I am sure I have said this many times, and will continue to say it. I am pretty terrible at sales.
I could not sell water to a dehydrated billionaire in the desert. Even if it was their “brand” at their “price.” I just suck at it.
Being scouted for the RAW Seattle event serves to remind me at how bad I am at it.
It is frustrating.
I do not know what I do/say or don’t do/say that make it hard for people to buy things from me, but it is there. Like some sort of intangible field around me.
Since I have constantly had failures at selling a variety of things, news paper to knives, even art, I have a healthy dislike for selling things.
They say you should start with your friends and family. Practice on them…
Yeah…. Riiiiiiight.
All I really know is that I feel like I am harassing my friends and family. “Support Me!” “Buy my stuff!” “Pay attention to me.” “Give me money.”
I feel like I should just do a “GoFundMe” and beg strangers for money. Though, with my track rate it would not get past a pity donation. But it would be passive sales and I would not have to keep pushing people, who I genuinely like, for the sale.
Today I “hit up” about 90% of my Facebook contacts to buy tickets to the RAW Seattle art show. I am not going to say how few that is. This whole selling thing makes me embarrassed at how small the number of contacts I have. (Quality over quantity – right?)
I got a few friends that responded right away. I love those friends. They made it so easy and even though I feel bad about “hitting them up” they made me feel a teeny bit less bad. (Just got my first sale! She gets an extra print of her choice! Yippie!) It still feels wrong to bother people for these kinds of things.
You should notice what kind of words I use… it is important. “hit up,” bother, beg, push. That is how I think about sales. It is pretty negative and aggressive. I do not like to be that way.
I would rather ask if you would do something than try and sell you on the idea of it. Sneak it in during a conversation, vs just walking up and saying “Wanna buy some tickets?” I find it hard to initiate conversation with others that I do not know reasonably well.
Funny side imagery: Imagine two introverts hanging out at a coffee shop. Both not sure on what to say to initiate a conversation. Been there, it was awkward. Thankfully we moved past that and are good friends now, only slightly awkward conversations over chai.
In the end I did it. I am pushing myself to sell these tickets to the show. Because it is important to me. You can do amazing things when properly motivated.
PS. Check out the link to support me buy buying a ticket for the RAW Seattle FIXATE show.