I clearly remember my first time selling my wallet invention in front of the bright studio lights at QVC like it was yesterday.
My heart was pounding as the host walked over towards my table – I had about 15 seconds before we'd go “on air” – in front of millions of QVC viewers – who had never seen me or my product before.
But I was prepared – I knew exactly what I was going to say. Five minutes later, my airing was done, and I'd sold over 1,000 wallets at $27 retail – or $5,400/minute – not bad for a first airing.
It was exhilarating. If I can sell on QVC, so can you.
‘One and Done' – is No Fun!
Selling your invention on QVC is the dream of thousands of inventors – what about you?
It is great exposure for any new invention product, but the stakes are high. You will typically be shipping a large inventory of your product – $50,000 – $75.000 – to a QVC warehouse prior to going on air. Your only guarantee is one airing of approximately 5 minutes duration. If all goes well, you'll be invited back for a second airing – with the goal of selling most of the remainder of our inventory. If your airing doesn't go too well, for any reason, QVC will ship the remainder of your inventory back home to you. QVC calls this RTV – Return to Vendor – vendors call it ‘one and done.' No inventor wants a one and done QVC appearance.
During my two year tenure at QVC, I saw many ‘one and done' vendors – whose first airing was also their last. Some left the studio in tears knowing a mountain of product was going to be returned to them. I avoided that dilemma and so can you..
What are the keys to selling successfully on QVC? Read on.
Key 1: Grab Attention ‘Out of the Gate' with Impactful Demos
The average viewer watches QVC for an average of only 55 seconds at a time! How can that possibly be accurate?
Here's how.
Millions of viewers have their televisions tuned to QVC in the evening, but they are primarily doing other things – running laundry, preparing dinner, helping their kids with homework, etc. As they pass by their TV sets, they will pause momentarily to see ‘what's on QVC' at that moment. If it grabs their attention and curiosity, they will sit down to watch the rest of the airing – 5 minutes is not a big time commitment. Some will like what they see so much, they will grab their phones to order the product. That is a key to QVC success: grabbing their attention.
How do you do that?
Demos, demos, demos. I practiced my presentation, my pitch, so that I could do 3 different demos and make my entire pitch in under 2 minutes of air time. Impactful demos are extremely effective. In 2009, many people still bought booklets to carry a lot of music CDs in their cars – CD carriers were big sellers on QVC at the time. One guest on QVC presented her plastic carrying case for 48 CDs in a dramatically effective way – she closed the case, pulled out a rubber hammer and smacked the case! Then she opened it to reveal no damage to any of the CDs inside. She sold thousands of those cases that night, all because of a very memorable attention-grabbing demo.
Do you have some interesting demos for your product that take little time, but show the benefit of it with very few words? If you give it some thought, you will come up with ideas. Demos sell on QVC, impactful attention-grabbing demos sell a lot of product on QVC.
Key 2: Practice Your Pitch – Eliminate Filler Words
Watch Shark Tank and you will notice the pitches are very well choreographed for maximum effectiveness.
Most of the presenters either memorize their presentation word for word (which I did for QVC) or they have practiced the pitch so many times they don't have to think about what they are going to say next. I recommend you follow this formula for your pitch on QVC. You will truly have about 2 minutes of air time (at most), so remembering a 2 minute pitch is actually quite easy to do.
As you practice your pitch with a stop watch (highly recommended), you will notice something valuable – you can slice away ‘filler' words to make your pitch cleaner and more articulate. You can actually tell viewers a lot in just 2 minutes. You may start out saying something like:
My tub and tile cleaner, Insta Clean, is much more effective than the typical cleaner where you get on your hands and knees and scrub with a brush. With my cleaner, you spray it on, then leave it on for a couple of minutes. Afterwards, you rinse it off and the surface sparkles like new again.
Boring! No one will want to buy.
Now, let's clean that up – the first sentence attracts attention to other products, not yours, so get rid of it. Here is a much better pitch:
Spray Insta Clean onto your grimy tub in seconds. Just wait 60 seconds, then rinse it off and voila! your tub sparkles like new again. No scraping or scrubbing with harsh chemicals and brushes.
Do you see how much more concise and impactful the second, short pitch is than the first? Your focus must be upon short, concise picturesque words(grimy, sparkles, etc.).
Key 3: The ‘Phrase That Pays'
As you are creating your pitch, make a list of possible phrases that are memorable and interesting – phrase(s) that pay.
Ron Popeil was a master of such verbal artistry as “but wait, there's more” and “set it and forget it.” There are some golden oldies like “it takes a licking and keeps on ticking” (Timex watches). For my wallets on QVC, I used “half as thick yet holds twice as many cards.”
Spend some time creativelydeveloping phrases that will be memorable for your product. Perhaps if you had the example Insta Clean, your could say “when the job is done, it's time for fun” or something.
Here is the most powerful phrase that pays that you must use the second time you are on air at QVC (and every time afterwards. You must say this immediately after the host introduces before you say anything else:
It's great to be back on QVC again!
The viewers don't know if you've been on twice or twenty times. When they hear you are back on QVC, they instantly think your product must be a hit! The phones begin ringing even before you get to your pitch.
Would you like to have more of my secrets to success on QVC? How about step-by-step recipes to create an effective pitch?
Click below to get your copy of Your QVC Debut – 5 Keys to Success.
This book tells you step-by-step:
- How to prepare your pitch for a powerful presentation
- What you must tell the host before you go on air,
- How to practice your pitch at home – for a flawless pitch on air
- Why you must study each of the QVC hosts in advance
- and more….
Grab your copy of Your QVC Debut – 5 Keys to Success now. Just click on the link below.