using the name of the theme to reinforce its value. The Greeter would use the name of the theme the attendees responded to in the marketing as would the Piano Specialist in the scripted pre-talk. It would be best if the pre-talk was NOT easily heard by the next visitors while being processed by the Greeter. This “first impression” of the visitors of the event and the Piano Specialist should be intimate and very comfortable despite being scripted. The ability of the Piano Specialist to deliver the pre-talk WITHOUT it sounding scripted is critical in establishing trust; you MUST sell “trust” before you sell the piano. The pre-talk (and in the next element, Fact Finding and Confirmations) area should be very comfortable. I would be in favor of a Keurig coffee machine, some nice chairs, and a couch or loveseat. Getting the rapport right, even at event speed, is critical to the closing ratio.
Element #5: Fact Finding and Confirmations
The “fact finding” should begin with the confirmation of all the wants and/or needs passed along to the Piano Specialist. In a perfect world any communications relative to said wants and needs should be passed from the Appointment Setter to the Greeter to the Specialist. This ensures an at least partial picture of the attendees’ wishes and contact information are on the spreadsheet. After confirmations and/or revisions of what is already known, the interview can deepen into the natural questions that need to be asked to take the buyers to the proper piano candidates.
Element #6: Demonstration & Presentation of the Product
After a successful fact finding, the Piano Specialist will make a statement such as: “Based upon what you’ve just shared with me, I have a few pianos for you to meet and consider as a new potential family member.” After this, the Specialist can get into the demonstration and presentation of the potential pianos. One item of the selection process I am a fan of is to ensure the buyers have a couple cards in their hands that says HOLD on one side and SOLD on the other that they can place on a piano they are either really interested in or have decided to purchase. The psychological purpose is to give weight to the selection process and eliminate any “oh, I’m just shopping” thoughts they may have. The card reinforces the reality that they are in a “selection”, rather than a “browsing” event. Caution: if a prospect does NOT play, refrain from a min-concert showing off your playing abilities. Always make your interactions about getting to the end game and serving your guest rather than yourself–even during day-to-day sales.
Element #7: The Close
The purpose of this document is to encourage a good flow in processing event attendees and explain the important reasons why a strongly-adhered-to protocol will result in more sales and win-wins for the buyers and sellers. Closing becomes easier If all the previous steps are executed properly–which invokes the “80/20 Rule”. If the first impressions in Steps 1 through 3 are positive and reinforce the validity of the sales opportunity at hand, the pre-talk and fact finding create trust between the buyer and seller, and the Piano Specialist subsequently shows the attendees the proper choices (because they listened more than they spoke), closing can most often be the culmination of a good decision and a very undramatic experience between the buyer and the seller. After the Piano Specialist matches the emotional, financial, inspirational, and practical needs of the buyer, the closing question can be as simple as: “It seems like you’ve decided that this piano is your new family member. We should place the SOLD card on this one, shouldn’t we?” This is just an example, as there are other equally-effective closing questions. We won’t go into overcoming objections here, but suffice to say that the number of objections melt away when the previous steps are properly executed.
Element #8: Writing the Deal
Once the piano is agreed upon, the Piano Specialist should walk the buyer(s) to the writing area—which should be near the back or to the side of the sales floor—and reinforce the great decision the purchasers made (to soften any potential buyer’s remorse). Using statements such as “how happy they will be with their instrument”, and thanking them for “allowing us to serve you and match you with the perfect piano for your family” should be used until the purchaser is handed off to the Writer. The Writer will be given the specifics and process the deal. Sometimes objections come up during the writing of the deal, so the Writer must have some level of sales chops and the ability to overcome any objections. All delivery information and other relevant details will be collected and managed at this stage. Most often Writers have experience processing piano sales and have a good handle on financing. A “to” person and/or the Piano Specialist can be brought back in if the deal becomes “in question”. However, if the Event Staff sticks to the chronological order shown above, the number of complications that can sabotage the culmination of a sale will be absolutely minimal.
“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” — W. Edwards Deming
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Jack is a thirty year marketing and sales veteran with an insatiable appetite for contributing to the sales success of others. After leaving Cox communications in the late eighties Jack has serviced clients such as: Goodyear, Allstate, Verizon Wireless, Steinway & Sons, and numerous independent businesses. His knack for creating targeted strategies has endeared him to clients who he has been privileged to service in many instances for over two decades.
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