[Editor’s Note: This is the conclusion of a two-part series by Gary Gray. Be sure to catch up on Part 1 here!]
A Quick Re-cap from Part One
In Part One we covered the foundation, the first of two steps that one would need to take in order to close and keep corporate clients for your Home Studio.
The Formula For Closing and Keeping Corporate Clients
- Build the foundation first (become [or team up with] a trustworthy ‘Ninja’ as a composer, songwriter, producer, engineer and musician). For more details on how to build that foundation, you can read these two previous TuneCore articles I authored on music production here and here.
- Learn ‘How To’ and practice ‘Closing the Two Basic Buyer Types’.
The Foundation
In your Home Studio, If you don’t become (or team up with) a trustworthy Ninja as a composer, songwriter, producer, engineer and musician as a first action, it may not stop you from closing a corporate client; however, closing a corporate client before you become (or team up with) a trustworthy Ninja as a composer, songwriter, producer, engineer and musician can result in a short-lived relationship with that client.
And bad word of mouth in the community.
In Part One, I discussed that learning music theory like a Ninja gave me an unshakeable and undying level of confidence unlike anything I had ever experienced before, which still persists to this day. That level of confidence, as I learned, can be sensed a mile away by people who are in a position to hire you. And the corollary is also true: a LACK of that level of confidence can also be sensed a mile away, and when it is — good luck closing and especially keeping a corporate client.
We now pick up from that point and move forward, onto the next step of the formula:
After your foundation has been established (which will allow you to keep corporate clients coming back year after year), we can now delve into the actual activity of closing those corporate clients.
A Fool-Proof System for Closing Corporate Clients
The Two Basic Buyer Types
I’m going to share with you a fool-proof, tried-and-tested system for closing corporate clients for your home studio. Let’s go straight to the bottom line, straight to the skill set necessary to consistently close and maintain corporate clients.
Sales is a subject that many people shy away from. I’m not surprised. Immediately the image of the sleazy used car salesman may come to mind.
So, before we talk about the ‘Two Basic Buyer Types’, let’s talk about the ‘Three Basic Seller Types’!
- Trustworthy and Successful – Able to adapt to both buyer types
- Trustworthy Yet Unsuccessful – Not yet educated on buyer types
- Sleazy
In this article, I’m addressing and referring only to number one and two above. I don’t think I need to say anything more on that subject.
The Two Basic Buyer Types
After studying the subject of sales for years, I distilled and compiled some extremely workable techniques when it comes to working in the music industry.
What I learned was this: if you didn’t know at least the ‘Two Basic Buyer Types’, you could be missing out on at least 40% of potential sales.
If you did know the ‘Two Basic Buyer Types’, and applied that knowledge to your marketing and sales efforts as well as almost every other scenario (think of selling an idea to a collaborator during a songwriting session, or persuading a vocalist to approach a track a certain way as a producer), you could easily INCREASE your rate of sales by at least 40%.
So, this information and knowledge is not unimportant by any means.
What Are The Two Basic Buyer Types?
- The All-Business Buyer Type
- The Emotional Buyer Type
Half of sales is correctly identifying the correct buyer type.
The other half of sales is knowing how to approach each buyer type and doing so effectively.
Both buyer types come to the table with the same thing, and both are looking for the same thing.
They both come to the table with fear.
They are both looking for someone they can trust.
Correctly Identifying The All-Business Buyer Type
At this point, I’m going to point out an extremely important nuance, which will help you become truly savvy and successful in your closing activity.
Let’s take a look at two truisms (truism – a statement that is obviously true). I’m going to allow two truisms to compete head to head, and as a result, we are going to find a deadly accurate way of helping you close corporate clients for your home studio:
Truism One: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.
Truism Two: Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover.
In a moment, I’m going to describe to you the characteristics of a potential All-Business Buyer Type. I say potential, because ‘Truism Two’ is the more useful of the two in helping one correctly identify buyer types: Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover.
Definition of The All-Business Buyer Type
A person who, in order to earn their trust, wants accurate and useful facts. They appreciate the person who has done their homework. They expect a person to be fully prepared for a meeting. They place little importance on your personality, on your ability to tell a good story, on your attempts to compliment them, on your offers of lunch or dinner or a gift. They will eat your steak dinner, but it will have no positive effect whatsoever on closing the sale.
When they ask a question, they want either one of two things, either: 1.) the accurate and factual answer, devoid of any sizzle or story or dressing, or; 2.) if you don’t know the answer, they want you to say factually and immediately, up-front that you don’t know the answer, (but that you will do everything you can to quickly research the correct answer and get back to them with your findings). Trying to cover-up that you don’t know the answer to a question will be 100% transparent to the All-Business Buyer Type and will absolutely lose the sale.
Don’t Judge a Book by it’s Cover
As is true for both buyer types, it’s extremely important that you don’t jump to conclusions while trying to identify the All-Business Buyer Type. This can be a bit tricky if you follow ‘Truism One’ above, “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words,” rather than Truism Two, “Don’t Judge a Book by it’s Cover.”
In order to correctly identify an All-Business Buyer Type, as with both buyer types, you will need to get into a conversation with the person. You will need to open the book and read past the cover.
Here’s an important piece of wisdom I discovered that is probably the most vital aspect of correctly identifying a person’s buyer type: The same person can switch between the two buyer types, depending on the subject. But for the most part, you will observe that a person tends to stay in one buyer type more than the other. We’ll call that the person’s “Main” buyer type.
Notice I use the words “potential” and “may,” and remember that it’s important to follow the truism: “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”
The person in the description above, after speaking with him on several subjects, may not turn out to be an All-Business Buyer Type after all, though the “cover” is saying All-Business all over it. It takes live communication and an interchange of ideas and opinions. And, as mentioned, it’s wise to cover several subjects, including the subject of your transaction, while assessing this person’s buyer type.
Definition of The Emotional Buyer Type
A person who, in order to earn their trust, wants someone they can look to for advice, who welcomes guidance, a helping hand, who is receptive to and feels good about receiving honest and sincere compliments (key words: honest and sincere). A buyer who will accept your offer for a business lunch and who feels the lunch speaks highly of you and your goodwill, who likes to share pertinent stories about the subject at hand, and wants to know they can trust you almost as a friend.
Again, I use the words “potential” and “may,” and remember that it’s important to follow the truism: “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”
Note: The concept of an “easy pushover” is absolutely not a part of true salesmanship. Anyone who looks at a potential client that way shouldn’t be in sales, in my opinion. For instance, it is not true that the Emotional Buyer Type is any easier to close than the All-Business Buyer Type. That is one fatal error many people make who fall under this category as sales people:
“Trustworthy Yet Unsuccessful – not yet educated on buyer types.”
It takes just as much work and follow-up, if not more, to close an Emotional Buyer Type as it does an All-Business Buyer Type. The key is that you are working hard to establish and maintain their trust. That goes for both buyer types.
A Comparison Chart of How To Close Each Buyer Type
When I learned about buyer types, and then adjusted what I learned to the music industry, my closing percentage went out the roof. All of my relationships improved. One day I realized that almost every aspect of human interaction involves some sort of compromise. And when I saw that I was applying what I learned to my relationships, well — talk about making a positive difference!
The Secret
When it came to figuring out how to teach the buyer types, that’s when I learned the core secret of how to achieve an even higher level of success in one’s career and life.
I found that most people, though they can fluctuate between buyer types depending on the subject at hand, fall into a main buyer type. In other words, they tend to spend most of their waking hours in one or the other of the two buyer types.
When you try to teach a person how to sell – here’s what tends to happen at first. They will correctly identify the correct buyer type, but they forget to adjust themselves to that buyer type!
Let’s say their own main buyer type is an Emotional Buyer Type. And now, as a sales-person, they have correctly identified an All-Business Buyer Type across from them. When they first try using this approach to selling, they tend to communicate to the All-Business Buyer Type from the viewpoint of their own buyer type: an Emotional Buyer. And that’s really what they’ve been doing their whole life! Missing out on at least 40% of every sale, negotiating situation or compromise they have ever encountered!
This is what the above scenario looks like: the All-Business Buyer Type is waiting for all the facts, figures, and raw information. And here comes the person who is inherently themselves an Emotional Buyer Type, giving the person compliments, taking them out to lunch, telling stories, etc. Can you see where this will lead? Nowhere Fast!!
Summary and Moral of the Story
The Formula For Closing and Keeping Corporate Clients
1. Build the foundation first (become [or team up with] a trustworthy Ninja as a composer, songwriter, producer, engineer and musician).
2. Learn and Practice How To Close the Two Basic Buyer Types.
The vehicle that will allow you to successfully achieve the two steps above is this:
Doggedly persisting despite repeated failures.
I found that for myself and every student that became extremely successful at closing corporate clients, there was one vital common denominator:
Doggedly persisting despite repeated failures.
Here’s to your repeated successes and a Home Studio creating great music and financial stability for you and your family!
More details about becoming a Ninja in your home studio and closing corporate clients are covered in the Lucrative Home Studio masterclass which can be found at NewArtistModel.com.
Gary Gray is a voting member of the Grammy Recording Academy; a two-time Telly Award- Winning Producer, Arranger, Mixing and Mastering Engineer; the author of The Home Studio Bible, and creator of the online Masterclass The Lucrative Home Studio.
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