Before we get started today, I need you to take a moment and listen to the song below. It’s one you’ve probably heard a thousand times. The song is Somebody That I Used To Know By Gotye and Kimbra. However, the version below is by a different band . . . I won’t share who just yet. It’s all part of the plan. So when you listen, really listen. Put on your headphones is you’ve got ’em.

Close your eyes and take in all the music, the sounds, everything. Absorb it. Focus your attention more on the music than the lyrics. The music is the key point needed for this article. I want you to pay particular attention to how many instruments are in play.

I know I ask you to do weird stuff like this all the time, but please . . . don’t miss out on this opportunity. You’ll not regret it if you take the time to hear the song to the end.

The post Somebody That I Used To Know appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

It’s even more than that. If you see a commercial for a lawn care service – and the commercial is funny or “speaks to you” on some level, then you’ll likely remember it when a friend asks if you know of any lawn care services in the area. Suddenly, you’ve just become the word of mouth advertisement for the lawn care service. This scenario works best – paradoxically – for products categories that you’ve not used before. If you see a shampoo commercial that’s funny or “speaks” to you, but it’s for a brand that you’ve not used, you’re more likely to still refer others to the shampoo that you currently use. However, in the lawn care example, you’ve never used a lawn care service before, so you can’t speak from experience . . . you can only speak of what you’ve heard about.

Think about that last sentence for a moment . . . you can only speak of what you’ve heard about. So the goal of a commercial in that case is to get you to remember them so that they’ll be the first one you think about when someone asks about their industry – lawn care in this case.

In the shampoo market or cleaning product market, etc . . . they’re just trying to get you to try out a different version of a product you already have. It’s much more difficult. In our industry – entertainment – we’re more likely to fall into the former category rather than the latter. In other words, most people have never hired a magician. However, everyone buys soap. Lucky for us we’re not trying to convince (most people) to switch brands because they have no experience with any brand when it comes to hiring a magician. That’s good news for us. Now that we understand that, the next step is to just get people talking about you. There are so many ways to do that.

Below I’ll list a few with a few basic pointers. It’s up to you to apply it. I’ll also recommend a few resources that can be very valuable in helping you get publicity.

Free Magic

When it comes to free magic, there are a handful of things that come to mind. Some are big, and some are small. There are, I’m sure, plenty of charities or hospitals in your area that would love a free show. Senior centers are another great venue for free shows. The beauty of some of these situations is that they’ll do the advertising for you. They’ll advertise in their newsletters, with fliers, etc. It’s not unlike restaurant magic. The restaurant does some of the advertising for you.

Another great venue is toy stores that sell magic tricks or kits. Talk with the owner about setting up a magic day at the toy store. I worked out a deal with a local costume shop that sold a few magic tricks. The owner gave me a bunch of products that she was trying to move. I took them home for a few weeks and worked out some routines and put together some demos. Meanwhile, she’s advertising in her newsletter, with fliers and on her marquee in front of the building: Come see Magician Jeff Stone on Saturday X date for free.” It drew in a crowd, sold some magic, and gave me some leads.

Perform for your local library – In Salt Lake City, they actually will pay a couple hundred bucks. I worked the libraries several years back in my kid show days. I did about 20 shows for the libraries, and from it, I booked about 8 or 10 private shows, plus I met a local magician at one of the library shows. We exchanged cards, and for the past several years, he’s called me relatively frequently when he gets overbooked. Even if the libraries didn’t pay me, it still would have been worth it.

Challenges & Stunts

Challenges are much more . . . ahem . . . challenging, but still doable. Predict the outcome of a game a local event, etc. How to predict it is another story. Volumes have been written about this stuff (a couple are mentioned below under “resources”). However, the point is, if you know a good prediction method for this type of thing, it’s not too hard to get the attention of local media. Submit a press release to the local stations announcing that you will predict the outcome of a local election. On a smaller scale, get with a local high school or college and predict the outcome of an upcoming football game. Get with the college press and local media for coverage. If you’re an escape artist or more of an “extremist,” you may want to brush up on your Houdini history. Public stunts like driving blind folded and the like will definitely get the attention of the media.

In general, a free show that has some sort of catch or gimmick will get the media’s attention. Of course, your first step is to get their attention. Get some contacts. Have the guts to walk into the local T.V. or radio station and show the receptionist a trick or two . . . draw a crowd of employees and bystanders. Do that a few times and word’ll spread. Local reporters will watch a trick just like anyone else. Let them know that you can predict the outcome of x, y or z. A lot of this stuff is, obviously, easier said than done. And even more of it is way out of the comfort zone of a lot of you within the reach of my voice. And even further, it may back-fire miserably and land you no extra gigs. My intention here is to merely plant seeds, get you thinking, motivate you to think outside the proverbial box.

Resources

There are plenty of places to read and learn about publicity stunts and ideas. Of course Annemann’s Practical Mental Effects is a classic with some excellent ideas and methods for publicity effects. John Riggs has some great headline prediction methods in Heavy Mental. Sankey’s got an excellent effect on Disk II of Secret Files that could be used for getting gigs. Additionally, Jerome Finley’s work on “Cloud Busting” is excellent as well.

Hopefully I’ve met my goal by getting you thinking, and hopefully people will start talking about you.

Until next month . . .

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No . . . it’s not a political ideology . . .

No . . . it’s not a bird, plane or superman . . .

It’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and Youtube.

That’s right folks . . . Social Media.

This is likely nothing new to you, but are you using them to their maximum potential. First, I’m going to assume that everyone knows what these sites are. I will make no attempt to explain them if you are unfamiliar. So assuming you know what these social media sites are, let’s continue:

I’m by no means an expert, however, I’m an avid student, and I’ve been studying a ton about these media lately and have implemented some of my own strategies to a fair degree of success. The basic point of all of these is to gain a following and have “evangelists” preach your cause. Mainly, my cause is my magic DVDs and Books. It used to be getting gigs, but I’ve slowed that way down . . . too freakin’ busy building websites, writing books, and filming DVDs. 

Again, in simple terms, how do you get followers? Three major things (assuming you already have an account):

1. Post content
2. Follow others
3. Comment on others’ content

Post Content

On Facebook and LinkedIn you can make status updates . . . things to let folks know what you’re doing or how you’re doing. On Twitter, you can post mini blog entries (144 words max), and of course on blogs, you post entire entries . . . an online journal of sorts, and finally, YouTube is the home of all of your videos. Some basic rules to follow to get a following in these areas:

• Post a blog entry daily
• Post a twitter feed (called a “Tweet”) 3 or more times per day
• Update your Facebook and LinkedIn Status daily
• Post videos on youtube at least twice a month (preferable more)

Follow Others

Once you’ve got a rhythm of posting going, next start “following” people on Twitter, “friending” people on Facebook and Youtube. Also, subscribe to other Youtube channels that are similar to your interests. Often, when doing this, those you follow and friend will follow and friend you. As you post more and more content and follow more and more people, you’ll quickly find that your social network will grow.

The whole point is to grow a network of people who are interested in you and what you say and do. You’re a freakin’ magician . . . that’s about one of the most interesting things out there. Think about that . . . I’m being serious. What job is more interesting than “magician?” Astronaut maybe? There aren’t too many . . .

So don’t just post lame boring and meaningless videos, tweets or updates . . . take some time to come up with a strategy to get noticed. If you perform on a regular basis, write blog posts about your gigs. Of course, don’t bash your clients, because theoretically, other clients will be reading it.

Comment on Others

Search for other blogs online and post comments. Find a magic blog (like this magazine site, for example) and post comments on it. Of course with most blogs, you can set up your signature to be a link back to your website. For example, I’ve made, as of this writing, 1,399 posts on The Magic Cafe. My signature has a link back to this site and Stone Cold Magic. That’s nearly 1400 links back to my site! I get a lot of traffic from the Cafe.

Often, the blogger and his/her readers will click on your link and check out your site/blog, and post comments. Set up your blog so that it will notify you when you get a comment. Make sure you immediately respond to the comment. Another great trick (which you’ll find I use on this very site) is to have a check box that allows the user to subscribe to the comments. This immediately notifies him/her when anyone makes a comment and brings that person back to the site.

Thus whenever you comment on someone’s comment, you’re driving traffic to your site.

Putting it all Together

Again, I’m no expert, but I’ve had enough success to feel somewhat qualified to write this article. If you have regular clips of you performing live or even just for the camera posted to Youtube, plus frequent blogs, updates and tweets, you’ll be well on your way to building a decent network. If you post a Youtube video, blog about it; tweet about it; write on your Facebook wall about it. Use all of these tools to drive people to one ultimate location . . . whatever that is for you will be different for the next guy.

My place for driving traffic is Stone Cold Magic. Even this magazine site is about driving traffic to Stone Cold Magic. Did you notice how many times I linked off to that site in this post? Also, the News Section of the Magazine is generally about products and other events which often lead to my main commerce site. Remember, folks, this Magazine is free, so I’ve gotta pay for it somehow . . . So I drive traffic to Stone Cold Magic.

For you, it might be your site where people can hire you to perform. Next year, that likely will be where I redirect my activities as well. I’m working on a brand new show that I will likely start performing late this year or early next year.

Resources

Finally, if you want some excellent reading material on these subjects, here’s a list of excellent books:

YouTube For Business By Michael Miller

I’m on Facebook, Now What? By Jason Alba and Jesse Stay

I’m on LinkedIn, Now What? By Jason Alba

One final excellent technique for capitalizing on social media is the “link” feature. Most social network sites can be linked together. For example, my twitter feed automatically updates when I give a Youtube video a “thumbs up.” When I post a tweet on Twitter, my LinkedIn status changes. Ultimately, you can have all of these sites linked and your entire online activity can be linked together and become a very powerful force for marketing Y-O-U!

Until Next Time . . .

Please take a moment to commentand “like” this article:

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Do you have any friends in sales? Are you in sales? Have you read any sales books? If any of the above apply to you, then you know that the number of people who say “No” is much greater than the number of people who say “Yes.” It’s a fact of life. Deal with it!

If people truly reject your service, then one of three conditions exist:

1. You have a poor quality service
2. They have no need for your service
3. You have a great service and they need you, but they don’t realize it

Believe it or not the majority of people fall into category number 3. So for the sake of this article, I’m going to assume that you have a good act worth paying for. If you don’t, that’s cool. But stop reading this and switch over to Roots and Branches, The Full Montoya, and Pillars of Stone. These three columns are all about improving your skills and your “game face.” This column, (No Stone Left Unturned) is all about the business end of magic… getting gigs, setting fees, managing your business, etc.

Alright… assuming you’re still here and assuming you have a solid sellable act:

When your potential client says, “No thanks,” there is protocol for this. I’ve used this for years. I spend over a decade of my life training sales people with this technique. If you apply it, your sales will drastically increase. Like it or not, one of the hats you wear as an enterainer is “sale person,” unless you have hired someone else to do your booking. That’s cool if you do, but you probably won’t need to finish this article if that’s the case.

Ok… are you still here? Great. Here’s how it goes, in five easy steps:

1. Find the Real Objection
2. Validate the Objection
3. Isolate the Objection
4. Overcome the Objection
5. Close the Sale

Believe me when I say that an entire book can be written about this process. I know because I’m writing it. You’re going to get the XCN version. Sorry, geek moment… XCN (Extreme Cliff Notes).

Find the Real Objection:
How do you do that? Simple. You ask. However, there are a couple of rules to consider when doing this step.

• Do NOT create objections
• Use Paraphrasing

See. Simple. All to often, when asking why the prospect says “No,” the sales people say this, “Is it the price?” That’s a stupid question. I know you’ve heard there’s no such thing, but they were wrong. That is a stupid question.

What do you think the client’s going to say? They’ll say “Yes.” Even if it’s not true. They just want to end the conversation.

In addition, maybe they had an entirely different objection, but now they have a second one because you put the thought in their heads. Instead, try one of these:

• “Do you mind if I ask why?”
• “Why do you say that?”
• “Do you mind if I ask what’s holding you back?”

When you ask a question like this, you’ll get the truth 9 times out of 10. Once you get an answer, make sure you understand it by paraphrasing it back to them, and get them to acknowledge that you understand the objection correctly. For example:

Client: I don’t think we’ll be able to hire you for our party
Magi: Do you mind if I ask why? (note that you are asking a question without creating an objection)

Client: Well I’m just not sure the people will want to see a magician.
Magi: Why do you say that? (note that you are asking a question without creating an objection)

Client: Well we had a magician here last year, and he was a total flop.
Magi: Ok. I see. So basically, your concern is that the show will be boring and the audience won’t have a good time (note that you are now paraphrasing back here concern).
Client: Yes. I would hate to have another experience like that. I’m sorry.

Most people would have already lost by now, but not you… you’ve stuck it out through step one, and now you know the real objection, and she has verified it with her last statement. Now you and she both know exactly what the objection is.

Validate The Objection:
The next step is probably the most important step of the process. Again, there are a couple of rules:

• Don’t Argue! – No “Yeah Buts”
• Build Rapport

It is absolutely critical that the client realizes that you are not arguing, that you are not merely dismissing their concern. Think about this for a second: The client has told you that the concern is that last year’s guy was a bomb. Should your response be, “Yeah, but I’m not a bomb… I can give you a ton of testimonials and my client list, etc.”

What that says to the client is that you think her concern is stupid and it wasn’t a valid point. You dismissed it with a yeah but. You must build rapport. Rapport simply put is a common ground. They must feel that you feel they are important. They must know that you are on their side.

So let’s pick up our conversation:

Client: Yes. I would hate to have another experience like that. I’m sorry.
Magi: I completely understand. I don’t blame you. If I had an experience like that I’d be leary too.

Now, you see what happened there. You completely validated the client’s concern letting her know that you absolutely feel that she has a valid point. There is sooooo much more I could say on this step, but unless you want me to stretch this article out over three issues, we’ll have to wrap up this step. Suffice it to say that you must make sure that the client knows that you know her concern is valid. Agree with her!

Isolate The Objection:
This is my favorite step. Here is where you start to turn things around. You’ve hopefully built a little bit of a common ground (aka Rapport) with the client. Now it’s time to start working on a solution. The purpose here is to make sure that they have no other objections. So let’s pick up where we left off in our conversation.

Magi: I completely understand. I don’t blame you. If I had an experience like that I’d be leary too.
Magi Continues: Is that the only thing holding you back?

Client: Yes. I’m just afraid of wasting money on another failed performance.
Magi: I understand. Let me ask you this: If you knew the show would be a hit, would you be interested in having me perform?

They must either admit that yes, if you are a good performer they will hire you, or you’ll find out that they have another excuse.

Client (Answer 1): Of course. If I knew that your show was a hit, then I would hire you, but there’s no way to know for sure.

or

Client (Answer 2): No. I probably still wouldn’t hire you.

Let’s look at scenario 1 first. If they say yes, then it’s time to move to step 4, overcome the objection. You may want to throw in a little more step 2 by following up with a statement that validates the concern she mentioned that there’s no way to know for sure if the show will be a hit. We’ll cover that in a moment when we hit step 4.

In scenario 2, you’re back to step one. She lied to you. Think about it. She said the problem was the Lug Nut the Romanian Clown from last year. But now she’s saying that if you could surmount that she still isn’t interested, so that means the problem is something else. Also, when you asked “Is that the only thing holding you back,” she may say “no.” In that case you are also back to step one.

You have to again ask her, “Why do you say that?” You’ve started the whole process over again. That’s very common that you may have to go 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3… Very common to go through that cycle before you finally get to step 4.

The key – and this is absolutely critical – is that you must NOT move on to step 4 until you’ve narrowed it down to only 1 objection, and you’ve gotten the client to admit that if that one thing were eliminated she would agree to hire you. If you have not done this, then step 4 will not work, because in step four, you will eliminate that “one thing.”

Overcome The Objection:
This is another subject that is extremely packed full of information, and in fact, we will be further discussing this in February 2009’s issue of No Stone Left Unturned. However, a brief overview is necessary here. First, the objective here is to use a “scripted” rebuttal to counter their concern and tactfully make it a moot point.

In every field where sales is involved, there are a handful of common objections that the sales people get. For real estate sales, you’ll have these 4 or 5, and for car sales you’ll have those 4 or 5, and magicians, you’ll have yet another 4 or 5. What are those few for magicians? Well that’s the subject of next month.

However, know this that once we know what they are and what a good rebuttal is for them, then you’ve mastered step 4. So let’s, for the sake of this discussion deal with the objection at hand. Let’s pick up our conversation:

Client: Of course. If I knew that your show was a hit, then I would hire you, but there’s no way to know for sure.
Magi: Absolutely. You are correct. There is no way to know for sure. I understand (note how you are using step 2 – validation – tools)
Magi Continues: What I can do is give you copies of several testimonials even phone numbers of past clients, and I guarantee my shows. If the show is a flop, then you’ll be refunded.

Ok, so let’s examine this a bit. First, I again validated and agreed with her. Second, I offered a solution. Note that I’m not advocating that you should or shouldn’t guarantee your shows with a money back guarantee. I’m simply offering a technique, not the rebuttal itself. The specific rebuttals will be covered next month.

Once you’ve offered the rebuttal/solution, then it’s time to move forward with the step 5, the close.

Close The Sale:
It could be argued that this is the most important step. It’s a toss up between this and step 2. Without step 2 nothing else happens. You basically just end up arguing with the client. However, if you don’t ask for the sale, you can’t get it. So onward. You can’t throw out a rebuttal and just leave it hanging there. You’ve got to tell them what’s next.

This is another subject that could be it’s own book. In fact there have been many books written about this very thing… Closing Sales. The problem, often, is that these books tend to forget about the first couple of steps and try to move right from the objection to the close.

Picking up where we left off:

Magi: What I can do is give you copies of several testimonials even phone numbers of past clients, and I guarantee my shows. If the show is a flop, then you’ll be refunded.
Magi Continues: So that being the case, I think it would work out well for both of us. What do you think?

Then SHUT UP!!!!!!! You’ve asked what she thinks, now let her answer. She’ll either say “yes,” or not. If she does not, then you’re back to step one. This is why it’s referred to as a sales cycle.

Final Thoughts:
This concept can be applied to sales as well as personal relationships. I’ve used this many times in vary parts of my life. At the very least, this system will teach you to be a good listener. The best sales people are listeners. People who feel like they are being listened to by you are more likely to like you and trust you.

So here’s the concept in a nutshell when someone tells you “No:”

Find out why there are saying “No.” Make sure they know that you feel they have a valid concern. Make sure it’s the only concern. Offer a solution. Ask for the sale.

That’s it. It’s a simple process that takes a bit of practice, but it pays off HUGE. Until Next Month…

Please “like” the value of this article:

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We Bought It!
Well we’ve got some big news this month. As you may remember, we reviewed Brad Gordon’s manuscript, Clever Eight, in the February 2008 issue of the newsletter. Then last month, it became available for sale. Back in February when the review was done, there was no plan for Stone Cold Magic to sell the manuscript.

However, once it became available a month later, we decided to offer it on the Stone Cold Magic website. Well after offering it for a few weeks now, Stone Cold Magic has decided to purchase the rights to it. Brad Gordon’s Clever Eight manuscript is now owned by Stone Cold Magic, and for the time being is only available through the Stone Cold Magic website, and Brad Gordon’s Blog, and that’s it.

I told you I loved this book!

It’s a 35 page coil-bound manuscript loaded with clever ideas, excellent patter ideas, and downright sneaky and baffling magic. All purchases before 11:59 PM on April 16th, 2008 will receive a free 2 card force deck (Valued at about $7.50). As always, free international shipping. Get your copy now!

New DVD Project:
It’s official. We’re heading back to the studio next month. I’ve got some brand new material that I’ve been work-shopping and testing over the past year, and there is some killer visual stuff coming. Plus some amazing fresh techniques for vanishing items that will blow your mind. On top of that there are some “object to impossible location” effects that will change the way you think about playing cards and dollar bills.

Filming begins next month. The project is slated to release late summer/early fall.

Ask the Team:
Due to the success of the newsletter and the loyalty of our gracious readers (that would be you), we’re constantly growing and improving things based on feedback. We’re considering adding a section to the newsletter for answering questions. The idea would be to have you email us any questions about anything regarding magic, getting gigs, practice, audience management, anything…

You send in the questions, and we’ll answer them immediately via email, but we will also publish them in a future issue of the newsletter.

So as a test this month, email us any questions about anything regarding any aspect of magic… I’ve got enough people on my team that we can definitely give you some solid answers. Send your emails to questions@stonecoldmagic.com

Feeback:
“The only thing constant is change.” I love that saying. It’s so true. As mentioned above, there are some changes in the works for the newsletter. In order to make the best changes for you, the reader, we need your feedback. You can really help by doing two simple things:

1. Take the time to “like” the articles that have the five star image. At the bottom of each article, you will find a place to “like” the article. You merely need to click on the appropriate star (1 to 5).
2. Email us your most favorite and least favorite columns:
   • Stone Cold Magic News
   • Free Magic Trick
   • Gems and Rubble (reviews)
   • No Stone Left Unturned (Magic Business info… getting gigs, etc)
   • Roots and Branches (Basics and how to apply them)
   • The Full Montoya (psychology and magic)
   • The Saga (Funny one-paragraph stories and pictures)

Any feedback at all is welcome; newsletter layout, content, etc. Any suggestions are very useful. What do you like; what do you hate; what would you change; is there something we’re not doing that we should be; is there something we’re doing that we shouldn’t…

Thank you for your willingness to help. Enjoy the rest of this month’s issue.

-Jeff Stone
And The Stone Cold Crew

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