|
Q: I notice
that you always seem to talk about doing your meetings in
person. Do you recommend that for everyone?
A: This is a
classic example of different strokes for different folks.
Personally, I strongly prefer to present live for
significant deals for several reasons:
1) Nobody knows my
materials better than I do;
2) Negotiations vary so much and
I wouldn’t want someone else to be guessing what my
deal-breakers might be;
3) I feel it increases my odds of
succeeding.
On the other hand, I know authors who have sold
tons of books who almost never do face-to-face meetings. For
them, it’s all about using their phone and computer. Since
there is no right or wrong on this issue, I suggest
experimenting with different approaches until you find what
works best for you.
Q: What does it take to become a bestseller?
A: That’s kind of a trick question. Bestseller lists vary
tremendously in terms of both influence and requirements.
While it may take selling 40,000 books to make the New York
Times Bestseller List (certainly amongst the most desirable
and highest profile), others may only take selling a 500
copies or even less! An example of this is when people make
the Amazon Bestseller list by selling a large quantity of
books in a very short period of time. This is just another
arena in which there are many ways to play the game!
Q: I’m really nervous about approaching a big company to
buy my book. I haven’t done a lot of presentations and just
can’t see myself standing in front of a bunch of executives
telling them why they have to buy a million copies of my
book. Help!?
A: There’s an
old adage that recommends how to eat an elephant…one bite at
a time. I didn’t do my first presentation with the intention
of selling the buyer a million books and neither should you.
Start small to hone your skills as well as improve your weak
points. First, sell someone a dozen. Then, a hundred. Keep
going and growing until your confidence and business acumen
reach new heights. Before you know it, you’ll be
unstoppable!
Q: What exactly is a “Premium” product?
A: Premiums
are items companies offer consumers to invoke a sale,
enhance customer loyalty, or entice curiosity. They can take
the form of a gift, gift-with-purchase (you buy something
and they give you something with it for free), or
purchase-with-purchase (you buy something and they sell you
something with it, usually at a deep discount).
Typical
premium items include paperweights, hats, pens, key chains,
etc.. Books are an excellent choice for corporate premium
programs because they are inexpensive to print in large
volume, have high perceived value, and people attach a
certain prestige to them that other incentive items tend to
lack
Q: Why do I need to get a price quote for printing 50,000
books if I only need 500 to get started?
A: I get asked
this question quite frequently, so here’s the deal. Let’s
say you print up 500 books and pay $5.00 for each one. You
then go out and sell each book for $15.00 each. That’s great
when you’re selling one at a time, but let’s say you are
more interested in doing a huge deal and selling 50,000 in
one fell swoop. If you are selling a company or organization
a bulk order of 50,000 books, $15.00 will almost definitely
be too high a price point. In fact, your original printing
cost of $5.00 might even be too high!
You’re probably going
to be very uncomfortable negotiating a price when you are
unsure of your own limitations/parameters. But here’s the
good news…when you get your quote for 50,000 copies, you
will most likely find out that your book can be printed for
$1.00 instead of $5.00 and therefore a whole new world of
pricing possibilities will open up to you. In order to
create the reality of doing a giant deal, you should get as
comfortable as you can with all of the variables involved so
when game time comes, you’re ready to play! |
