Selling Tickets to Outer Space

Today, Virgin Galactic -- Richard Branson's space tourism firm -- tested the world's first commercial passenger spacecraft. That's quite a technical achievement, but the real achievement is hidden between the lines. Were you aware that Virgin Galactic has already sold hundreds of tickets, at a cost of $200,000 per person per flight?

Think about that for a minute... You think you've got sales challenges? Maybe some products that are late? Or demand that's down. Try convincing hundreds of people to fork up major money to travel on a craft that has yet to carry a single paying passenger, and if it fails, is likely to result in the buyer's death by immolation.

Now that's salesmanship!

It stands to reason that if you know how to sell tickets to outer space, selling something more down to earth will be simple.

So, then, how do you sell space tickets? Fortunately, I know the answer.

I recently I interviewed Dave Clark, Virgin Galactic's head of sales and I've also interviewed other folk who were selling space tickets, like for trips on the Soyuz and trips on spacecraft that didn't pan out. Here's the distillation of what I learned:

• RULE #1. UNDERSTAND THE CUSTOMER - In the case of a big ticket item like space travel, it's essential to know who's likely to pay good money for the product. Would-be space tourists are people who have gone past the point of telling people about the money they've made or the belongings they've accumulated. In other words, the first step of selling is always targeting the right prospects.
• RULE #2. BELIEVE IN THE DREAM - Nobody is going to buy a dream unless the salesperson has swallowed the same dream -- hook, line and sinker. When talking to these space-age impresarios, one is immediately struck by their commitment into making space tourism a reality. Same thing is true of you. If you don't believe in what you're offering, your prospects will sense it and hesitate to buy.
• RULE #3. CREATE MASSIVE CREDIBILITY - The more fantastic the dream, the more effort must be spent establishing the bona fides. To create credibility, Virgin Galactic built its program on the winner of the X PRIZE, a competition to develop personal spacecraft that was endorsed by 20 astronauts. Similarly, your credibility will large depend on the authority and experience that you (or your firm) commands.
• RULE #4. USE THE PAST TO SELL THE FUTURE - When space tourism was in its early stages (and product delivery was far in the future), the sales pros hawking the tickets constantly drew analogies between today's dream and similar dreams (like Lindbergh's flight) that came true in the past. Same thing is true when you're selling the future of your company; use your past performance to minimize the risk.
• RULE #5. NEVER, EVER UNDERCHARGE - If a dream is truly compelling, then it can command big bucks. As mentioned above, the first flights with Virgin Galactic cost $200,000 per person. This seems like a lot, but if it were less, the buyer would not value the dream so highly. The lesson here is discounting should always be your last resort, if you have to resort to it at all!