I try to make one sale every day.
When I first heard about this methodology, it felt a weird. I don’t think of myself as a salesman. I simply like to add value to people. Sometimes that involves providing information about our products, and people might see something that might bring a little joy to their tabletop.
When I was running the Scythe Kickstarter, someone in the Reddit AMA said something like, “Convince me to buy this game.” I replied that I’m not here to convince you of anything–not to buy our stuff, not to heed my opinions, not to follow my company.
Yet I try to make one sale every day.
My company and my career will only persist if we sell games. Money isn’t my motivation, but I would like to continue to make games for you to play, and the critical resource to achieve that goal is that I sell those games to you.
Fortunately, sales often just happen. So far today, several orders have been placed on our webstore. My distribution broker may also have received some purchase orders from distributors today. If you’re running a Kickstarter campaign, you may have woken up today to a dozen new backers.
These sales feel a bit magical. You’re not directly doing anything to make them, yet they happen. This can lead to complacency.
So that’s the reason I try to make one sale every day. I don’t want to be complacent. I want to play an active role in our success. I want to see forward progress every day.
Of course, this is easier said than done. Here are a few things I try to remember:
- Some sales just happen, and that’s okay. It means I have platforms set up to allow people to buy our products without me asking them to.
- The media I post every day (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, blog, YouTube, BGG) can be a selling tool if necessary, even though my preference is to use those platforms to add value in different ways.
- It’s easier than ever to test advertising techniques, even with the tiniest budget.
- I always have something to sell if I need to, whether it’s the advance copies I receive for reprints of our games, spare promos, or even my time.
- Most people love a good deal, and many people love to have something unique. I have the ability to offer both.
- I sell to different types of people. Some are consumers, but others are retailers and distributors. I may just need to contact one of them to see what we can do to help them or to check on their inventory levels.
- Just because someone doesn’t buy a product directly from me doesn’t mean they don’t buy it from somewhere. There are times when a potential customer struggles with, say, the shipping cost to a non-US company. When they do, I help them find a retailer in their country that has the product.
I’d love to hear your additions to this list in the comments, and your thoughts on this methodology.
Also, while I have a book about entrepreneurship and crowdfunding, as of yesterday, you can download all of my blog entries (6 years of content) in PDF form here.
Also read: The Top 10 Ways to Address the Mid-Campaign Slump and 10 Daily Actions to Build Your Crowd
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9 Comments on “Make a Sale Every Day (KS Lesson #258)”
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I have read through so much of your Kickstarter series in the last few days and I just wanted to say THANK YOU! I am an indie developer who recently launched an RPG title and we have been debating about how to go about using KS for a print version of our product. Your blog has been no end of help to us!
Thanks, Audrey! I’m glad you’ve found some useful information among my articles, and I wish you the best as you consider Kickstarter as an option for a print version of your RPG.
This is great advice. I’m not a natural born salesman but I am really good at problem solving so I can very much relate to the figuring out how to add value section. Sometimes it does seem like all it takes is communicating with people and figuring out how you can best help them.
I like that, Brent! The idea of figuring out what’s best for the customer (while being fair to you) really resonates with me.
Hi Jamey, firstly thank you for graciously sharing all of your experience. To us KS newbies you are like the wise (young) uncle that not only goes out of his way to take us to the ball game but cheerfully explains all of the rules too.
Since creativity, by nature, is an emotional transaction/sale, my addition to the list would be – ‘Do a little thing today that makes your product more valuable tomorrow’. Your daily sale attempt should ideally put money in your pocket but failing that, be innovative and ‘sell’ another facet of your creativity today to help you shift more product tomorrow (e.g. design enhancements, better customer value, brand building etc.).
Embracing this creativity/sales symbiosis rather than dreading it, should immediately cheer up anyone who isn’t a natural born salesmen and help ease some of the pressure when a product is not moving daily. As you said Jamey, it’s all about beating complacency, both when you’re selling and when you’re struggling.
Thanks Gavin! I really like that addition to the list. In a way, it says, “Tomorrow is just as important as today,” which is a great thing for me to remember. I like the idea of looking forward to tomorrow.
Jamey,
Your focus on both transparency and communication has proven quite the hallmark of your success. As someone who used to live the sales world as a realtor in Philly, long before the internet, we do have at our disposal amazing ways to stay connected and make sales.
Thanks Joe! Given your experience, I bet you have a lot of accumulated wisdom in regards to sales.
Great info, as always!