CONTENTS

Introduction...................................................................................................................................... PG 2

Attitude is everything....................................................................................................................... PG 3

Take the Lead.................................................................................................................................... PG 4

Ask the right Question and Actively Listen....................................................................................PG 5Open Ended Questions 2. Probing Questions 3. Closed ended questions

Discover the Real Motivation.......................................................................................................... PG 6

Personalize where Possible.............................................................................................................. PG 7

MONEY
TIME
EASE/CONVIENCE
HEALTH/SAFETY/COMFORTIMAGECheck Their Temperature................................................................................................................ PG 8Get a Commitment........................................................................................................................... PG 9

Four Steps to effective cold calling.................................................................................................PG 10

A&R Dept Organizational Chart.................................................................................................. PG 11

Summary......................................................................................................................................... PG 14

Introduction

Just about all of us know someone who is great at selling. In this manual I want to help you open up the secrets to powerful salesmanship.

Competition is tougher than ever. Artist are smarter than ever . Believe it or not when your clients/artist call you they want to buy from you. Your job is to match our service with the artist needs then help them make the right decision.

Utilizing this skills during a client interaction will ensure that you as an A&R will take a consultative approach to earning and artist business, instilling confidence in you and your A&R business and keeping your clients happy all the way through their Palace experience.

I will cover how to gain information from your clients in a way that will assist you making the sale for your A&R business. Additionally I will teach you how to build relationships with your artist clientele in a way that is sure to bring you more business in the future.

Remember Attitude is everything.

Kamal JabbarKJabbar

Keys to effective selling:

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

ONE OF THE PRINCIPLES TO A SUCCESSFUL ARTIST INTERACTION IS TO BUILD A RELATIONSHIP/RAPPORT WITH THE ARTIST OR CLIENT.

It's not so much what you say, but how you say it that counts. - Kamal Jabbar-

Believe it or not, what you are feeling on the inside is often unconsciously conveyed on the outside through the tone of your voice. Learning to reflect a positive attitude; is the mind set of a great A&R. When your tone is friendly and reassuring, it is hard to think negative about the experience.

An effective way to ensure a positive tone is to actually smile while you are talking. Make a smile come through the phone or smile while you speak. Always consider the alternative perspective. If you are the one listening, would you sound pleasant.? Would you want to interact with you?

Make sure you are well prepared . If you are flustered and well organized, this will not help your clients quest for optimum service . Avoid speaking over the client. Make notes before you call to stay organized and do any additional research before picking up the phone. This level of control conveys to the artist your ability to serve them.

The same principles should be applied for face to face interactions. Set goals for yourself and maintain a positive attitude. But most of all believe it! Do your homework. Make sure you know the ends and outs of PMG products you are offering. Practice your presentation and don't be shy.

The last key is to be honest. Many A&Rs make the mistake of being a know it all and they feel their clients with little white lies make them look better when in reality , its hurting the PALACE cause. Believe me artist can usually spot a stretch of the truth and that diminishes the A&Rs ability to gain the customer's trust. Be honest in owning what you know and then tell the artist that you will do everything you can to find them the answers if you don't have all the facts upfront.

FACT: 86% of all communication interpreted over the phone is based on tone of voice. Only 14% is based on the words we choose.

Take The Lead

There is a delicate line between aggressive and assertive. An A&R that is of the consultative mind set will assert himself and take the lead.

You may be asking yourself what does take the lead mean? You assert yourself by expressing your knowledge so that the client knows that you are the expert and they need not look any further. Believe it or not most people like to be lead. It makes things simpler and easier.

A great phrase that will help establish you as an expert when working with a artist is to simply state to them, I can help you with that! Your tone must absolutely convince the artist that you can and will help them.

Th next step in taking the lead is to capture details that will let the artist know you care about their career. Make sure you use the artist name when communicating with them. Write their name down some where you will see it.

Take lead by noting the objectives and basic needs of your future client. Restate their objective to them, by using their own words. This will show the client that you are listening.

Last but not least is to gather contact information in order to follow-up.

When you active listen the client will feel acknowledged in the conversation. Be conscious of how your tone affects the believability of your response. Ensure that you have identified the basic needs of your client and review if necessary the details of what they are after. This is one way to let the artist know you are listening and that you are willing to meet their needs.

Ask the Right Question and Listen Actively

I made mention of being a consultative salesperson. To expand on this subject, a consultative salesperson differs from the average A&R by becoming and advisor and an expert to their client. It means asking the right questions and helping your artist make wise decisions based on their needs versus traditional sales approaches that can feel pushy to the artist. You may still be doing much of the talking, but you are strategic in asking questions and listening actively. Open ended ques get the customer talking.

When using a consultative sales approach, you look after your artist best interest. Once you know what matters most to your clients, you sell based on values they care about. Understanding your clients needs and wants allows you to better personalize the offer.

Now that you understand what it takes to take the consultative approach to selling clients, we must pay attention to the way we phrase questions. It is about learning from or qualifying the customer in order to provide the best possible services and the recommending as much product that is appropriate. Secondary is the ability to hear, listen and understand what is being said by the customer and to know how that relates to what you have to offer.

There is three key questioning techniques that help us extract information in conversational matters:

Open-Ended

Probing

Closed-Ended Questions

Open Ended questions allows for a variety of responses from the client. This type of questioning injects a conversational and personal tone into the interaction. Opened-ended questions begin with the words who what why when and how.

Probing questions are also opened-ended and utilize the 5 W's and how; however this type of questioning is built upon the answer to the previous question. Probing questions are tools used for extracting more information about the topic. They show that you are not only hearing your customers response, but that you also understand and care.

The final piece in the questioning trio, closed-ended questions, has a definite purpose: to steer a conversation back to the task at hand (selling) or to ask for the business (be willing to go for the NO). Close-ended questions allow for control of the conversation and are best used during reinstating for trial closes.

Discover the Real Motivation

When asking questions, listen and acknowledge the responses. The approach creates a true dialogue with the artist and allows us to build the relationship, rapport and trust while learning what matters most to the artist. What is their real motivation? What are they looking for and why are they really talking to you.

Since you are selling music services (the packages), you would want to realize that the ultimately the customer doesn't want the packages; they want the effect that the packages promise. By staying focused on the benefit or the end result the client is seeking, you will find solutions to their needs more readily.

Open Ended questions are used to get the clients to open up and talk to you. Prevents us from assuming, exposes sells opportunities and creates more openings for familiarity and rapport with your artist.

Probing questions are a tool for extracting more information about a topic. They show you are not only hearing your client's response, but you also understand and care.

Think about this. Does your questions feel confrontational, like an interrogation? Remember to put a smile in your voice.

So let's recap. Your first interaction with the artist should be poised and professional. Remember to use their name. Creating rapport with your artist is critical. Ask some basic questions. Ask clarifying questions and reinstate.. Always remember your tone.

Think to yourself why would this artist want to specifically want to know this about the artist. What is their priorities, you can piece together their real motivation.

Personalize Where Possible

Build value is and essential step as a A&R it is very important to position yourself, first and foremost in your clients mind, as the authority, expert industry leader; or the company with the best solution (I.e the one that offers the most value).

It is easier to do this upfront, at the beginning of the recommendation to your client, than to try to mention it later as a way to overcome objection. Some companies will suggest a standard competitive positioning statement that should be mentioned before you launch into a recommendation and price.

EXAMPLE:

Just so you know, we partner with all the major online distributors. We are in 15 different markets because of the strength of our A&R network as well as we take advantage of the hottest social networks ability to expand into the international markets.

What sets us apart from the competition is that we.....

A benefit only builds value in the mind of your customer if it addresses a stated need or concern. Personalize the sharing of your features and benefits by referring to information you receive from your client during your questioning process. By following this approach, you become a consultant instead of a salesperson. As you listen to and address the artists specific needs in your recommendation, you demonstrate to the customers that our product or service is designed to solve their problem.

There are 5 common areas that artist care about regarding our product or service will benefit their needs.

1. MONEY2. TIME3. EASE/CONVENIENCE4. HEALTH/SAFETY/COMFORT5. IMAGE

To effectively build value, every benefit must tie back to at least one of these five common areas of artist interest in some direct or indirect way. It is not enough to assume the artist will make this connection. You must state the connection as a notable personal benefit for the artist as part of your presentation.

Personalizing has a lot to do with referring back to what the Artist actually told you. It is fitting or customizing the product or service you sell around your customer's needs. And it's important to remember that not all benefits are important to client. One common mistake is to outline ALL of the benefits to the client, especially the ones that are not important to them. This actually works against you because it tells the customer that you don't know what they want nor do you understand their needs. If the Artist does speak on it don't speak on it.

Check Their Temperature

Check the client temperature with a trial close. A trial close is a very valuable sales technique that enables you to do a temperature check on your level of rapport with the client and the client's overall receptiveness. A trail close ensures you are getting buy in along the way and that you are on the right track in your customer's mind. It also enables you to formulate your questions and your approach based on periodic, real-time feedback through your conversation. There are two types of trial closes: open-ended and close-ended.

Here is an example of an open-ended trial close:

A&R: Because you mention... I'm going to recommend shelving units: they will give you three times the storage capability and allow for ease of movement and access. How does that sound?

Or

ARTIST: Sounds Good.

A&R: You are getting up early every day for your conference, so I am going to add a complimentary in-room continental breakfast. How will that work for you?

ARTIST: That would be great

A close-ended trial close is most powerful and definitive when used after stating a feature and a benefit. It is designed to get a real yes or a no. Now don't be afraid of NO. By getting an objection now, we can go back, ask clarifying questions, recalculate, resell and ask the trial close again before we give a price and ask for the business in a hard close.

Here is an example of a close-ended trial close:

A&R: Based on what your telling me, I am going to recommend... As I mentioned it is... we offer. It would be perfect for . As a benefit, for only an additional $100, we will Does that sound like it will work for you?

CUSTOMER: YES

The habit we are seeking to develop is to consistently perform a trial close each time we have given a feature and benefit. If we are off track with the customers, a trial close helps us know what the customer is thinking and how we should modify our communication in order to hit their hot button.

Get A CommitmentA commitment to the sale is the actual solution to the customer's problem. If the clients gets off the phone or leaves your place of business without a solution we have failed to accomplish our objective.

You are wasting your time and the customers time if you are will to ask for the business. Your customers expect to be asked they want to be asked. It's that simple. If you have fear around asking or being rejected, get over it or get someone to help you with the final step.

The most consistent objection you are going to get is price. The real objection is not the price. It is making the client see the value in the price. Yes they can go to Google it and find 10 other competitors that have the same product as you. But will set you apart is your attention in the customers needs, your knowledge about the product, your ability to build a relationship, your willingness to be assertive about the sale.

Let's look at the typical objections you get when the client does not want to buy your product or service. In general, all objections turn out out to be the same four reasons. Though customers may call their objections by different names, they are the same basic issues with the same practical solutions. This means the the objection is something the is usually practical, manageable situation for which we can prepare.

There are really only four basic objections. Every objections is some version of:

I am not the decision maker.

I'm shopping ahead and just trying to get prices.

Price is too high or more than I expect.

Not time yet.

a. I'll call or check back later and let you know. (This is a no)b. Just send me a quote in writing. (This is a no)

If they say no ask questions to clarify or acknowledge their objections. Let them know that you heard what they said. Remember, as a consultant, in order to meet their needs you need to understand their reasoning. Sometimes restating their objections is enough. Other times, you will need to probe further to find out specifically what does not work. You can do this by simply and non-defensively asking the customer, why?

EXAMPLE:
ARTIST: No thanks.A&R:Okay. Can I ask why?
ARTIST: I don't like the price.A&R: What specifically about the price don't you like?

Remember, you get more business if you ask for the business after giving a price. So don't be afraid to ask.The Four Steps to Effective Cold CallsOne of the most-feared, and yet most effective, ways to develop business is the dreaded, and much maligned 'cold call.' But, if you develop a consistent approach to your cold calls, you can overcome the fear of not knowing what to say or how to respond when the person on the other end of the phone actually answers!First thing: remember the goal of your cold call. Your goal on a cold call is to GET AN APPOINTMENT. Your goal is NOT to sell on the phone. (If your job is telesales, then of course your goal would be to sell on the phone; we will be covering that topic in a separate article.) When you set your priority on getting an appointment and not on selling, it becomes much easier to for you to actually get in front of the people you need to see to make your goals and close more business.Here are the four steps that go into a successful cold call:Opening: In your opening statement you want to get the other persons attention (by using their name), give a brief 'commercial' about your company and tell that person why you are calling (to get an appointment.) So, for example, your opening might sound like this:'Good morning Ms. Smith. This is (your name) calling from over at the Palace. We are the most effection music digital distribution specializing in the independent music industry. The reason Im calling you today is that that weve recently successfully completed a project with ARTIST NAME where we were able to help them increase their visibility to market by distributing their MP3s online with us. Id like to get together and show you how we were able to help them achieve this result. Hows Tuesday at 2?Response: The person youre speaking with is now going to respond to you; most likely with an 'objection' or a reason why they shouldnt meet with you. Think about the most common responses you are likely to hear in your business, and be prepared to turn their response around. For example, if you know that you will typically hear something like 'Well, thanks for your call, but were all set for now' (and you probably hear that a lot, right?) you should have your 'turnaround' ready to go...Turnaround: To turn around a response, you want to reassure the person on the phone that youve heard what they said, and that you understand their response BUT, dont just give it up. Your response should sound something like this: 'You know, Mr. Smith, many of our clients said the same thing when we first spoke with them, until they saw how our widgets were able to benefit them. Why dont we get together, and I can show you how. Hows Tuesday at 2?Appointment: After youve tried to turn the call around, youre either going to the appointment, or youre not. If youve tried two or three turnarounds, and the prospect still doesnt want to meet, then its time to thank them for their time, and move on to the next call. Dont spin your wheels expecting to get an appointment with everyone you speak with. Will this approach work every time? No - but then again, nothing will work every time. Will you get more appointments if you use and practice these techniques? You can you will - absolutely. Guaranteed.

A&R DEPT Organizational Chart

President Manages Senior V.P.'s

Senior Vice President Over sees Vice Presidents

Vice President Over sees directors/sales

The A&R department (artists and repertoire) finds new talent, acquires material for the artists to record and arranges the recording schedules of artists, musicians and producers.

A&R Director What do A&R Directors do?The Artist & Repertoire (A&R) Director runs the department responsible for finding and signing new music talent. They are responsible for the budget of the department, managing the staff, hiring new staff and sometimes acting as A&R manager for larger acts. They are responsible for managing the A&R coordinators and other A&R staff.

An A&R Director needs a thorough understanding of music and the contemporary music scene. They need to know how music works and how albums are recorded and produced. Decisions must be based on sound knowledge, research and understanding of the music. It is helpful to have a good understanding of a variety of genres, for example classical, contemporary, rock, pop, and jazz. They also need excellent judgment to make decisions about the likelihood of commercial success, and the negotiating skills to ensure they get the best deal for the record company while supporting the artists' ambitions.A&R Manager What do A&R Managers do?A&R Managers are creative people with good business skills and a solid understanding of the music marketplace. It is not enough to like the music, an A&R Manager needs an excellent knowledge of the contemporary music scene and to understand what sells.

The main job is picking acts that will be successful and then working with the act to find the right producers and writers. The process is very much a nurturing one to ensure the band or solo artist impacts at the right time with the right material. Oversees interns/new media involves auditioning bands, setting up studio time, working with artists on material or handling some of their other personal arrangements, and communicating with other departments in artist-related aspects.A&R SCOUTThe A&R or, Artist and Repertoire, will attend to the needs of the A&R Manager as an extra set of hands, and ears. Often includes office duties, helping to scout new bands, artists, and music, as well as attending shows and acting as a liaison between the A&R Manager and the unsigned Indy artist.

Intern Entry level trainee menial tasks are a common part of an intern's duties/club and street promotions. Often includes office duties, helping to scout new bands, artists, and music, as well as attending shows and acting as a liaison between the Artist and the A&R. Works to gain work experience that they can carry with them to the next level or career.

SUMMARY

Most of these skills will come naturally to you after working with these new ideas into your routine. Track your success, stick with the program, and want your livelihood change significantly!

Remember the most important aspect of an A&R is meeting your clients needs and building a relationship that has a meaning.

Your next step is to have the confidence and to follow through and keep on the top of your game. Applying this knowledge is strictly up to you this is just a few keys to improve your skills. How you Implement these keys and whether or not you decide to jump in with both feet is your choice.

But this to the test!

Five essential capacities distinguish PMG:

A genius for livelihood-changing artist relationships.

A passion for artist development.

A talent for nurturing careers.

An obsession with improving greatness

A bias towards the finer things in life.

Individually-Our products spur creativity and productivity in the artist livesBusiness-we have solutions that help improve artist performancesThe industry-create artist that impact the overall entertainment industry

Steps to Growing Your Artist Relationships

Growing Artist Relationships are flexible in their application. However, there are certain steps they should all follow shortcuts or inadequate preparation lessens the chance of success.

Step 1 List the projects: Analyze the artists operating budget and break it down into its component parts. Try to group them by which package would best suit their needs. A unmotivated artist may not sound exciting, but visualize their importance related to a package or service. List specific packages related to that artist that could be sold.

Step 2 Identify prospected Artists: It is important to list prospects but be selective. List prospects who already sell music but are open to ways to earn more income. Add to that list new prospects including music businesses, Publishing corporations, individual songwriters, service clubs, and music organizations.

Step 3 Research the prospected Artist: Whether its an individual, an organization, or a business, document their interests. Look for hobbies, memberships, and other organizations they support. Look through social networks, newsletters, events, blogs, the local library and, of course, Internet search engines. The best method: talk with the Artists themselves, and find out their interests. Research is perhaps the most important step in an A&R's talent recruitment campaign.

Step 4 Determine who should make the approach: Dont have more than one person call on the sameprospected Artist, and make sure the right person calls on each prospected Artist. Carefully control your prospect lists. The best person for the job is the one who knows the prospected Artist, and the best visit is a visit made in person.

Step 5 Match packages and prospected Artist: The better the match, the better the chance of a distribution agreement. Ask if the prospected Artist is interested in the distributing their music. Meet with the prospected Artist to review their music and discuss their career goals. If the artist's project is within the great range of sound sonically, ask the artist whats the only reason they haven't moved forward in distributing their product digitally.

Step 6 Write the proposal: The proposal should be tailored to the Artist or business. It should be shortand concise, but complete enough to state the problems and remedies the project will address the price,action steps, and results to be achieved.

Step 7 Make the call: The procedure of making the appointment, personal appearance, sales pitch, and theclosing of the sale are the same as in any selling techniques book.

Step 8 Follow-up: Once the business has been transacted, there is still work to be done. Both proper record keeping and an appropriate thank-you to the artists are mandatory.

Basic Principles of Proposal Writing

The proposal should be neat, clean, and easy to read!

There should be no typographical errors in your final copy. Always present the prospected Artist with an original. Break up the copy; no one wants to look at a proposal that starts at the top of the page and goes on seemingly forever, unbroken by paragraphs or some other breathing space. Dont use extravagant proposal packaging.

Expensive covers suggest that you waste money. If you employ an unusual format, perhaps to attractattention, you risk focusing too much on the format rather than the contents.

Write your proposal in English!Proposal writing is not an opportunity to demonstrate your mastery of word jargon. To test the clarity of your writing, have friends or family read your proposal. Some of the best comments will come from people unfamiliar with music industry jargon. Staff members may think they know what you mean, or may be less than critical because of your role.

Make it brief!The proper length of a project proposal is just long enough for you to communicate your message, but not long enough to bore the reader. A well-written, one or two-page project can leave readers hungry for more.

Be positive!Get ourselves up for the project proposal-writing experience. Always keep in mind that you are presenting your prospected Artist with the opportunity to participate in something important to their career. Never call attention to any mistakes or failures artist in your council may have had.

Avoid unsupported assumptions!Sometimes we say things like, we believe when we need to quote industry facts and music industry experts. Dont forget to tell your prospected Artists about the PMG or Package program never assume they know what the PMG is doing or what PMG is all about.

Write the project!This will involve a fair amount of individual work and research and input from friends and associates. Do not allow the criticism of others to offend you. Your goal is to have the best possible written proposal for the prospected Artists project. Review all of the criticism and comments. If it is appropriate, incorporate them in your final draft. Keep in mind that the project proposal is a selling document. It should be convincing, persuasive, and complete.

Project Proposal Sample

Project Sales Writing Worksheet Example

ESPECIALLY PREPARED FOR ________ (Artist Name) ________

A PROJECT FOR ________ (Album or Song Title) ________

PARAGRAPH on aims and objectives of A&R:

PARAGRAPH on elements of Package that help accomplish aims and objectives:

STATEMENT of a problem that is preventing the accomplishment of the artist goal:

PARAGRAPH on specific items and money needed to solve this particular problem:

PARAGRAPH respectfully requesting artist business and expressing appreciation for consideration:

RECOGNITION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS benefit to Artist:

ACCEPTED BY ___________ AMOUNT $_____________BY DATE OF ____________

Sample Proposal

Especially prepared for: (Superstar)

Title of project: (Album name for Distribution)

Palace Music Group, LLC provides Independent Artist through digital distribution one of the finest opportunities to grow and mature, for the first time perhaps, on their own, with or with help from major labels, in relations with others in their mastery of building brand value, image and name recognition; while sharing and cooperating in a online digital distribution community.

In these busy times, many activities compete for a Artists interest and hard-earnedfan base.

Music service companies needs to inform, encourage, enthuse, and excite an artist to choose to distribute with their distribution network. PMG is company that specializing in all the administration so the artist can continue to experience the fun of the performance. This calls for a thorough artist online digital music distribution; television; movie; commercial rights synchronization, radio promotion campaign major label Electronic Press Kit distribution the creation notices, fliers, charts, and reports and a development program that teaches artist about branding and monetizing their said brand.

These important service(s) are part of the (PMG) distribution packages and are recommend to help in the convenience of promoting the image and talents of (Artist PKA Name).

We propose the.... program(s).

Budgeted Distribution ExpenseMajor Label EPK Distribution: $499.00Online Digital Music Distribution: $299.00Sales Tax:$000.00Total: $798.00Initial Investment:$500.00

Accepted by: _KDJ_______

Amount: $298.00 By date of: 8/16/2009.

Prospected Artist Research Guide

Use this form to record data about your prospect before you develop the written proposal. Please telephone or visit with people who know your prospect and try to gather answers to some of the following questions.

Name of prospect ___________________________

Album/Song Title __________________________ Current _____ Past _______

Prospected Artist Address to be used for contact purposes:Address:City:State:Zip:

Cell:(_______)-_________-_________________Business: (________)-_________-____________Home: (______)-_______-__________________email: ___________________________________fb: www.facebook.com/_____________________twitter: www.twitter.com/____________________

Genre performed: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hobbies and special interests ______________________________________________________

What what package should be recommended to prospected Artist to fulfill their needs ______________________________________________________________________________

What about regarding our product or service will benefit their needs.

1. MONEY2. TIME3. EASE/CONVENIENCE4. HEALTH/SAFETY/COMFORT5. IMAGE

Past distribution support to artist ___________________________________________________

Who should present proposal ______________________________________________________

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