How To Be A Successful Seller

If that was a book title, the very first thing would be –”Know your product.”  That is not a problem of any beader I know.  They know their products better than the vendors that sold them to them.  They can spend hours discussing their virtues, comparing them to similar products–and nothing makes them happier than designing gorgeous goodies for the public–except perhaps, talking about these projects–the pros and cons over one component versus one other one.  I know this because I do it–and my fellow bead friends do this.

Selling has little to do with the creative force within–and some of us study audio tapes, but our heart is not in that–our passion is designing.  When you can link that creative passion to the art of selling and marketing–and it is an art–then you are well on your way to where you want to be.

Obviously, you do not want all your time tied up with learning a whole new art–that of selling and marketing–when your passion is with another, that of  creating beautiful jewelry to adorn others.  What if I told you you can do this, learn this in about 20 minutes of quiet time each day.

Reading a bit each day in The Marketing Guru,  Million Dollar Website, or a quick few pages from The 100 Best Business Books of All Time–which condenses all these books into a quick 2-3 pages.  Tie this together with a few positive quotes to get the day started in the right frame of mind–and I know you will find that these ideas in these books you are not interested in will take root and bear fruit.  But you must be patient.  You did not learn your craft in a day–and neither will you be an expert at this in a day.

Some people are born sales people; they have a gift for selling anything that makes the rest of us green with envy.  One of the first beaders I ever knew,  Robbie Sheehan of Dunedin Beads in Florida, who is good at selling in her own right, had a friend that just had this way about him–I swear he could have sold jewelry to anyone–that good.  He had not studied this in depth–he was a natural.  He was very at ease with the customers, making them at ease also.  His eye contact was fabulous–he made them feel like they were the only customers that mattered–and he sold–a lot!

So if you are not a natural, which most are not, then be forearmed with knowledge–and little by little this knowledge will become part of who you are.

Interesting enough, I am planning a much needed break from a bead group I manage–my first since its conception–about 8 years straight.  I wrote to someone that I ran it through sickness and injury, through the death of my mother and birth of my grandchild, during vacations–so you might say I am overdue for a break.  And this is at the beginning of the book  The 100 Best Business Book of All Time:

“You.  Yes You! How about spending some time on you for once?

You have things to do.

You have some habits to break and some new ones to form.

You have a life you want to live.

You need to start by reading this chapter.”

Timely.  Grabs you from the start.  And is universally appealing.  Yes, I will read this this book–2-3 pages per day.

Kate Thorn

http://beadzonline.etsy.com

“There’s no such thing as an ugly bead,

just a lack of imagination.”– kate thorn

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