Old School Marketing

Old School Marketing

Scott Bierko

Not to long ago, my marketing efforts changed. Radically. Instead of relying on mailings, web sites, showcases and repeat customers to get work, I started doing something very 20^th century: calling people. Mind you, I did not want to do this. In fact, it’s fair to say that I approached my first set of calls with the same enthusiasm I had for brussel sprouts. Yuck!

Why, you may ask? Well, for most of our career, I perceived sales as “convincing people to buy what you have at the highest possible profit”. If possible, I wanted them to buy our most expensive assembly or concert programs at full retail price, so I much preferred to stay behind the curtain and interact with my clients via the U.S. Mail and my web site.

To me, asking for sales felt like begging for bread. Looking back, I don’t think that I saw much worth in what we had to offer, so I approached sales like I did girls in seventh grade. “Please like me,” I seemed to be saying. In middle school, girls did not respond to that kind of neediness and neither do clients.  As we all know, girls (and clients) tend to be attracted to strong, confident people who understand their needs and deliver on their promises.

I won’t bore you with all of the reasons that caused a shift in me. Let’s agree to call it maturing. Eventually, though, it did occur to me that our programs were getting better, that we had something special to offer and that kids and teachers were benefiting from our music. We wrote and produced many shows, chucking out ones that didn’t sell, constantly pruning the ones we kept and created new ones based upon a mixture of what turned us on and what we thought the schools might buy. And it worked. I was convinced that we had become very good at what we do.

Working with a business coach, we quickly zeroed in on our marketing problem: no one in our company was willing to put down the guitar, turn off the computer or tv, stop cleaning the house or playing with the dog in order to reach out to our customers. Why should we bother people at home? So that we can get rejected? My kids are already rejecting me, so I don’t really want more of that.

Eventually, the coach helped us understand and believe a few key points, one of which we had heard many times before and another one that was totally new. The first lesson was this old chestnut: sales is a numbers game. Every business has to determine how many calls they need to make in order to reach their sales goals and, yes, you have to make the calls whether you perceive of them as yucky vegetables or not. There is nothing fancy about that. It’s simple in its brilliance and there’s no way to take a shortcut until (and this is important) your business is so successful that people are calling you all the time.

The second point was: realize that not everyone is an ideal match for your talents and services, so it’s good and natural for them to say, “no, thank you.” I really do not want to work with clients who aren’t excited to work with me because it usually ends up being a drag. Most of us can tell within thirty seconds if the person we are speaking to wants to hang with us, so I suggest getting off the phone really fast and moving on. If only I had known that in seventh grade!

And I think I will leave you on that humorous note – don’t give up! This can really be fun, just like a game. In the past six months, I have learned to have fun with my clients. I am not afraid to show my personality, alternating between being earnest and really quite playful. One of my fellow children’s musicians regularly sings to people on the phone.

Everyone can make a brochure or a web site, but few people have what it takes to really communicate with their clients and create a relationship with them. As they said in the 20^th century, “try it; you’ll like it”.

Scott Bierko is a co-founder of Beth & Scott and Friends, a husband and wife team of Teaching Artists, from Yorktown Heights, NY.

(800) 364-5381

www.bethandscott.net

info@bethandscott.net