Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

You may have heard the old sales trope about people don't buy the drill; they buy the hole. I take that even further and suggest that people buy the enhancement to their life from the painting hung on the hook held by the screw in the wall that was put into the hole drilled by the drill. For the creators I work with who struggle with their pricing, I like to say that your price isn't for the object; it's for the desired experience. People buy things because of the experience of life they desire. And often, they're inspired to buy when certain experiences are suggested. When I learned this for myself, playing gigs became less an exchange of attention for money, and they became a more holistic offer - the music was a part of the enhanced experience of being together and enjoying an evening out. As I started to approach gigs that way, I started to make more money both in the pay for the gig and in tips. Tips skyrocketed. This doesn't just apply in artistic circumstance...

A lost afternoon at a trout pond with a five-year-old is the inspiration for today's Coffee Break. If we're making money by selling anything, one of the questions we have to ask is whether there is a demand for it. I work with some artists who don't believe there is a demand for things like art, but I challenge them to find a building in the world that doesn't have some kind of creative something somewhere. That said, if what we offer isn't selling, we need to look at a couple of options. Are we fishing in the right pond? Have the fish already been fed? Do we just need to come back tomorrow? Is there anything you can do to stimulate the appetite? The conditions have to be right for the sale to go through. If the horse is full, the carrot won't work. Enough metaphors for now. Go make something and then sell it. #creativebusiness #selling #marketing 

▼▼▼Watch and Listen Below▼▼▼ Communication Coach, Cindy Skalicky says, “Introverted public speakers are needed and hard to come by. I want to reach people who have an interest in presenting more but who are unsure how to go about this because it makes them nervous. It does not have to be about getting onto a stage, but often early-stage folks don't even want to share a lot about why they are great at what they do because they feel pushy. I want to help them see the value in preparing messaging for those 'elevator pitch' or 'sales pitch' moments so they can stand in their shoes with confidence and attract more clients.” Cindy is an expert in rhetorical theory - or the science of persuasion. Her passion lies in taking a message in and teasing it apart to determine its overall effectiveness and persuasiveness. She helps clients understand the power of persuasion by teaching Aristotle's hidden gem of genius, the rhetorical triangle. Cindy is originally from Chicago;...