On Copywriting

An Easy Way to Get Sales Experience

Regular reader Linda Lloyd offered me the following story. I thought it was worth sharing since the holidays are nearly upon us.

Everyone talks about getting marketing experience selling something. Yes I have done that... MLM, department store, fast food, etc. (All to pay for college.)

I think the best experience for teaching about selling AND customer service was spending two seasons wrapping gifts... one at a high end department store and one at a lower end. If there is one thing a customer is extremely picky about, it is the way their presents look, and if they have the "perfect present."

My supervisor at one store also taught us to look for "compatible add-ons" since we got a commission on what we sold from the counter. Such as if they bought a sweater, suggest a matching purse, scarf, hat, gloves, even jewelry. The customers would buy when you could show them how it really improved the "value" of the gift.

She taught us to always look for something that goes with the original gift and offer it. All you would need to do was put the two together to show them, and more often than not they bought.

Don't know if stores still hire gift wrappers for the holidays seasons, but that taught me more than the two years of college it helped pay for!

Thanks to Linda for sharing her experience. You can visit her online at Seagull Marketing Graphics.

3 Ways to Improve Your Selling Skills

Most copywriters are deficient in the sales department. If you're looking for how to improve your selling skills, then perhaps these recommendations will help you gain the knowledge and experience you need.

1. Read Sales Books

One of my favorite books about selling is Frank Bettger's How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. This isn't your vanilla "how to" book. It's a great story that includes practical sales advice from one of the best salesman of the early 20th Century.

Bettger's book reminds me in a lot of ways of Claude Hopkins' My Life in Advertising. Part teaching and part story. It makes for a great read.

Another favorite of mine is Roger Dawson's Secrets of Power Negotiating. I got the audio version from Nightingale-Conant. It's also available in book format.

The last two books I'll mention I have not read yet, but they are on my to-read list because of strong recommendations from Stephen Dean and Ben Settle. Those books are Getting Past No by William Ury and Start with No by Jim Camp. They both have stellar ratings on Amazon right now.

2. Take a Part-Time Sales Job

I've recently watched a few sales presentations in my home. One was for CUTCO Knives, the same company where Zig Ziglar made his name. The other was for Saladmaster. Both presentations were very persuasive. I watched with a critical eye, so I could see what they were doing and why.

Most direct sales companies are always on the lookout for new talent. So if you want to take a part-time sales job in the evenings, you might want to check out these two companies. I'm sure there are more.

Really, there's no better way to get selling experience than to sell face to face. And if you don't have time to do part-time sales, then watching a few sales presentations is the next best thing. (Just guard your wallet!)

3. Generate More Leads

Every lead you get is an opportunity for you to polish your selling skills. So the more leads you get, the more opportunity you'll have to practice.

There are dozens of ways to generate leads. You can use pay-per-click advertising, classified ads, articles published on other web sites (like the one I recently wrote for Michel Fortin), etc.

If you focus your energy on getting more leads, it will be practically impossible for you to not improve your selling skills. Of course, it's even better if you read some books about selling to shortcut your learning curve.

Naturally, there are many more ways to get better at selling. What ideas or recommendations do you have?

P.S. My friend and colleague Ray Edwards has recently begun a daily 5-minute "copycast" on his blog, and I highly recommend you listen to his recent episode, "All the Clients You Can Handle."