Planning for summer

I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend. This is the unofficial beginning of summer. It is important to know your clients plans for the summer season. Know when they are planning to go on vacation so that you can handle their advertising in advance. It is not a bad idea to have an "emergency ad" on hand just in case an advertiser takes an unexpected long weekend. get a generic ad pre-approved so that if for some reason you can't reach them they won't miss out on any business and you won't miss out on any commissions. Don't let a customer skip a week because they are on vacation. Do an ad saying: "We're on vacation this week, look for our super special coupon in next week's paper. Thanks". This will help them because they will not anger any customers who drive to them location only to find them closed and any potential customers who may have found another supplier will wait to see what the "super deal" is. This gets the customer up to speed quickly upon their return,

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

"Life is the sum of all our choices"--Albert Camus

I believe this quote could be used as the motto of a successful life. Accepting the fact that our choices determine the direction of our lives puts us in the proverbial driver's seat. Understanding the cause and effect relationship between our choices and outcomes leads us to take more care in making these choices. Better choices = Better Outcomes

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling

Thanks Jim Busch

Your most important question

A house is built brick by brick, a sale is made point by point. Before laying a brick the mason ensures that the previous brick was laid properly and that it is level. Before moving on a sales call you should make sure that you and the customer see things in the same way. When you make a point about the customer's business ask for confirmation by saying something like "Is that correct?" Once you get the customer's buy-in you can move on to the next point. I have been on sales calls with reps who have failed to confirm the customer's thinking who were surprised by the customer's response. By asking "Is that correct?" frequently during the call you will know when it is time to go back and cover something again or when it is time to move on. One of the surest ways to "blow" a sale is bad timing which comes from not knowing where the customer is in the sales process. Asking this simple question will prevent this from happening.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Coupon products

Coupon redemption rates are on the rise since the recession. The strongest coupons give something away, free is one of the most powerful words in any ad. Giving something away with the purchase of another item is a good tactic. The ideal item is something with a low hotel cost but which has value for the consumer. For example the most expensive part of a fountain drink in a restaurant is the cu which costs a few pennies, so the cost is low for the merchant. The consumer places the value of a drink at a dollar or more. A free drink with a meal is a great deal for everyone involved. Ask your clients about items with a high profit margin. These items will be good candidates for a coupon offer.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Selling Contracts

As advertising professionals we know that single ads are much less effective that repetitive programs. Most publishers offer discount programs to incent advertisers to run consistently. This discount is a nice perk but it is not the point you should emphasize when selling an advertising agreement. You should talk about the benefits of consistent advertising, talk about being there when customers are looking for a supplier, and about reaching infrequent buyers etc. Once you have sold the value of consistency, mention the discount as a bonus. If you build your presentation on price, the customer may think "If I really want to save money, I just won't buy some many ads!" There are lots of ways to save money, there is only one way to get the benefits of consistency.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Spend other peoples money

If you have customers who sell name brand products always ask about CO-OP. Most CO-OP dollars go unspent. When you get right down to it, CO-OP dollars belong to the customer. When a customer buys product from the manufacturers a portion of the price is put into an advertising account. Many of your customers have CO-OP plan information gathering dust in their offices. Ask them for this and review the plan requirements. The account usually has a password to use when contacting the CO-OP coordinator at the manufacturer. Customers usually don't have time to research the CO-OP plan. Be proactive and offer to do the leg work for them. This will allow you to attract new advertisers and get bigger programs from current accounts. More on CO-OP tomorrow.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

A few years ago, Italian scientists discovered the existence of "mirror neurons" in the human brain. These cells naturally lead us to respond in kind to the behaviors that we observe in others. It is theorized that this is an adaptation that helped our tribal ancestors work cooperatively. What this means for salespeople and managers is that if we want happy and cooperative customers we have to demonstrate that behavior. Here's how the master, Zig Ziglar put it:

"When you choose to be pleasant and positive in the way you treat others, you have also chosen, in most cases, how you are going to be treated by others."

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Advertise yourself

Most neighborhoods have community bulletin boards where local service people post their business cards or flyers. Of course these boards are a good place to pick up leads but they can also be a great way to promote yourself. Make up a flyer telling the reader how you can help a business person find new customers. The business people leaving cards will notice your ad when leaving a fresh supply. This may not be as effective as cold calling but printing and leaving a flyer requires a very small investment of time or money.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

A penny's worth of persuasion

I was working with a rep today who was having trouble getting a customer to see the value in the program he was presenting. The cost of the program was a $1,000 but would reach some 600,000 homes. Do the math and this works out to slightly less that 2/10 of a cent per home delivered. This is a great value but the customer just didn't grasp it. I took a penny and used white out to cover all of it except a pie shaped wedge representing about 20% of the surface. I taped the coin to a piece of paper with an arrow pointing to the exposed wedge connected to a note that stated "Cost per home delivered." This was a way to graphically depict the value of the program. Sometimes this is all that's needed to get a customer's buy in to your recommendation.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thank you. Jim Busch

Trap those ideas

Ideas can be fleeting things, they can go away as fast as they come to you--unless you trap them before they can escape. I always carry a small pocket notebook and have made a habit of writing down my ideas, or fragments of ideas as soon as they occur to me. I jot down ideas for promos, ads, sales techniques etc. until I have time to give them some more thought. I transcribe these ideas into a larger notebook, writing them at the top of the page. This gives me room to record related thoughts and develop the idea further. When I need an idea to drive revenue or to use in training, I flip through my notebook and often find something to jump start my creativity. Since I am 57 years old, the notebooks have worked well for me for over 30 years, you may prefer to use a smart phone and/or a laptop to corral those creative thoughts. We work in a creative business. Ideas are our stock and trade. However you do it, a systematic system of capturing and developing ideas will make you more successful.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Mix it up a bit

Routines are very helpful, they let us get a lot done without a lot of thought but sometimes its a good thing to break your routine. If you take a different route while running calls, you may see a new business. By changing your schedule you may be able to speak with a prospect that you've never been able to see. Work an occasional evening or start early one morning and you may reach a hard to reach decision maker. Break your routine and you may make a sale.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

I belong to the Media Association of Pittsburgh. A few months ago I heard Frank Marmion speak. Frank is a well known figure in our local advertising market having founded and run his own advertising agency for the last 40 years. He is Frank's advice for advertising sales people:

"Don't sell space...sell success! Your job is to go to advertisers with creative ideas to stimulate their success."

This is good advice for any one in our business.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

The steps of a sale

My Dad was a machinist. When a machinist looks at a blueprint they plan their "order of operations." This is the sequence of procedures used to produce the finished product in the most efficient manner. There is also an order of operations for sales. Here are the steps I use when making a sales call

1. Opening--Approaching the customer and creating interest.
2. Probing--Talking to the customer about their needs and challenges
3. Paraphrase--Reiterating the customer's problems to make a solution more desirable
4. Solution--Talking to the about solving their problem
5. Close--Making a specific recommendation and asking for the order
6. Objection--Clear up any customer misunderstandings and counter their concerns*

*May occur at any point in the call

These steps form a logical progression that engage the customer, develops their need and proves the value of your recommendation. In the next few weeks I'll address each step individually.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Should you fire the customer?

As sales people we're told the customer is the boss, that the customer is always right. I disagree with this. I believe the customer is our partner, we both profit from a good advertising program. Sometimes the customer doesn't live up to their end of the bargain. they refuse to pay until you hunt them down, they give their copy after deadline and then demand a full credit because of a minor typo. You don't need this kind of customer. They are too needy. At some point you need to "Fire" these customers. Not only do you write off a lot of their advertising but they also waste a great deal of your time, time you could use to find good clients. You may have to put them on "probation" warning them that if they do not pay within terms, that you will cut them off. Give them a letter stating that you will not authorize adjustments on ads submitted after your proof deadline. I hate to turn down any business but these accounts are not worth the effort to keep them.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Great promotion idea

Here's an idea I saw in Florida and used successfully in my publication. In Tampa I saw a flyer with the headline "Coke or Pepsi." After this got my attention, I read the supporting copy which offer the callers a choice of a free case of Coke or a free case of Pepsi for setting up an appointment to see a presentation for a water softening system. I like this promo because fans of the top cola brands like to argue about which beverage is best. This is a light hearted argument and most people will be attracted by the headline to see if it supports their case. I used this for a local window company. Their sales person would deliver the consumers choice of soda during a sales call. There is nothing like a fresh idea to engage a customer and get them to think about advertising.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Sometimes its no mistake to make a mistake

We all like to be right, to impress others with our cleverness, but sometimes it pays to play dumb. If I want to get a conversation started, I will sometimes ask a "dumb Question" or say something that is wrong about the customer's business. For example, during a call on a tanning salon I said "Well I imagine spring and early summer is a slow time for you." (This is one of their busiest seasons). I was instantly corrected by the owner. Like most people, correcting someone gave her a bit of an ego rush, we struck up a conversation about the business that lead to a sale. I sometimes will include an error in a spec ad. When the prospect points it out, I ask them "What else would you change in your ad." This gets them involved with the ad and causes them to take ownership of the ad. Often the smartest thing you can do is play dumb.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

Here is a quote to share with your customers:

"We find that advertising works the way grass grows. You can never see it, but each week you have to mow it!" Andy Tarshis

One of the hardest thing to do when you sell advertising for a living is selling frequency. Every customer want to get the quick hit, the ad that produces immediate measurable results. As their consultant we need to show them that a steady consistent program will give the best return on their investment in the long run. I have used this quote to describe this effect.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

The 3 "V's"

As sales people we have 3 tools to use when persuading a customer. I call these tools the "3 V's". These stand for Visual, Verbal & Vocal and all three contribute to your success or failure. Visual is the message you send by your appearance, how you dress, your posture and body language and especially your facial expressions. A great smile is a worth a lot of money in increased sales. Verbal is the "V" that most people think about. These are the words you use. Think about what you are saying, keep your language simple and customer focused. The 3rd V is important to all sales people, but is critical to telephone reps. Vocal is how you use your voice. Do you sound confident and knowledgeable? Are you coming across loud and clear? Do you modulate your voice to hold the customer's interest? These all have an effect on the outcome of a sale. I suggest videotaping yourself role playing with a friend or coworker and then honestly critiquing how you appear on a call. I have even studied theater to learn how actors control the 3 "V's". The more you think about how you behave in these three areas, the more you will be able to control them and the more you will be able to control the outcome of the call.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Spread the good news

U.S. auto sales increased 20% in April. This is not only great news for the U.S. auto industry, but for the U. S. economy in general. Whenever I hear something like this I make a point of sharing the good news with as many people as possible. Most people like to complain and talk about how the world is rapidly going to hell in a hand basket. If you take the positive tack, you stand out from the crowd and become a refreshing change from the negativity so prevalent today. I will not even talk negatively about my competition. As the bearer of good news you will find that you will be much more welcome at most businesses. Another effect of consciously staying positive with customers is that you will find yourself actually becoming more positive and optimistic. This "fake it until you make it" effect has been proven by numerous studies. Since attitudes are infectious you positive attitude will put your clients into a buying mood. Take some time every day to scan the papers and the web looking for good news to share with your customers. Even if they don't want to talk about advertising take some time to share the "good news." After a short time prospects will be happy to see you walk into their store and you will be able to convert this relationship into sales.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Go back to the beginning

I like to ask what I call "origin" questions. These are questions that ask people how they got started doing something that will help you to sell them. For example asking them "What led you to get into the (Blank) business?" This question is a great conversation starter and will reveal a great deal about how the customer thinks about his business. If a prospect is advertising with a competitor, challenging that decision directly may put the client off. Asking "What led you to choose (Competitors Name)?" Their answer will tell you how they make advertising decisions. The obvious followup question is "Has the competitor accomplished this goal?" which can open up a discussion on advertising. An "origin" question seems safe to the customer and does not seem "salesy". By engaging a customer in conversation, you greatly increase the chance of closing a sale.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Reaching the young demographic

If you read the news, you would think that the eyes of young people never stray from the screen of their laptop or their phones. If you handed them a piece of paper, they would wonder what strange material they were holding. This is not quite the case. It is true that young people as a rule do not read the daily newspaper. This migration is not due to the format of the paper, young people have turned their back on the dailies because they no longer find them relevant. A recent study conducted by the research firm Exact Target (2009 Channel Preference Study) found that 75% of 18 to 34 year olds made at least one purchase from direct mail. Like anyone else, young people are looking for deals. Community publications and direct mail give young people information they can not find on the web and savings from the local businesses they frequent. If businesses want to reach out to the very desirable 18 to 34 demographic (and pick up a few bucks from us oldsters as well) they shouldn't put all their money into web advertising. Community papers and direct mail may just do the job better.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling.

Thanks Jim Busch