This Week In Independent Musicianry: Kickstarting and Asking For The Sale
via hello-the-future:
Shows played last week: 0
Open mics played last week: 0
Money made last week: $121.33, plus $2,137 in Kickstarter dollars
What I need to be working on this week: writing and recording a commission for a game company; finalizing the East Coast Tour; printing and distributing posters for my Bar Pico show; promoting my Kickstarter; monitoring and planning all the other shows I have coming up; booking my PAX flight
Have you funded it yet?
You’re totally going to fund my Kickstarter.
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And that’s how you ask for the sale.
I’m probably a bit more forward about this than some people. But this is what I do, and I’ve been requested to write a little more about how one “asks for the sale,” so here is what I know:
- When I “ask for the sale,” I don’t actually ask. I command. I use the imperative. Notice I wrote “You’re totally going to fund my Kickstarter,” not “Will you fund my Kickstarter?” When I did sales training, we learned not to ask questions that could be answered with “no.” So I don’t ask. I say, out loud, “you’re going to buy my CD” or “you’re going to fund my Kickstarter,” and then you have to change your mind.
- I also say “you’re totally going to fund my Kickstarter,” which softens the command. It’s colloquial. It’s quirky. It’s fun. (I cannot believe I’m telling you all my secrets like this.)
- I tell everyone who stops at my merch booth that they’re going to buy my CD. It doesn’t hurt me if they say no. The people who are going to be turned off by my stuff are going to be turned off anyway. The people who are interested in my music but can’t buy a CD for whatever reason aren’t going to be hurt that I asked them to buy something. They’re at a merch booth. That’s how it works.
- Notice I used “can’t buy a CD for whatever reason,” not “don’t want to buy a CD.” You have to go into this assuming everyone who’s interested in your work wants to buy something. Maybe they can’t buy a CD because it isn’t in their budget or their price range. Maybe they can’t buy a CD, but they can buy a digidownload card or a t-shirt.
- Not only do you have to assume that everyone who’s interested in your work wants to buy, you have to do the work so that everyone who’s interested in you can buy. Kickstarter does this very well with their reward levels. I started the $1 sticker option at my merch booth so that people who couldn’t buy the CD had something they could buy.
- A note on the mailing list. I know that microbusiness types think that your mailing list is your strongest asset. I have not found this to be true in my case. I have a very high open rate on my emails, but they don’t convert into sales. Twitter converts, Facebook converts, and face-to-face converts. Mailing list doesn’t. I doubt the majority of my list reads my copy, honestly.
- (The reason why Twitter and Fbook convert and the mailing list doesn’t? I think it’s because Twitter and Fbook are conversations, and both parties are engaged. Mailing list is all push and no interaction.)
- In fact, I’ve found that asking people to sign up on my mailing list is more of a turn-off than asking them for the sale. Let me re-emphasize this: people would rather give me money than be on my mailing list. :)
What else? What other questions do you have about selling and hustling?
Also: you’re totally going to fund my Kickstarter. :)
People, you’re totally going to fund Nicole’s Kickstarter. I did.
