Four ways to Reduce Friction and Book More Gigs (or… Who is this Manager Sal?)

Manager Sal helps you keep your customer experience as frictionless as possible.

Why Manager Sal? Because, you want your clients to have an easy breezy system to say “Yes” to hiring you.

You say you are not a salesperson. You say you don’t know how to “close,” that is, ask for the business, and get the gig. This is arguably one of the most important things any artist can do. You can lead your customer down the path by explaining what you do and how, perhaps even why, you became a face painter. But if you cannot ask for the booking, then the natural end to your conversation could be: “I’ll get back to you,” “I need to think about it,” “I need to ask my husband,” “I’ll let you know,”… and so on.

The customer now has the ball and can either return to play again later, needs to be followed up on, or is lost forever. Oh no, not that!

How do you make sure that you ask for the business? How do you make an overwhelming case so that they would be silly to go anywhere else?

By being prepared, answering questions quickly and confidently, and most importantly, asking for the GIG!

With a wide selection of vendors to use for any given event, one of the best things you can do to Get the Gig is to ensure that your customer booking experience is completely “frictionless.” Make it easy for them to book with you.

How can you achieve this? Read on…

A. Be an expert: share what you know about parties, and how they go and what works best in your experience; especially for the First Birthday Moms–who may never have had to plan a party or hire entertainers in their life—they will appreciate you telling them how to go about things. But then Be a doer. The real winners in business are all “Yes” people. That means that they will do whatever it takes to please their customer. If they’re not currently offering the product in the way the customer wants it, they still say YES, and figure out a way to get it done. A yes person bends over backwards for their client, and always wins their business! Appease the client first and you will always win.

B. Offer multiple forms of payment: Every client is different, and so it is important to offer multiple solutions (especially when it comes to payment) to accommodate each one of them. Checks, credit cards, and Paypal should all be acceptable forms of payment. Additionally, it can be helpful to be able to take payment at ANY time, on line, or in person, because in today’s environment business is done everywhere.

A great way to cover your bases on this front is to ensure you have a system like Paypal Here or Square. If you are unfamiliar, Paypal Here and Square are credit card processors that allows any business to accept credit cards ON LOCATION with a simple plugin device to your smartphone. I would highly recommend this, especially if you are working in a fair or festival type situation (retail face painting), or you want to take credit card payments on the job.

C. Always Seek Automation: Automation is a customer’s saving grace, because everybody is busy! So, the more ways you can find to automate your processes (requiring less work for the client), the more prospects you will convert and clients you will ultimately gain and retain. This can be anything from an online booking tool, web site form that collects all the information you need from a customer, to a unique customer friendly app. Ask yourself what operational tools or processes can be put into place that would make this experience easier, faster, and more enjoyable?

D. Follow up with an email for every phone inquiry: if they took the time to call you, then you should take the time to reach out with something in writing. Ultimately, it will open a new channel of communication so you can then email back and forth, which might be preferable to playing telephone tag with today’s busy lifestyles. Getting contacted directly with a post-inquiry email helps to solidify the relationship… and move you and the client to the next level.

You will find that Manager Sal has been where you are and has created a customer-driven procedure for keeping track of all prospects and moving them through an easy process of booking. In 2010, when I was buried in paperwork and confirmation letters, deposits, tracking expenses, and trying to respond to every phone call while doing outbound marketing, I nearly quit my business. It wasn’t about painting anymore, it was about staying ahead of the administrative tasks. I was drowning!

But then Manager Sal threw me a lifeline, and I have never regretted signing up. I know you want to ask: “what do you get from helping me sign up for Manager Sal?” If you use my name as your referral source, a free month, when it only costs $97 a year in the first place! Do I need you to sign up under me, nope. But if you do, I will help you get started so you can use it right away…Free CONSULTATION, totally FREE!

I can’t say enough… but I’ve said enough. Whether you use Manager Sal or not, you need to usesomething that is easy and seamless for your clients.

What have you done today to reduce the friction for the clients who want to hire you?