Hard to imagine now looking at the greying temples in the mirror, that I once grabbed a microphone, one foot on the stage lights, peering through the dry ice with a “King of the Hill” kind of gaze.
Ensuring I didn’t become a complete embarrassment to my kids in their formative years, I went into writing for other acts at an early age – and created a publishing company for others who did the same.
Anyhoo – I owe all the best advice I got back then to one guy who mentored me through a great deal of naivety, youthful exuberance and plain stupidity.
He’d been in one of the most successful bands of the mid sixties, lots of number one records, straight talking and really knew his stuff.
Funnily enough, the same mistakes that would-be songwriters and performers make aren’t that different to those being made by new recruits into the world of sales.
1. If you make yourself hard to find – er – no one will ever find you
I once went to a seminar for aspiring lyricists and the recurring worry of the night was that delegates were scared to death that their music would be ripped off if it was freely available.
“My brilliant song will be stolen by chart topping music thieves and recorded under their name!”
To which Gary Osborne (Elton John’s lyricist on Blue Eyes & Part Time Love) replied
“If you don’t let anyone hear you, how will they ever actually ‘hear you’?”
Now, you might not want to stretch out and take part in discussions on platforms like LinkedIn, or you may not feel confident enough to blog, tweet or mingle in a crowd of important looking networkers.
You might be scared to pick up that phone or knock on that door – but if you don’t give people the chance to buy from you, how will they ever actually ‘BUY’ from you?
2. No one will ever hear you if you don’t play live
Similar theme this, but based on the fact that some people think the world is going to come to them without effort – and it’s not!
Sitting in their rooms with the window open hoping – by chance – that Simon Cowell will walk down their cul-de-sac and hear their dulcet tones and guitar chords wafting on the summer breeze, then bang on the door and sign a contract at the kitchen table.
Yeah, right!
I don’t care how good your web page is, passing custom is at best rare and for the rest of us almost nonexistent.
With concentrated effort, there is however a way of drawing people towards you – and that is a whole different ball game.
3. You have to know what’s relevant and industry changing
The very first thing my music mentor asked me when I was starting to write for other people was
“Who are the top three competitors in your current job?”
I rolled them off – he then asked me to name the top three songs in that weeks chart.
I didn’t know and I didn’t care – I didn’t want to write the rubbish in the charts!
His response was brilliant and career changing
“That rubbish IS the business, it’s making millions – it’s what people are buying, therefore it should be what you are basing your new material on!”
You see, it doesn’t matter if you write pop, country, folk or theme tunes for children’s shows – the world changes in time – and as it does, beats evolve and develop.
So if you are still selling like someone from 1995 – you are out of date; if you haven’t caught up with customer preferences since 2008 – you’re out of date; and if you only interact with one level of a company’s structure, then when they retire – you’ll be out of date!
4. Look in the mirror – would you buy “YOU”
In the music business this is actually referred to in a much cruder fashion, which I won’t repeat here.
Just be honest with yourself – take a look in the mirror – would you buy from you?
We’re not all Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – that’s not what this is about; it’s just that, if you are presentable and comfortable with who you are, then you are probably better turned out than 90% of your competition.
FACT!
5. You need to get expert advice
So – given the choice – do you want to take advice from Robbie Williams or Barney down at the pub – who nearly made it, but the industry didn’t understand his genius?
There’s always a donkey trying to train racehorses – don’t be suckered into it
There are books – and audio books for the car if you want to make the excuse that you don’t have the time.
There are free webinars and on line training resources for those who don’t have the budget.
Whoever you take advice from – make sure they have lived it and achieved high levels of success in a testing environment.
I promise that if you invite me to come along – I’ll leave the spandex in the attic!
Until next time
Chris
This year, I want to help you and your sales team become more successful than they’ve ever been before – call my office now on
0844 293 9777 or request a call back by going to our Contact Page HERE.
You and I can work out a sales training programme that suits your requirements perfectly – foundation level sales training, field sales training, account management training, selling value over price, FMCG sales training, customer service training, whatever it might be – but it’s a big old world out there and if you don’t take two minutes to invite me over, I may never know you need me.
We create bespoke sales training days from as little as £228 per person, so give my office a call today and we can get a date in the diary to start working on tailoring something just for you.
Chris Murray
0844 293 9777
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