"I know that if you don't ask for the sale, you won't get it. But let's say you've announced CDs and merchandise for sale before, during and after your performance. You deliver a great show and people approach you afterwards, but the amount of sales is nowhere near what you expected it to be. What do you do? Do you go approach the audience and ask 'em if they want CDs? Or just stay where you are and let people come to you?"
Great questions. I'll give a few of my own suggestions and then encourage the smart people who read this blog to post additional comments below.
Yes, take it to the people. In addition to having a merch table that fans must go to, some artists also have "helpers" who work the crowd to inspire mailing list sign-ups and CD sales. And they actually carry the CDs with them while wearing a band T-shirt.
On his Bards Crier site, Marc Gunn covered this when he highlighted Sharon Wothke and The Rogues. Here's an excerpt:
We started from the very beginning employing the use of a roaming basket. It is very effective and other groups have successfully copied our approach. Our sellers walk around holding up the product so people can see them. Our sellers try to blend in with the show and not be pushy, just visible. I personally enjoy interacting with the crowd, spoofing off of what is being said on the stage and telling jokes to make the audience laugh. And I will talk and be nice to everyone, even if they don't buy a CD, simply because I enjoy people and I am trying to be an ambassador for the band. They may not buy today, but chances are they will think about it and buy a CD at another time.
But there are also ways to entice more people to visit the merch table area, such as:
Set out free candy or snacks, available to anyone who walks over to the table.
Hold a drawing. To enter, people must put their business card or form into a bowl, which of course sits on the merch table.
But at the core of Carlo's e-mail was the question: How do you get people to actually buy instead of just browse? One great way is to make special offers. Have a regular price that people pay if they buy from your web site, then a special "live show only" discount price.
You can have some fun with this, too. When I saw Kim Massie in St. Louis recently, she joked that the normal price of her CD was $9,999. But if you bought it that night, it could be yours for only $9.99. People in the audience laughed ... and bought a lot of CDs that night.
These are just a few thoughts. Again, I encourage you to post your own ideas for inspiring sales. Just click the Comments link below.
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