A great comedian knows when to get off the stage. Get the big laugh and scram. “Leave them wanting more” is the phrase, but it’s really not the strategy. Leave them satisfied. Don’t ask them for more.
Same in sales. People try to get booked by me and they keep giving me promo materials. A lot of them.
- Here are my three videos.
- Here’s my resume.
- Would you like a ticket to my show?
- Please look thru my entire website when you have a chance.
- My mother will be calling you tomorrow.
It’s not likely that I’ll refuse to book someone because they give me too much, but it will change the interaction.
A booker wants to hear “I’m perfect”
All gatekeepers are waiting for is, “I’m the right fit for this job and here’s the exact proof.” A publisher doesn’t need to see a writing sample and know what our grades were in middle school English class. When we tell a gatekeeper exactly what they want to know and it’s honest, we…
- Get out of our way
- Give them peace of mind
- Show that we respect their time and bandwidth
- Look more like specialists, and less like jack-of-all-trades
- Save ourselves time and energy
- Foreshadow a good working relationship
All of this stuff is worth money to clients.
Minimize down to the crucial
At the start of my career, an agent told me that she could book people easier on a phone call than if she sent out all the videos and websites of her acts. This baffled me at the time because I loved advertising and marketing. I thought there’s no way that she could describe a juggler’s act on the phone as well as a video could express. I was right and she was right. The thing was, she didn’t have describe the juggler’s act or costume or anything else. She just had to tell the client how that juggler serves the clients needs.
Showing a picture of the juggler could trigger a red flag like “that juggler looks like my mean uncle!” or “that juggler’s costume doesn’t look like they’re top-shelf!” These false red flags don’t serve the client or the act.
Fulfilling purchase
Conveying simple value also results in our clients feeling good about their purchase. Everything that happens after the booking is in the context of that high value. They got a great deal, and everything that we do after that is a bonus.