Mastering the Art of Sales: Lessons from the Ballroom
Embarking on my sales journey felt like stepping onto a dance floor with two left feet. My shaky start the year before in college was marked by a mock close that left my professor commenting on the apparent amnesia of own my name as the camera in the fake office captured it all. This was a far cry from the confident strides I would later take in the world of ballroom dance sales.
With just two semesters of marketing sales, the real-world experience at a ballroom dance studio was my crucible and my classroom. Transitioning from a dance novice to generating $135,000 in sales in my first year, I discovered the rhythm of sales is a dance that demands both passion and precision.
#1 — Advocacy and Conviction: Believing in Your Dance
The first step on this dance floor taught me the essence of belief. Selling dance lessons wasn’t about transactions, but about sharing an experience, I was deeply passionate about. This conviction wasn’t just a sales tactic; it was the core of my approach, transforming my pitches into genuine invitations to the world of dance.
#2 — Teamwork: The Ensemble Behind the Scenes
In the studio, I wasn’t alone. The instructors and staff played pivotal roles, always ready to lend a hand or share their stories. This unity wasn’t just about moral support but creating a cohesive and compelling narrative for our clients, showing them they were joining a community, not just signing up for classes.
One glance at my roommate and fellow instructor standing with his student by the music machine was all it took for my new student to have the perfect song at the ideal tempo for their first time doing a rumba to music. He had my back, and I had his. His students had my back as well. Why? Conviction in the product.
Other students were walking advertisements for the studio. You could see they were dancers from how they walked: perfect posture, confidence, and a particular facet cut into their personality that made them sparkle.
#3 — Engaging Imagination: The Dance of Storytelling
Introducing each dance with a vivid narrative transported my clients from a simple studio to the bustling streets of New York in the 1920s or a lively Cuban fiesta. These stories were more than just introductions; they were immersive experiences that made the dances memorable and sparked a desire to be part of those tales. I learned to perfect my picture stories by touching all five senses.
From the smell of cigar smoke in the air to how the grain of the mahogany bar of the speakeasy felt smooth under their fingertips. I took my students into The Great Gatsby’s pages and castles on Vienna’s hilltops. I sold those dances and their modern-day uses through storytelling.
#4 — The Subtle Influence: The Psychology of Pen Colors
Even the choice of pen became part of the dance. Blue for trust, black for professionalism, green means GO— every detail was a step in the choreography of closing a sale, teaching me the power of subtlety and the importance of non-verbal cues in guiding my clients’ decisions — never a red pen, though; red means STOP.
This didn’t just apply to the signing of contracts for dance lessons, but the playful covers of the lesson guides we presented them with. Decorated in marker and glitter — tailored to each individual student’s stated goals.
#5 — Harnessing Empathy: Connecting Through Shared Feelings
The feel-felt-found technique became my go-to move for addressing hesitations. It was about empathy, about sharing stories of past students who had stood in their shoes, weaving a web of trust and understanding that reassured clients they were making the right choice. Example:
I understand your hesitation; that is indeed a lot of money to spend on anything.
However, other students like X out there (pointing to a student out the window of the office on the dancefloor with their teacher) have felt the same way. Still, we have found that you can ask any of them, even X out there, if it was worth it for them, and they will tell you they wouldn’t go back to not having this in their lives for anything.
If they could return to their first lesson, grab their shoulders, and whisper in their ear, they would say, “Do it!”
This might sound manipulative, but it wasn’t — because it was always true. If it was the ability they were concerned about, time, whatever. Feel-felt-found always made an impact and landed true.
#6 — Simplifying Decisions: The Benjamin Franklin Close
Laying out the pros and cons with clients highlighted the tangible benefits of dance, simplifying their decision-making process. This method, rooted in clarity and logic, often tipped the scales, showcasing the undeniable value of investing in dance lessons.
Example:
Cons:
1. It costs money. More money than you are used to spending on something that isn’t a tangible good, like a car or house.
2. Getting out of the house and getting moderately dressed up takes effort, energy, and time that you wouldn’t usually put out in a typical day on top of life’s other demands.
3. It makes me nervous; I’m scared to learn something so showy that it requires me to get out in front of people, meet them, and get to know them. I don’t want to look silly.
4. I don’t think I can do it; I have foot and back problems.
Often, these cons were also the pros!
Pros:
1. I have mentioned I need to get out of the house more to exercise; a lot of my old friends are busy, or I’ve lost touch with them in one way or another. I miss making new friends. I would instead make new ones than try to force old ones to reconnect with me. I meet new students daily during my lessons and even more at the Friday night parties.
2. This is not only exercise, it’s fun. I have felt it in my legs and arms when I go home from moving around and holding a dance frame, and even though it hurts for a little while the next day, it gets easier all the time. I can feel a genuine improvement in my body, posture, breathing, and energy level.
3. You tell me over time, the problems I have with my feet and back will be reduced significantly, but not just you, but other students my age have told me their stories, and I watch them dance around the ballroom like they’ve been doing it all their life. I want that.
4. I can’t remember the last time I went out and did something social, fun, and physical. I’ve already been to two Friday night parties, and the live band is so awesome. Dancing with all the teachers and students has brought me out of my comfort zone in a good way. I like that other teachers get their students to ask me to dance; some even do it independently. I want to be that confident in life.
5. I genuinely like my teacher. He is so funny and intelligent (OK, sometimes I would add that in there), and it’s good to have a confidant for an hour every couple of days, even if it’s a professional relationship. It feels good to be around people and know I have one person in this prominent new place who always has my back.
6. I love my dance shoes. I love the feeling of putting them on, being taken by the hand, and having a warm-up dance with all the other teachers, students, and even the couples as we all change partners. I like having a hobby!
As you can see, this list can go on and on. The cons? They don’t stand a chance because the product is just that good. Showing off dancing to friends and family isn’t like showing off a car. It’s showing off yourself. Your effort, courage, and newfound social and physical skills will make them envious. It is so good you will want them to have it too.
#7 — “The 7th Wave”: The Emotional Encore
When logic and empathy weren’t enough, “The Wave” was my emotional finale, a heartfelt promise of the transformative power of dance. This wasn’t just about closing a sale but about forging a connection and ensuring clients felt seen and supported.
It was what we called the emotional hug. “Put your faith in me”. I promise you I will deliver everything I say, and I promise you won’t give it back for anything. This only works if you were a kick-ass teacher to them up to this point. You couldn’t be late to lessons, you couldn’t show up smelling like tobacco, and you hopefully had a good team of students and teachers backing you up.
#8 — Easing the Tension: Laughter in the Closing Room
The closing process, fraught with anxiety for many, was where a well-timed story or a light-hearted comment about keeping bookings like I liked my pants — TIGHT, could cut through the tension, transforming a stressful decision into an enjoyable conversation.
I had this one manager when sitting across from me and a student in the office at a close who would ceremoniously take off his glasses, lean back in his chair, and stare off somewhere far away into another galaxy and start talking about his daughter, who was a flight medic in Afghanistan. Have you ever seen how they get a person out of a tight spot with a helicopter lift? Well, let me tell you, it takes a lot of skill…
And that was YOUR cue as the teacher to take a breath and think about your next move while giving the student a chance to go off to Lala Land with the older man behind the desk. It was great every time.
All our managers had these little mannerisms that were fun to imitate, such as how one would hold a pen like a wand or use specific transitional phrases all the time, but the flight medic in Afghanistan story… was art.
The managers would even write secret symbols on the agreement sheet that looked like doodles but were Zodiac messaging. For example, drawing a little ocean wave meant going for the 7th wave approach, or if the sacred name of Liza Minnelli was uttered, this also had significant meaning. One of my female managers had a picture of her on her office wall and would look at it and smile during a close to tell the teacher to go for the finish.
The thing is, Liza always got the standing O, no matter what it took. This was to tell the teacher to go for it and not get tired; you owe it to yourself for all the hard work you put into the student, and you owe it to the student. Don’t let them flake out with a weak objection. Do the work, get the standing O.
#9 — Leveraging Referrals: The Power of Visible Transformation
Referrals were the most accessible, not because the process was more straightforward, but because the transformation witnessed in a friend was a powerful motivator. These clients came pre-sold, ready to join the dance floor, inspired by the changes they saw in someone they trusted.
If you didn’t have a guest at “Guest Night” on Thursday night, it was a cardinal sin. I won’t explain what happened if none of the staff had a guest. Not here. Not now. I can’t go back there.
#10- The Final Step: The Art of the Close
Closing was the grand finale that always happened, the moment where all previous steps led. It was about confidence and asking for the sale in a way that felt like the natural conclusion to a well-performed dance. This step reinforced the importance of every interaction leading up to this point, ensuring clients felt ready and willing to buy your promise.
Everything was close, from bookings to shoes to asking them to come to the Friday night parties, the bi-monthly studio outings to real-world bars and dance clubs, to bringing a guest on Thursday nights occasionally. Always, be, closing (ABC). I want to take credit for that, but my old manager swears it’s his.
My journey from a nervous college sales student to a successful salesperson in the ballroom dance world has been a dance of growth, challenges, and triumphs. Each lesson learned has been a step in my development, professionally and personally, teaching me the value of connection, empathy, and the power of a well-timed close.
As we navigate our dances of sales and connection, let’s remember that the most successful steps are those taken with genuine conviction and a readiness to lead with empathy and understanding.
Join me in exploring these rhythms further in my writings on Medium, where we can continue to share in the dance of discovery and growth. I will leave you, dear reader, with this — if you ever consider taking dance lessons, remember this: the most challenging step in dancing is the one through the studio door.
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