Back of the Room Sales? Forget It!

OK, your speech is finished. You did a great job. Your audience loved it and loves you. A standing ovation!

Speaking of standing…where are you standing at the end of your speech? In the front of the room. Where are your educational materials? In the back of the room.

As soon as you finish your speech, people will want to come up and talk to you. The problem is—the people who want to talk to you are typically people who want to do just that—talk. They will ask you for your card. For some unknown reason, give you their business card. They’ll want to discuss their problems, give you speech pointers and generally waste your time. They are NOT your customers.

Your customers are examining and buying your materials—in the BACK of the room—where you need to be.

But you can’t get there because you are being gracious to the people who just want to talk—in the front of the room.

I can’t afford not to be with my customers and prospective customers. But I can’t get to the back of the room fast enough because of the people who just want to talk and because of the physical distance.

That’s why I always sell from the front of the room—where my customers are!

If my customers and prospects come forward to where my materials are, I can thank the buyers and convince the prospects to become a customer. I can still be kind to the “talkers” without ignoring my paying customers.

I know what you are thinking. You’re thinking that if your materials are by the back door, that people will pass by them on their way out the door. You’re thinking that upon seeing your fabulous display of books and tapes, as if by magic, they will suddenly decide to purchase them.

It doesn’t happen that way—not if you did your job. Your audience has made the decision to buy or not buy before they ever reach your table in the back of the room. They started to make the decision when you did a great job introducing your materials. And they made the decision to buy when they perceived the information and value offered to be irresistible.

Once they’ve decided to buy, your customers will walk over hot coals to get them—including the front of the room (no Tony Robbins pun intended).

I’ll grant you that occasionally (more like rarely) you’ll get a convert leaving in the back of the room who has a sudden change of heart and buys your stuff. But I’ll give that up for being with my buying customers in the front of the room—every time!

I’ve converted lots of “lookers” into buyers because I was standing there in the front of the room with my stuff. I’ve converted plenty of non-buyers to buyers and lots of purchasers of single materials to my full package.

From the audience perspective, there is something magical about seeing lots of people rush to the front of the room and that movement to the front of the room creates even more movement in the form of more buyers.

My sales almost doubled when I made the move from the back of the room to the front of the room.