Stripping & Sales Series

Stripping is a sales job, first and foremost. The best sales people make the customer feel seen, heard, and simplify the process of whatever they are buying.

Strippers sell their time, energy, presence, entertainment, and emotional connection. Strippers have to figure out the customer’s budget and unspoken needs while connecting with them and helping them feel relaxed, and walking them through the process effortlessly.

If you’ve been dancing a while, you already know what it’s like to keep track of customers in your head. Having a systematic approach to organizing your leads is the biggest key to having a successful night. That way you never forget about someone, and you never leave money on the floor.

A lead is a potential customer to whom you can sell something. A lead can be classified as cold, warm, or hot.

Cold leads are the people who never set foot inside the doors, or someone who is not interested in buying form you, specifically.

Warm leads are anyone that walks in the door. Every single person who walks in through the doors is a warm lead. Even the ones who insist that they are there for their friends. Even the straight women who are there for their boyfriends. Even the gay men who are part of a bigger group.

Hot leads come up to you, invite you to a table, stop you while you’re walking past, or who are at your stage; basically, people who show interest in you.

Every person who walks in the door is a warm lead, and it’s your job to sort them into categories, based on your interactions with them: abandon, lost, nurture, won.

Abandon: a lead with whom you decide to end the sales process.

Reasons to abandon a lead:

• They are there for another stripper only
  • I usually ask if they would like some company while they wait, and I will not try to pressure them into a dance. Sometimes, other dancers will be okay with it, some will not. Regardless, getting up when their dancer comes by is proper ettiquitte.
• They have stated that you are not their type
• They are looking for a service that you do not offer
• They are angry or dismissive
• You feel unsafe

You can choose to abandon a lead for any reason. You don’t have to justify it to anyone but yourself. If you are uncomfortable, walk away. That’s the beauty of this job, especially if you work independently.

Lost: a lead who decided to buy from someone else

Reasons a lead might be lost:

• They connected with someone else better
• You made a mistake in the sales process
• They didn’t like you after chatting
• They want something that you don’t offer

The difference between abandoned and lost leads is in who decided to end the sales process. Some customers might be looking for something that you don’t offer and not tell you, instead asking their own set of discovery questions, and making the choice to move on to someone else. When a customer decides that they don’t want you, and you don’t know why, it can be confusing and even hurtful if you spent time building a seemingly good connection. It’s important not to turn your introspection on to yourself. It’s never because you aren’t enough, but about what they are looking for in their service provider.

Nurture: a lead who is not ready to buy just yet, but is interested in buying from you in the future.

How to nurture a warm lead:

• Invite them to see you on stage
• Sit and chat with them

Deciding whether or not to stay at a table when the customer is not ready to buy is answered easily when you have a systematic approach to sorting leads and asking discovery questions. Some customers require more emotional labor to commit to a sale, and some want to window shop before they make their final decision. Some customers need a moment to think about it, whether you’re sitting with them or not. It’s important not to destroy the rapport that you have built by being upset that they aren’t committing on your timeline. Confident salespeople know that the buyer is going to buy.

Won: a lead who bought something

Important things to note:

• Won doesn’t mean the end of that relationship
• Won leads go into the sales pipeline

Too often, I see strippers struggle when they make a sale. Too many strippers think of the dance or the room as the end of the interaction. Once a customer hands you money, as a tip, on stage, for a dance, or a room, they are now in your sales pipeline. They are primed to spend money on you.

It’s easy to visualize someone tipping on stage moving up the pipeline to buying a dance, and then a room. That’s a simple way to visualize upselling. But too often, I see strippers sell a dance package or a smaller room and not use that time to upsell to a bigger room, a longer room, or set the standard that they are going to spend their money on you, no matter where they are in the club.

Take a moment to reflect on how you sort leads when you’re working. Do you have a system? What is it?

Your homework this week is to recognize and sort leads when you’re working. Mentally note if you abandoned them and why. Mentally note if you lost the lead and why. Mentally note how you nurtured the leads that needed it, and moved the won leads through your pipeline. Did you get every possible dollar you could from the won leads?

Good luck and happy hustling!