We got a couple of little shop projects done this past week to make our building processes go a little smoother, but the most EXCITING part about this week was that we started selling! It's what we've wanted to start doing since we left North Dakota. It's the whole reason we did all of this work over the past year getting our prototypes and marketing done properly.
We are so excited to be officially "open for business" and ready to start taking cutting board orders from realtors!
Okay, so we said we were excited to start selling (which we were)...but we were also a little nervous! For some reason, we've always been a little weirded out about sales!
It's not because we've never done it - because we have. Multiple times.
It's not because we're afraid of people saying no - because they have. It's not a big deal.
It's because sales isn't logical - it's emotional!! I know that sounds crazy, but stick with me. "What" you buy is logical, but the "decision" to buy it is emotional.
You may buy something because of its specifications, or because it accomplishes a task better than another product, but the actual decision to make it yours is emotional.
So why does this cause us to be afraid of sales? Well, if sales is an emotions game, then we need to learn how to work in the realm of emotions - which is something Davis and I aren't great at! We're very logical people and don't spend much time paying attention to how our (and other peoples') emotions play into things. We can list 100 different REASONS why realtors should buy our cutting boards, but what's more difficult is figuring out what type emotion will make them OPEN to HEARING these reasons.
However, just because we're scared of it doesn't mean it's a reason to not do it. Our fear of sales is inside our own heads. It's not an insurmountable problem in the external world. Tons of people succeed at sales every single day - so why can't we?
We've read all the sales books, watched all the videos, we've even written an entire sales script for interactions with realtors. It was time to just get out there and DO it! So what exactly are we getting out and doing? What's our strategy? We are going to open houses in our area to show realtors our cutting boards and that they make fantastic closing gifts. Our only goals at these open houses are to:
1) Give them a board (yep, straight up give for free)
2) Tell them what we do
If you'll notice, actually selling the realtors a board is not on that list!! We are not expecting to leave with a sale! We know that sounds crazy...why the heck would we just give away a $28 board (that's the cost of materials and labor) for free?!
Well, like we talked about earlier, the decision to buy something is emotional. We want to take the realtor on the same emotional rollercoaster that their homeowners will go through when they get THEIR board....
Opening a big, beautiful box
Untying the bow
Opening up the paper
Revealing a brand new cutting board with their initials on it
Seeing that it's from their realtor
Placing it on their kitchen island to see and USE every single day
We want them to see the power of a good closing gift! Once we do that - THEN we can come in with the reasons! After they're hooked emotionally, we can tell them that the board is made from quality hardwoods, handmade in their hometown, priced to be a marketing write-off, and shipped right to the homeowner's door. BUT!! If we were to come out swinging with the logic and reasons right away, they wouldn't get themselves attached to the product and want to use us for their closing gifts in the future.
Want to know the funny part? As nervous as we were to start talking to realtors and actually selling....we actually had a lot of fun going to these open houses! We were also recently featured in a blog post done by Redfin (a Washington based real estate brokerage) where we talk about selling your work.
All in all, we ended up getting a lot of positive responses to the method we chose of respecting the emotional rollercoaster before we gave people a list of our logic!
Fear is not a reason!
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This post may contain affiliate links for products we used to create this project! If you’d like to check them out, we do get a small percentage of the sale and they are of no extra cost to you! It all goes towards supporting the content creation of Jennie and Davis. BUT – we do not take tool sponsorships and there were no tool endorsements. Just our honest opinions!