How can I effectively ask for sales without being pushy?

Marketing fundamentally comes down to getting attention and having an ask. The key insight is that acquiring attention is the hard part—it takes tremendous effort to get a customer in front of you. Once you have their attention, you must make an ask. The worst that can happen is they say no, but many will say yes. This isn’t being pushy; it’s serving your customer by showing them options they didn’t know existed. When delivering work, bring samples of other pieces. At events, have displays set up. When someone engages with you, show them what else is available. Ask if they’d like to be reminded about gift-giving occasions. You can even ask permission to market to them, which most people appreciate because it makes their lives easier. The failure isn’t in asking—it’s in not asking at all.

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Asked by general teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2019-06-06