Recent Posts

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

5 Sales Tips for Independent Artists



Sell your music better and you’ll have resources to make more music, better-sounding music, and get more people to hear it. Here are five tips to help you generate more sales:
1. Believe In Your Product
It’s difficult to look someone in the eye and ask them to buy something that you don’t believe is a good deal for them. If you’re trying to sell a CD to someone for $10 that you believe is worth $5 then you’re going to have a hard time selling it. The idea is to focus on ‘giving’ them something that’s valuable to them at a fair price. You can always tell when someone is just trying to ‘get’ something from you. Don’t underestimate the intelligence and intuition of your fans. Nothing is more powerful in sales than the truth. The first step is creating a product that you believe in. Your belief and enthusiasm will shine through.
2. Examine Your Beliefs About Sales
Sales is really just about connecting people with things that are valuable to them. If you have other feelings that make it difficult for you to sell then you might want to examine your beliefs. Try this: Get out a piece of paper and write the words “People who sell are…” and then write down the first 10 things that come to mind without censoring your thoughts in any way. The first step to changing your beliefs to something more empowering is to become aware of what your beliefs are. You may have had bad experiences in the past or inherited beliefs from your parents that are holding you back. Once you become fully aware of what you believe you have the power to choose and adopt more powerful and supportive beliefs.
If you have a hard time promoting or asking people to buy things from you then you’re going to be severely handicapped in your efforts to make money with your music. If you get these first two right then this should get much easier.
3. Have a Clear Pitch
You need to be clear in your communication from the stage, on your website and beyond. Ex. “We have CDs and T-shirts in the back. Go see Tina – she’s right over there.” Have clear and clean linked images on your website where people can purchase your music and merchandise. Remove obstacles and make buying easy.
4. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
Sales are not usually made on the first pitch. Tell people more than once that you have CDs and merch for sale. Make your mailing list a priority and put clear purchase links in all of the emails. Selling as an indie artist is not a one-shot deal. You’ll need to build repetition into your strategy and you’ll need to…
5. Build Relationships
Sustained success as an artist isn’t about tit for tat, it’s about giving as much as you can to as many people as you can for as long as you can. It’s about real relationships with people who you care about and who care about you. You don’t need everything to happen for you right now. If you continue to take care of the first four things on this list while building relationships, you’ll be playing the game to win for the long-term.


Read more: 5 Sales Tips for Independent Artists — Echoes - Insight for Independent Artists http://blog.discmakers.com/2010/08/5-sales-tips-for-independent-artists/#ixzz0yxoLhAC1

No comments:

Post a Comment