How to Sell Snow to a Polar Bear by Steff Deschenes

We have a special guest today!  Steff Deschenes, author of The Ice Cream Theory, talks about how she handled her first booksigning!

How to Sell Snow to a  Polar Bear
By Steff Deschenes

When I was twenty-two I received a call from a representative of Jack Daniels asking me if I wanted to become a “Jack Girl” – one of the official spokes models of the company – at a weeklong Spring Break for adults in Killington, Vermont.  Having no idea what Jack Daniels was, I agreed sight unseen because I needed the money, but more importantly, I needed an adventure.

That adventure has never stopped.  Four years later and I’m still an alcohol spokes model – one of the best in my region.  I’m not sure why exactly I’m such a natural at the job when I don’t really drink and I don’t really like people (that’s not true all the time).  But something happens to me when I put on my outfit – which is usually an inappropriately tight tank top and short skirt – and step onto the floor to start hustling my product.  I forget my insecurities and just become this larger than life character who, for two hours, becomes everyone in the room’s best friend.  And somehow, I easily persuade and coerce nearly everyone into drinking my (sometimes awful) alcohol product.

Maybe it’s the big blue eyes or the fast-talking, maybe it’s the impressive product knowledge, or maybe it’s the way I make people feel at ease around me.  But one thing’s for sure: I could sell snow to a polar bear.

As a direct result of being a “beer girl,” I’ve worked with several companies as their marketing specialist.  I think my years of peddling alcohol really trained my intuition and judgment.  I am excellent at reading people, reading a situation, and then responding appropriately.  I know when to back down and I know when to be relentless.  Employers have told me that somehow I manage to walk a fine line between “adorable” and “annoying” – and it really works for me.

There’s a saying in the alcohol business: When the economy is great, people drink!  When the economy is bad, people drink!  It seemed to me that wallets opened much easier for a drink at a bar with a stranger then they did for artistic endeavors from a twenty-something. Especially one who wrote a self-help book.  (Because what could I possibly know about life and the living of it at Quarter Century that I wouldn’t be more well-versed in at a Half Century?).

So, when I did my first book signing I had no idea how to promote myself to strangers.  Sure, I had plenty of experience in the marketing industry, but I couldn’t imagine that the same way I approached people about booze would be the same way I approached people about an indie self-help book.  This was a lot more personal, too.  If people hate a certain beer or think I’m ugly (remember: we’re beer models after all – mean people feel like that’s an open invitation to critique us), I really don’t lose sleep over it, because 1) the beer isn’t MY product; it’s some multi-billion dollar company’s that I’m promoting; and, 2) sometimes I am ugly!

Not knowing what to do, I threw on my standard wardrobe for my book-related appearances (a t-shirt that says “I Scream.  You Scream.  We All Scream!” with a terrified looking ice cream cone on it, jeans, and a tweed flat cap) and a ate a bowl of cake batter ice cream with hot fudge sauce in it before heading to my signing, which perfectly enough, was held at an ice cream store during their town’s art walk festival.

The first few moments sitting at the table by myself, outside on a patio overlooking the ocean in a very well-to-do area while people looked awkwardly at me, were extremely tense.  I had nothing to offer these people who were leaps and bounds ahead of me on the socio-economic ladder.

I had nothing to offer these people?, I suddenly thought angrily to myself.  I’m a twenty-something who wrote an eleven-time award winning book, and I did it completely on my own as I’m a self-published author.  I had something to offer these people – ME.

And that’s when, just like it does when I’m an alcohol spokes model, a flip switched inside me.  I jumped up from the table and began very animatedly just making conversation with passer-by’s.  People wanted to know what I was doing.  And that’s when I told them – and sold them on – me and my book.  I walked the fine line of adorable and annoying, I intrigued and bewildered people, and wouldn’t you know – I sold some books.

They say a successful book signing sells three books.

I sold fourteen in the two hours I was there!

What I learned from that night was incredibly valuable, and was something that, while I always knew, I had simply never applied to myself as a brand (which you become the moment you step up to the plate and start playing the game for real.  You are not your book.  You are a brand and your book is simply a part of that).   And that’s: when you’re knowledgeable about something, and when you’re passionate about that same something, magic happens.

And what are we more knowledgeable about then ourselves?

And what are we more passionate about then our dreams?

You can visit Steff on the web at www.steffdeschenes.com. You can also visit her at www.theicecreamtheory.com.