Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Who is reading or has read Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale" ? It's a good read and I have gotten a few good pointers out of it; however, I am having trouble equating a lot of what it says to my work as a dancer.
Of those of you who have read it, what is the best info you have goten out of it, and how did you apply it specifically to work?
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
I am reading this and he is the man.
Unfortunately there's so many good things he's written, it's hard to list them all. I like what he's said about gaining the trust of your customer BEFORE you try to sell them anything, being organized and strategic in your business habits, considering your customers needs when you select a product and make a pitch for them... He talks about the other sellers around the watercooler (dressing room) ad why you have to steer clear of them. It gives you the psychology of buyers and why they are resistant and why you shouldn't take it personally.
Check it out!
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Great book...I'll agree that it does take a little creativity to transpose some of the ideas to the dancing world.
This is the stuff that I remember from the book, off the top of my head (but I'll look up the pages)...let's see-- p. 12, "Most Salespeople are Negative"
p.28, where he paraphrases Coco Chanel, "if a woman is dressed poorly, you notice her dress, and if she's impeccably dressed, you notice the woman." So true...
p. 29, "Make Me Feel Important!"
What I want to work on now is p. 155, "I'm Sorry But I Don't Make Callbacks"...as in, "I usually don't have time to come back around to people..."
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
The tricky thing about that is that on slow nights coming back can pay off. I think it's because in Joe's case people have already made up their minds but in our case they may still be settling in when we initially speak. They settle, drink, unwind and get frisky! Joe's customers just get disinterested.
I sometimes lose sight of pg 156 No Single Prospect Will Make or Break You. I go all out on selling them and sometimes it bugs me for hours to get so close only to get a no or some 10-25 dances. It's like I can taste the VIP and it slips away.
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Maybe being "sold" is what is turning off strip club patrons these days. You have trouble equating a book on sales to stripping because the two are not the same. What you are doing is trying to refine your negotiation skills. Maybe read Getting to Yes and Getting past No by Robert Ury. In essence your selling your time, and really thats it, its intangible but defined. The whole idea of a lapdance was really created to add definition to payment of money for time. Now the customer is "buying" something tangible.
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
I have read several of his books, and read several male member posts that may attribute to what was stated in the books.
For every customer we turn off or who feels burned, multiply it by 250.
We as dancers are trying to get every last dollar out of a customer, and many customers feel hustled.
Skank Lover has spoken this above and Doc catfish on other posts.
A dance adds definition to payment of money for time. I have heard this analogy before. But let's read between the lines. A dance in itself is meaningless to most guys. It does nothing for them. But it is a way for us to get paid.
Not wanting to give a customer change when he buys dances. That turned Doc Catfish off. Now how many other strip club goers feel the same way these two guys do? Look at all the guys who have been hustled and squeezed out of money in clubs all over the world. Now multiply each of them by 250.
Emphasis on the hustle instead of honest customer service along with the sale and keeping the customers coming back to us as Joe Girard did, is leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of thousands of "former" strip club goers who spent money.
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
If the customer is turned off by "being sold" in a place of business, they're dealing with a bad salesperson.
That's why some of us read sales books. To get better at it. Some of the sales book jargon is a stretch when translated into ours. Cold calls easily equal making a round, for example, but things like asking your clients to write you glowing testimonials that you can then collect in a binder to show other prospective clients... hahahaha, where would you put the binder?
I don't think any of us are dense enough to think that our awesome sales techniques are what some satisfied customer is going to be telling all his buddies about the next day. Doesn't mean he wasn't sold.
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
I disagree T, we are selling a unique sensual/social experience. We're like mini-stars to many guys. So we're like the Stones coming to town, every week! ;D That's face time worth buying. So I think the dance itself has meaning and value to many and the time has meaning and value to many! The trick is seducing their senses instead of pushing or tricking their minds.
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
I've danced for a whooooolle lot of guys who'd tell you the dance is exactly what they were paying for ;D When they get 1-2 from several girls before me, then get 5-10 from me (with little or no talking), it wasn't my fabulous conversation they were so interested in. I'm thinking it was something about the way I turned them from barely interested stiffs to slack-jawed, blubbering idiots ;D ;D ;D
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Quote:
Originally Posted by red red red
If the customer is turned off by "being sold" in a place of business, they're dealing with a bad salesperson.
You are absolutely correct! This is what sets the top sales people apart from the mediocre ones. When I close a sale on a $40,000 deal, the customer never gets the feeling they're being sold on anything. In fact, they usually thank me after the sale. THAT'S the difference. And it's that difference is what turns selling 1 lap dance into 5. It's that difference is what turns 2 dances on the floor into an hour in the VIP/Champagne room. While Bridgette is correct that when the service is good and the experience is fun, they'll buy more, the other key component is to set the sale up right in the beginning so they will be more in tune to the service that is to come and want to keep buying, not feel obligated to. Having awesome sales skills alone will not make you money...you have to be able keep that rapport with the customer to make him want to keep opening that wallet for more. If the car falls apart the moment I drive off the lot, no sales skills in the world may keep me a happy customer. It's hitting them with both barrels is what counts.
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
There is a difference in being "sold" and being "hustled".
A good salesperson as DW said is able to make a person feel he is not being sold. She builds rapport.
Back to Joe Girard, he definately teaches how to build RAPPORT. A dance is usually bought based on a combination of having established rapport with a customer, and the customers attraction to the dancer. Dances per se for most guys don't in themselves excite them. This is my response to how guys polled respond when asked if they like dances.
How many dancers understand that making sales to customers whether in a strip club or in a car dealership involves developing a rapport with the customer first.
Many dancers feel that guys are OBLIGATED to buy from us, and try to badger and belittle them into buying. The frustration many untrained girls feel when money is hard to make is causing them to run the guys away.
If anything, these girls need to learn that selling people is a lot easier if you develop a bond with the customer first.
How many dancers attempt to do this first?
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Ehh, I dunno DW. Once I've got a guy in slack-jawed, blubbering idiot mode, he is pretty much putty in my hands. All I have to do is say "another?" and he will keep going till he runs out of money or can't take it anymore :P Of course I do word it a little differently: "we can do another?" is more like what I say, with my sly grin and all. But I have a feeling I could totally get away with just "another?" and they'd happily go along. Slack-jawed, blubbering idiots have a reeeeaally hard time saying no ;D
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bridgette
Ehh, I dunno DW. Once I've got a guy in slack-jawed, blubbering idiot mode, he is pretty much putty in my hands.
See, that quote says it all. You build a rapport with the guys, and THEN they are easy sells. ;)
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Re: Joe Gerard: "How to close every sale"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bridgette
Slack-jawed, blubbering idiots have a reeeeaally hard time saying no ;D
Knowing you Bridgette, that doesn't surprise me one bit. ;)