talkmagic.co.uk

Personally, I get 5 or 6 cold callers every day. Windows, extensions or kitchens mostly.

I hate them. I am always rude to them, always swear and sometimes tell them I have put a curse on them and they will die soon. They are a bain in my, and others lifes. They should not be allowed to do it. My wife, who is very meek and mild has reached the point where she tells them to f** **f. And she never swears.

Being one who is pestered by this, to such an extent that it amounts to harrassment, I would happily shoot every cold caller and stick their phone where it hurts !!

They don't realise how many have rung before making your life a misery. The only ones I answer now are when I think the wife will be ringing. The rest I let go onto the answering machine.

Good heavens! Has this awful North American habit of cold calling spread to Britain? I thought it was only in Canada and the US that they did it and that in Britain it was considered an invasion of privacy.

Actually I feel a little sorry for the cold callers. I swear at them too but the fact is they hate calling you just as much as you hate calling them. They know they are going to get sworn at yet they are forced to do it. Some of them dread coming in to work every day and many of them will dilly dally and find any excuse to delay starting work.

And this is with a boss hovering over them. Can you imagine what it is like if you are a magician and there is nobody forcing you to do it? In the end you will dilly dally all day to make 5 calls unless your personality is the aggressive type who will not blink an eyelid.

I have tried e-mail marketing and found it isn't worth a damn. Cold calling is great if you can face the torture of doing it but if you don't enjoy it then you will probably make a lousy job of it anyway.

Here is my crash course on marketing. It isn't much good but it isn't going to cost you anything so you can't complain and ask for your money back.

First you have to define your market. In other words decide what kind of work you want to do. Are you a kids entertainer who wants to do birthday parties or is it day cares you want? Or are you an adult entertainer who wants to do cruise ships? Or trade shows?

Very few performers want to do every type of show or are indeed suitable for them. So first you decide where you want to work. This will be defined by your talents and your lifestyle. For example a happily married man will be unwilling to traipse all over the world doing a cruise ship engagement for 4 months. Or a magician who detests kids won't want to be doing birthday parties.

Once you have defined your market you better practice like hell and make sure you have a good act for that market. Study the market and work hard to fill it's requirements. Since virtually every market depends ultimately on word of mouth you had better be good. Anyone can sell a show ONCE and never be seen again. Word of mouth can work against you as well as for you. If you are of dubious standard the word will get around and you are kaput.

Now it gets a little tricky because each market is different. What works for one market may not be appropriate for another. So study that market and decide the best way to approach it. For example cold calling may work well with agents or entertainment managers but is very unlikely to work with companies who are exhibiting at trade shows (although I have heard different but don't believe it)

Birthday parties you probably need to do some passive advertising such as yellow page ads or something in the local newspaper. You can probably sell a day care by cold calling and then going in to see them to show your promotional materials.

So once you have decided your strategy you need to produce promotional materials to supplement that strategy. This could be anything from a business card to a slick promo video depending on your market. A website comes under this heading of course.

To go off at a temporary tangent. Videos are a two edged sword. They are often used to eliminate performers and can work against you. They might not like the look of you even if your act is good. You might look their uncle Fred whom they have hated for years. They might consider you too young, too old, too fat, too thin or a whole bunch of things. So for some markets you may be better off without a video at all. However for other markets such as cruise ships etc; they are virtually obligatory.

Now let us assume you have defined your market, have a good show for that market and have the correct promotional materials for that market.

Now what the hell do you do? Well at this point it is up to you and a lot depends on your market and your inclination and temperament especially if cold calling is an option.

There are many ways of marketing from cold calling, exhibiting at entertainment conventions, showcasing, going door to door visiting, e-mail marketing and my favourite direct mail. Of course the best way of all is word of mouth through repeat bookings, recommendations and referalls and bookings through people you network with. However at the beginning of your career there isn't going to be much of this so you have do one of the above horrible things.

My suggestions for most markets is the direct mail route. What you mail will depend on your market and how you design your pieces is beyond the scope of this post. I will simply say consult a professional if you can't figure it out yourself. For some markets all you need is a one page flyer. For other markets they want the works including DVDs and a big colour brochure. Postcards are popular now too rather than letters.

Find a good list and send the stuff. Direct mail is an art in itself and is beyond the scope of this brief post to describe. Repetition is important but don't make a nuisance of yourself as American marketing courses advise you to do. Mail no more than 4 times a year and if you get a reply leave that person off your list for a year or so.

Sooner or later this will get you some kind of work and you will certainly recover the cost of the mailing and make a profit. However it won't be enough to make a living. You just have to keep plugging away doing it until the word of mouth kicks in.

If you don't get the word of mouth going then no amount of marketing will compensate and you may as well take up knitting or get a job in Macdonalds. In the long run if there is no word of mouth through networking, repeat bookings, or recommendations you may as well give up.

There. That's how you do it. That was my marketing course.
I take Paypal, Visa and Mastercard.

I always thought that if you haven't got what it takes to cold call a propsective client (I'm talking about a personal visit here not a phone call), then you're probably not ready to sit down at a table full of strangers and presume yourself able to entertain them for 10 minutes or so with your magic, your charm, and your charisma.

Compared to the work you're actually chasing, popping into a restaurant to ask if the owner is available is child's play surely.

With all due respect I am not sure I agree with Paul here. Cold calling is a bloody difficult thing to do and most people including magicians haven't got it in them to do it. Years ago I sold carbon paper door to door and I hated every minute of it. I have also sold vacuum cleaners door to door and found it purgatory.

However I have no trouble whatever drawing a crowd out of nowhere at a trade show and performing 10 minutes of magic and keeping them interested and enthralled for that length of time. Neither would I have the slightest difficulty performing in a restaurant and indeed have done it successfully in the past.

Certainly it is child's play to walk into a restaurant to ask for the owner. However it is NOT child's play to find the owner and even less child's play to convince them to see you let alone convince them to allow you to work in their restaurant. Paul himself has confirmed this by admitting that it took him 200 visits to get two shows.

Personally I think if he had sent 200 mailing pieces he would have got exactly the same results in a fraction of the time. I find that 1 booking in a hundred is about average for a mailing.

Selling and performing are two entirely different things although there are certain similarities. However the similarities are not sufficient to say they are the same thing. They are not. I believe you can be a dreadful salesman but a wonderful performer. You can also be a fantastic salesman and a dreadful performer.

I really don't think one has anything to do with the other.

However if you find that you have a natural ability to go out and see people cold and succeed then by all means go for it. That goes for the phone as well. However for the vast majority of people who have no innate ability for this sort of thing then direct mail may be the way to go. Of course direct mail takes a certain aptitude too and not everyone is suited for that either.

The bottom line is that no marketing system is right or wrong. One size does not fit all. You have to do something you are comfortable with and once you get established you won't have to do very much at all. Remember word of mouth is king.

Door to door sellers and phone call from company are pretty rare here in Canada. Of course they exist, we are more bugged with the "Jehovah Witness" once in 3 - 4 months. We also have 2 or 3 of the biggest company (Phone - electricity and cable) who do call once in a while to make sure your happy with the service you have and to see if you would like some more...

I tottally agree with mark's strategies for marketing altho you should'nt forget to put an add in local newspapers once in a while.

I didnt know what was "cold call" before i readed carefully this topic but now that i do. I can see there is diferent type of cold call, personnaly i believe that if you cant see your interlocutors eyes you will not get the same result.

If you can talk and make a presentation of what you can do for them by listening to their needs and explaining what you can do to fill their needs you will probably get the best results. Anyhow you do have to make the first call if you want to work for a restaurant, pubs, hotel or almost anything else.

So i guess it would be wise to get used with cold calls.

If you are the sort of person who feels at ease approaching strangers in the streets of Quebec and annoying them with card tricks you will have absolutely no trouble with cold calling.

However there are a couple of disadvantages. First it is incredibly time consuming and second you are negotiating from a point of weakness. You aren't going to get the same money that you would if they come to you. And you look like a beggar starving for work.

Far better if they come to you.

As for cold calling in Canada being a rarity that is the oddest thing I have ever heard of. Phas3r is obviously too busy annoying the great Canadian public doing card tricks in the street to take phone calls. I happen to know that cold calling happens all the time in that country. Morning noon and night. I will concede that door to door selling is pretty rare. Winters in Canada are somewhat like winters in Siberia from what I have been led to understand and any intreped sales person would be found frozen to death on your doorstep if they ever tried it.

Ill get a box of biscuits just for you!

Your argumentation against every country that isnt yours is tottaly proofless, you should stick to what you know and have experienced. Your a magician you should know that already...

Second im really tired of you thinking every street magician are anoying, in my opinion you are anoying and your making a projection of yourself toward what would happen if you would do street magic.

Yes im at ease with approaching peoples and talking with em but that doesnt make me anoying. I have been working with the public for my whole life(wich is short) it is just new that im stuck in a kitchen altho i like my new job and i must say im over paid.

To know how to approach peoples and give them the envy to pay you for what you did is what ive lived with the past years. I could never work in an office because i need interactions with peoples.

I work in a kitchen as stated already and i have almost no contact with the public from there.

I still manage to get good tips on reguglar basis, i am in no way begging for anything but i happen to be there when required. I make good use of a high level of awareness and i put myself in the right situations, i am not performing any magic there. Customers still come to see me to give me a 10 - 20$ in a hiden handshake and compliments me on my job and attitudes. (this doesnt happen to anyone else in the kitchen except The Chief)

The same happen when i perform altho people doesnt hide themself to "tips" me, instead they make sure everyone saw. I am tottally unable to ask for charity(I can fake it tho) and anyway it is not tolerate in my town to bug the tourists for charity.

Phas3r wrote:
Your argumentation against every country that isnt yours is tottaly proofless, you should stick to what you know and have experienced. Your a magician you should know that already...

Don't take Mark's comments to heart. He's only winding you up (that's a good old anglo-saxon expression that may take some explaining). I happen to know that Mark has worked all over the globe and may know Canada a lot better than some folk realise.

I also agree that cold calling is a pain in the backside. I just did it because I thought I ought to, and was inspired to "get out there and make miracles happen" by an assortment of motivational books that I was reading at the time. I didn't enjoy it but it built up a certain level of resilience and confidence that I later found useful when I actually started to get bookings. I personally would recommend it for people starting out in the trade, but as you say - horses for courses.

Cold calling does work but it is a very tough method of getting business. I will admit that when I have forced myself to do it the results have been positive. Some people are better at it than others and some people have a natural lack of fear for it too. I know a lady magician who LOVES making phone calls to people to sell her services. Her husband told me that she loves gossiping on the phone to people and she goes on and on whereas he hates making calls.

Again it is a personality thing. If you are one of those rare beasts who actually like to make the calls then go for it. One thing I did notice years ago when I sold carbon paper by phone and in person was that I would get better results by phone merely because I was speaking to more people than I did in person.

If you are willing to suffer this awful method of marketing I think the best way is a combination of both. Make the phone calls but don't try to sell the show over the phone. SELL THE APPOINTMENT! Don't tell them too much about your show over the phone-your main aim is get them to agree to see you. I found that out of 10 calls I would usually get permission to see one person.

Go to see the person and take photographs and promotional material and perhaps be prepared to show them a trick. One useful idea that I have adapted from the psychic fairs is to have a comment book. After every show you do people always come up and say something nice either because they mean it or out of politeness. Get them to put a written comment in your book. You should be able to get around 3 comments per show. Put the date and venue of the show at the top of the list of comments. Now when you go to see someone on an appointment to sell your show take the book with you. Show the comments to your potential booker and it will work well. Make sure the book has a good few pages of comments of course. This will build up after a few shows.

Once you actually get in to see the person the chances of being hired are quite high since they wouldn't have bothered agreeing to see you if they didn't have a flicker of interest. The hard part is getting the appointment in the first place.

To be frank I don't use the above techniques myself any more because I hate the phone calls and I am not keen on the positioning aspect of it. In other words I prefer them to come to me rather than the other way around. However the above method works and that is a powerful argument in favour for it.

I have no idea where in Quebec our young Frenchman lives but if it is anywhere near Montreal I suggest he looks in at the Place Bonaventure in a few weeks. I forget the date but there will be a large psychic fair going on there and comment books galore will be on display. He can examine them to see what I am referring to.

I suggest that he does not do magic in the aisles to passers by. The psychics will not approve and will put a hex on him.

I wish I could be there but it is rather a long way away and there are too many people there who speak a funny language.

When I was engaged in cold calling, one thing always amazed me. No-one ever asked to "see a trick". Not even the people who booked me. I found it quite bizarre. I expected everyone to say "come on, show us your stuff", but no-one ever did. Odd.

I have clients today who's restaurant I work in on a weekly basis who have never seen me perform. I suppose they're too busy making food or something. I imagine they get glowing feedback from their customers and that's good enough for them.

Absolutely true. I have found that nobody asks to see a trick either although I try to work it in if I can.

For a trade show booking I really do have to show them something and I insist on doing so. However for other venues they don't seem to request it at all.

When I was young and wanting to work London night clubs I used to offer them a free show and if they liked it they would book me for a longer run. That always worked well

Thx mark, ill find the informations about it and ill see if i can go. Its only 90 minutes by car from where i am.

Oh and ill try to not steal the show!
Im not this kind really.

You will enjoy the fair. Look out for the lecture schedules. Ask the various psychics (especially the English speaking ones) if they have heard of Mark Lewis.
You will get a shock when you realise how famous I am the world over and it might make you less impertinent in the future.

Mark's advice is solid and there's not a great deal to be added to it.

The way I have found to get work via magic is obviously to give people a little sample, something that will capture their interest, but rather than be blatant about it, be matter of fact as if someone comes across as desperate for work they will think you will perform for next to nothing.

A good way to attract interest, if you are interested in working in a restaurant, is to go there for a meal with some friends who like your magic and as the staff are near perform an effect for your friends. PK with cutlery, even getting a pack of cards out can attract attention.

Quite often, if you have chosen a time that's the least busy, the waiter will ask you about the magic and very often will tell the other members of staff. You could casually mention that you do shows and have worked tables to keep customers occupied whilst they wait for their meals.

If you visit somewhere regularly and show a member of staff who is interested something each time they will remember you and if they want magic you will be the first they think of.
One place I perform at, I was given the job after giving all of the staff tarot readings! (they asked if I could do them after a few card effects)
Myself and my party got free drinks and a meal, the other customers came over and expressed interest. I got some work out of it and a few kids parties.

The less you seem like you are advertising something, the more interested people will be. If you casually mention your services and offer your card you will create a better impression than someone who is pushy.

If people feel that you are only trying to sell something, they will be disinterested straight away. A thing to remember is that, particularly in the UK, many people have only seen magic on televison, so performing for them is something personal. If it's a certain place you want to perform at, find out discreetly who the person that makes the decisions is and target them in a subtle way.