Sorry this is long, but this is a topic I wrote about on my stripperblog earlier this week.
Secrets of Closing the Sale
So, I was talking to my friend Blaze yesterday, and he said, "Wow, I never realized you were all business at Christies"
"I'm lucky enough that my business is your pleasure." I responded.
It got me thinking about one of the first sales books I ever read: Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale. Page 39 "You will get everything in Life you want if you just help other people get what they want"
When I first posted a link to "10 Sales and Marketing Tips I learned from Strippers
http://www.wisecamel.com/2007/06/20/...rom-strippers/ back in September; my non-strip club friend Hal said "Gosh I never thought of strippers as salespeople before." By the way, Hal had never been to a strip club in his life before I dragged him to one this past summer. And yes, I actually DO have male friends in the "real world" that have never seen me naked.
Well, if a stripper is good at her craft, you will NEVER feel manipulated.
Question: Is the sales process something that you do to someone or you do for someone?
If you feel the sales process is just some annoying, time-wasting, arm-twisting process you have to walk a client through in order to get to VIP, then you are a manipulator. I'll be the first to admit that manipulators make sales, but I have never known one manipulator who had long term success in the profession. Manipulative Strippers are the ones that give us a bad rap: they insinuate they will "do more" in VIP, they go shopping with and lead their sugar daddy customers to believe that they are "dating" them, and consequently their client relationships ultimately end with dramatic confrontations/restraining orders/lawsuits.
According to Zig, there are 5 basic reasons why people will not buy from you: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust. Pg 28.
In the strip club environment, no need doesn't really apply. This is the old school thought that we only buy what we need. If that were true, then the economy wouldn't be in a credit crunch and someone making 35K per year wouldn't own a Hi Definition TV set that is 10% of his annual income. I know a few teachers with $3,500 TV sets.
No money can be a delicate subject. Sometimes customers honestly don't have any (or enough) money. You can use all the techniques in the world, but you can't manufacture money in some cases. In other cases though, it is the stripper's job to become an assistant buyer for the customer. The assistant buyer helps the client get what he wants. Client wants to go to VIP, but he spent his limit on dances with other girls before he met you. Well, as an assistant buyer it's your job to devise a strategy to help him get what he wants. What I do, is I negotiate a half hour instead of an hour. Or if he doesn't drink alcohol, I don't force him to buy a bottle of champagne. People buy what they want, when they want it more than they want the money it costs. In other words, when I assist a client in choosing which VIP experience they want, I know that they want to go to VIP more than they want the $200, $400, or $2000 it is going to cost them.
No hurry. Timing is of the essence in the strip club environment. I've missed sales because I got called to stage, or for a feature, and some other girl walked in at the right time and stole my customer! Just kidding, I've never used that lame excuse. I don't lose sales to other girls. I lose sales because I don't create a sense of urgency to "buy now." I also realize that if I can't close a sale before I have to leave, and some other girl is able to close it in my absence…then it was never my sale to begin with. Likewise, Blaze took his merry time last Sept 8th and was about 30-45 minutes late. I ran into Kelly the Cotton Man and with Blaze nowhere in sight I had no other choice than to sign out with Kelly.
The fourth reason people don't buy from you is no desire. They really do not want what you are selling. This has two connotations in the strip club environment. First is the contact connotation. There is a group of fugly girls at my club who do really raunchy $10 lap dances. They flip upside down, put their crotch in guy's faces, grind longer than the "3 second rule." Some clients don't care how fugly a dancer is, they just want the most bang for their buck. These types of clients rarely buy dances from me. In fact, I danced for one of these clients last Wednesday night. After one dance, he says "That sucked. You didn't even do anything." My response, "What do you expect for a ten dollars?" Other clients REALLY don't want a skanky girl putting her smelling crotch in their face. They want a pretty girl they can talk to who can make them feel special for a few hours, and they don't mind paying a premium for privacy. This is the product that I sell and these are the clients that buy from me. The second connotation is more literal. Some guys just aren't "strip club kinda guys" and they aren't interested in buying lapdances or going to VIP. This usually happens with bachelor and birthday parties: they came along to hang out with friends and be social, but they just aren't buyers. My friend Hal is one of those. He went to the club with me, I bought him some dances, it just wasn't his thing.
The absolute most important reason why people don't buy from you is No Trust. According to a study conducted by the New York Sales and Marketing Club, 71% of people who buy a product do so because they like you, trust you, and respect you. This is why manipulators will NEVER achieve a long term successful sales career. The manipulator burns a bridge every time a client relationship ends. I actually have one client that I have known since 2000 when I worked at Mr. J's in Orange County, CA! Diamondback Chuck has been a client for 4 ½ years. Diego has been my client for 3 years. TreeMan Dave: 3 years. San Francisco Bob: 2 years. Kelly the Cotton Man: 2 ½ years. Blaze: almost 1 year. Why?Because they trust me. I don't lie to them. I don't have to manipulate them to buy from me. They know that I am married. They know that I am not going to go home or to their hotel room with them after hours. And most importantly, they know that I am not going to swindle them.