‘Sales for People who Hate Selling’ event review

Two weeks ago we hosted an experimental event entitled ‘Sales for People who Hate Selling’ in the basement space of the Handmade Co-op shop (on St. James Street in Kemptown). The idea behind this event was finding alternative ways to support our sellers, and the local creative community in general, aside from providing a venue at which to sell their work. The size of the venue in which we hold Brighton Craftaganza naturally limits the amount of sellers we are able to offer a stall to, but by hosting these events such as this, we can be of benefit to more creative individuals who wish to attend.

The event took the form of a structured discussion breaking down and analysisng the four main sections of an ‘anatomy of a sale’:

• Opening communication
• Building Rapport
• Pitch
• Close

We had two excellent and very knowledgeable sales experts, including marketing copy writer and advisor Patrick Potter, who kindly gave up their Saturday afternoon for our benefit. They shared the most relevant sections of their sales training for the benefit of the crafters/designer-makers who were in attendance. The sellers were encouraged to share their own opinions and ideas as well as ask the experts and each other questions to make sure the content of the discussion remained along lines that would most useful for them. Thanks very much to those lovely people who attended the event (despite the horrendous weather that day!) and special thanks to those whose provided the feedback we required to make similar events in the future a success.

‘It was all very welcoming, and mainly, not cheesy! (I’ve been to a lot of corporate training events, so this was a breath of fresh air – to be treated like a human and not a robot!). Would I like to see a different structure to this event? It was ideal for me, welcoming and intimate, and thankfully, no role playing!! (my pethate…)’  – Kate Bulter

‘There was a lot of content and you had obviously spent time planning and thinking about it, which was amazing. I learnt a lot more than I thought I might.’  Claire Munday

‘Do you know, this is the first event I’ve taken part in that has actually even considered this subject?!  Thank you for being so considerate.’ Marguerite Savan

 A PDF containing much of the content of this discussion event will be made available for free download soon from this blog, so make sure you pop back to see if you too can pick up some techniques and methods to improve your sales the next time you come face-to-face with the public!