Once upon a time I made the crazy decision to get a haircut and a "real" job. A couple years later, I worked my way up to managing a genuine brick & mortar consumer electronics store, wearing a tie to work every day and everything. I never completely left the live audio world, since mixing vocals through a couple pair of Bose 802's for a society band at weddings and country clubs was just too much money for too little work.

For these gigs, I even went as far as wearing a jacket. There are even rumors that I "fit in", but I refuse to believe them.

As part of the store manager gig, the owner of the company I worked for paid big bucks to a training company to teach the floor sales staff the art of selling. Here I will impart to you the basics of this training. Then, you too will be a genuine well-trained selling machine, unloading truckloads of freezers to Eskimos.

The Selling Process

The process of making a sale has very well defined stages. A good salesperson will always be aware of what stage of the process they are in at all times. It doesn't really matter if your trying to sell full production services to a festival committee, a speaker-on-a-stick rig for a dance recital, or a barbecue grill to the devil, the process remains the same.

The Approach

"Hello, may I help you?" You've all been asked that, a million times. "No thanks, I'm just looking" is the immediate pre-programmed response. It's this way for just about everyone, unless you happen to be in a fast-food joint and you are absolutely sure it's a burger & fries that you want. A good salesperson almost never says "May I help you". If they do, they always ignore the immediate "No thanks" response, and keep the line of communication open. This can be done by introducing yourself, or by telling the latest dirty joke, depending on your style.

The retail store face-to-face type of approach does happen in pro audio, but much initial contact is also done by telephone. Every time you answer your phone, the sales process can start. Potential customers lurk at every gig. Be aware that every time you say "Hello" to someone, you might be starting the sales process.

Qualification: Selling Ain’t Telling (Asking IS)

To "qualify" a customer is to find out what it is they need or want. This can be easy, provided your customer knows what they want. Your shiny new 24 box JBL Vertec rig may not be the best choice for a corporate board meeting. A pair of powered speakers-on-sticks is probably not what the heavy metal band playing the 1,800 seat theatre is looking for. Yes, these examples are greatly exaggerated, but you see what I mean.

The best way to qualify any new potential client is to ask a lot of questions. The usual questions like type of gig, size of venue, style of music, hours of performance, and the like are what you need to ask. The next thing to do is listen carefully to the answers. If anything is unclear, ask more questions. When you are sure you know what they are looking for, you move on to the next step...