What Salespeople can Learn from Book Fairs

book fairsI’ve written several posts about how salespeople should act at tradeshows.

Having attended two book fairs in the Washington, D.C. area this month, I would like to share with you some tips I’ve learned that you help you sell better at trade shows.

The book fairs I attended were at Roscoe Neapolitan Pizzeria in Takoma Park, MD. and at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Md.

Here are my tips–

1). Smile – yes, you may have written a book about depression or divorce, but if you want to attract people to your table display, you need to smile. While the subject matter may have been difficult to write about, you don’t want to make it more difficult for people to connect with you and buy your publication.

2). Business cards – put your business cards on your table. If you’re busy speaking to someone, a potential customer could at least pick up your card and contact you later, or perhaps circle back when you have time to speak. Or better yet, if you are selling books, offer free bookmarks with your contact information.

3). Summary – when someone asks you what your book is about, be prepared to give them a one or two-sentence summary or pitch. Don’t go into a long explanation. After summarizing your book, ask the attendee if he has any questions or interest in what you are selling. In other words, learn to engage with attendees.

4). Price Sheet – depending on the size of the book fair (or trade show), it doesn’t hurt to display your price sheet. Also, if you are offering a special “book fair” price only, make sure you mention that to attendees.

5). Apparel – if you want to attract attention, wear a funny hat or shirt displaying your book or subject matter.

paper bag6). Got bags?Jennifer Bort Yacovissi, author of “Up The Hill To Home,” a historical novel based in Washington, D.C., came up with an interesting idea to encourage books sales – She brought paper bags and gave them to her customers to carry books. Not a bad idea for someone like myself who likes to buy a lot of books.

7). Don’t share tables with other writers – yes, I know that you want to save money at book fairs. I get that. But nothing hurts your feelings more than someone returning later to buy your neighbor’s book and not your copy.

If you want to stand above the crowd, you need to stand alone.

8). Promote your attendance – don’t forget to promote your attendance on social media and your website so all your fans and friends can stop by and offer you moral support, not to mention purchasing your book.

9). Swag – providing free pens with your website and contact information never hurts.

10). Never give up – so you didn’t sell a lot of books at your book fair. Evaluate what you did right or wrong. Should you have had a larger table? Should you have created a better display of your books? Should you have rented a better location? Live and learn, and then move forward. There are more book fairs to come.

Frankly, selling at a book fair is a little tame and less stressful compared to working at a trade show. But I hope my tips will help you sell better in the future.

Recommend: Tim Wackel, Sales Consultant & Trainer

While attending the AA-ISP conference in Boston a couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of taking a session from Tim Wackel, sales consultant and trainer, on “Stop Pitching, Start Solving.”

(For some bad salespeople, I would have renamed the session, “Stop Bitching, Start Working.”)

Mr. Wackel’s presentation was one of the best sessions I attended during the conference. Everyone I spoke to after the session had the same opinion. My only regret was his session was only 30 minutes long. I wish they had scheduled more time for him. But fortunately for all of us, he did squeeze a lot of good information for us.

I’m not going to reveal too much detail of his session because I want to encourage you to ask your company or organization to hire him to train your sales team. Instead, I’m only going to offer you some sample nuggets.

One of the most surprising takeaways I got from his session is that the number one reason why most prospects buy from you isn’t because of price, product or the solution you are offering – it’s because of you. That’s right, you! The more effective you are as a salesperson, the better chance you have to increase your sales.

(Mr. Wackel obtained his information from Success Magazine).

Think about that for a second. How often have you heard prospects say they would love to buy your product or service, but the price is too high, or they need to check with their boss, or they will call you back when they are ready to purchase. Sure, some of the reasons are legitimate. But you know in your gut sometimes the reasons are none of the above – the real reason is that they just don’t trust or like you.

For example, in one of my previous jobs, I was working with a Florida hospital that was seeking a more robust password security program. The decision came down to me and a major competitor. My client was getting a lot of push-back from his boss and colleagues to purchase from the competitor. However, even though the competitor’s price was lower, my client bought from me.

Why? Because he trusted me. I went through several hoops to close the sale. For example, I quickly and honestly responded to all of his questions and concerns. I outlined some of the key differences between our products vs. the competitor. I did this without bad-mouthing our competitor.  At the client’s request, I conducted two separate online tours rather than one tour because I wanted to show our product not only to him but also to his colleagues.

After nearly four weeks, I closed the sale.

My client told me that the biggest reason he bought from me because I was willing to spend more time working with him than my competitor. He added that I showed more enthusiasm and willingness to work with him than most salespeople he had worked with in his career.

So what is the solution to get more sales? Mr. Wackel outlines four principles.

They are –

Principle #1 – Prescription before Diagnosis is Malpractice!

Principle #2 –Make Fewer Statements, Ask More Questions.

Do you want to know the next two principles? Do you want to learn more? Contact Mr. Wackel. Hire him. You will not regret it.

Here is his contact information:

3415 Westminster Ave. Ste. 207A
Dallas, Texas 75205
(214) 369-7722
tim@timwackel.com

Below is a video of “Who is Tim Wackel?” –