Quote of the week

I'd like to wish you all a happy, productive and profitable 2011. Here is a quote from poet Ranier Marie Rilke to ponder as you ring out the old and ring in the new:

"And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been"


Let's make this the best year ever!

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Sales Resolutions #5

Here is the 5th and final sales resolution for 2011: Always think WIIFT. This stands for What's In It For Them. Whenever you interact with a customer you should always speak in terms of the value you deliver to them. Customers could care less about your publication, what they want to know is how you can help them accomplish their goals. Everything that you say, do or send to the customer should explain what you can do for them. Instead of talking about your circulation (10,000 copies) talk about the customers you bring to their business (10,000 people who want to buy your merchandise. When you give a price remind them what they are paying for, "just pennies per home delivered." In 2011 vow to communicate value every time you talk or write to a customer.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim B.

Sales Resolution #4

My 4th sales resolution is Use a presentation binder. A presentation binder (or pitch book) is an organized collection of sales materials. This should include any maps of your circulation, research statistics, testimonials etc. It is also a good idea to include samples of your products. Using these printed materials on a sales call lends power to your presentation. Many people are visual learners and using a presentation binder will make more of an impression than words alone. This also serves as a memory aid for the sales person and helps them to remember to present the full product line. Testimonials in print are much more believable than hearing the story from the sales person. Taking the effort to put together a sales binder will pay off in increased sales.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Sales Resolutions #3

My third sales resolution is: Take time to plan. We work in a fast paced business, we are always on the go. We are driven by deadlines and by our "to do" lists. Paradoxically one of the best ways to get more done is to stop doing occasionally and use the time to think. Schedule some time each week to plan your activities and reassess your goals. This will allow your to work smarter and be more productive. This allows you to be proactive rather than react to events. Taking the time to plan your presentations will greatly enhance your chances of closing a sale. When you shoot from the hip you are much more likely to miss. When things heat up and you are hyper busy, the temptation to skip planning increases. but this is a false economy. The best way to save time is to plan your time.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Sales Resolution #2

Here is my second suggested resolution for advertising sales people: Track your numbers. Sales people should keep careful records of their activities. As a sales person, I tracked my calls, my presentations, my closes, my sales and my sales revenue. This information kept me honest. The number of calls told me if I was slacking off. The number of presentations told me if I was using a good call opening and engaging the customer, the closes told me if I was keeping the customer interested with my presentation. The number of sales was a measure of everything I was doing. I used the revenue number to determine my earnings but also to calculate my average sales. the average sales revenue was a good way to know if I was "leaving money on the table." I always kept better records than my boss required. This data prevented me telling myself I was working hard when I began to cut corners. It is also a great way to tie your activities to your sales results. I always knew how many calls I needed to make to generate the income I needed to make. If you do this on an ongoing basis as you go through your day it requires very little time and produces great results.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling.

Thanks Jim Busch

Quote of the week

Here is a quote in the spirit of the holidays:

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." Winston Churchill

The holidays that close the year fill most people with joy. This is not because we get lovely presents and get to eat wonderful meals, actually it is just the opposite. The source of our joy is giving to others and the sharing of ourselves. Psychologists have called this phenomenon the "hedonic paradox." The true happiness comes from focusing on others rather than on ourselves. This is a lesson for those of us in business. The best way to be successful is to focus on making our customer's successful.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Sales Resolution #1

Here is the first in a series of resolutions for advertising sales people. This is a rather simple one--keep your mouth shut!. Sales people should resolve to listen far more than they speak on a sales call. Instead of making statements, they should ask more questions. Customers seldom lose interest or get bored when they are talking. In addition to keeping the customer engaged, when the customer is talking is talking you may learn something you can use to sell the client. Sales people are often tempted to keep talking about their products and themselves because they are more comfortable doing so. Talking about the customer's business may lead into unknown areas but this will enable you to sell programs that solve their problems.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Are you in the 8%

Research indicates that 92% of New Year's resolutions are broken, most are forgotten before Groundhog Day. What is the difference between the 8% that people keep and the 92% that fall by the wayside? Psychologists believe the difference lies in the thought that goes into the decision to make a change. Most people just blurt out something like "I'm going to lose 100 pounds this year" or "I am going to double my sales." Resolution "survivors" are well considered. A person making a solid resolution can answer these questions: "Why do I want to make this change?", "What steps do I need to take and in what order?" and "When will this be completed?" Lasting resolutions are usually written down and shared with others. By determining the specific changes you wish to make in your behavior and formulating a plan to make them significantly increases your chances of success. Typically the next few weeks tend to be slow. Use this time to plan your resolutions for 2011. Your best year ever starts with good goals.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Goodbye 2010

My wife and I were in the car this evening and talking about some of the things we had done in the past year. We both agreed that it seems like years since we attended the AFCP conference in Tucson last spring. This year went by very quickly and I am sure 2011 will be no different. This is why this is a good time to think about the changes we want to make in the coming 12 months. I suggest you start by looking at where you have been. Look at your records for 2010, your sales numbers, your account lists, anything you have that tracks your progress. Flip through your 2010 calendar and look at your appointments. Once you have done this sit down and think about the year, your victories and your problems. If you wrote down goals at the beginning of the year, review the list and note which ones were completed and where you fell short. Do this with a detached attitude, resist the temptation to beat yourself up. Regret is a waste of energy, you can not change the past but you can learn from it. Taking the time to ponder the lessons of the previous year is the first step to a great new year. Schedule a time to do this, and make it a priority. Time management expert Alan Lakein said that planning is "bringing the future into the present" to fix it. Reviewing the past and planning for the future allows you to take control of your destiny. This week I will discuss some ideas to make 2011 the best year ever.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

Here is a quote from an unlikely source--Pablo Picasso. In addition to being a great artist, Pablo Picasso was an expert marketer and business man. He was not a starving artist living in a drafty garret, but rather a very successful entrepreneur. His greatest creation was "Picasso." He established a brand and created a steady demand for his work. He kept changing and never let his brand get stale. Picasso was a hard worker and constantly on the go. Here is some advice from Picasso the businessman:

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone." Pablo Picasso

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Make bad weather work for you

Winter can be a tough time for businesses. When the weather is cold and snowy shoppers may be reluctant to go out and shop. One way to entice them is to offer a bad weather incentive to shoppers. Offering a discount on any day with more that an inch of snow or offering a percentage off based on the temperature (10 below means ten percent off). If nothing else this kind of ad creates a "buzz" and starts people talking about the business.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim B.

The Happiness Advantage

I'd like to share a book recommendation. I am just finishing Shawn Achor's "The Happiness Advantage." This well researched book details the tangible effects of maintaining a positive attitude. This book reveals 7 techniques for being happy and the impact that being a "glass half full" type of individual has on your career. This book also gives some excellent tools for improving your personal productivity and time management. The author, a Harvard professor and writer has crafted a book that describes much of the current research on the subjects but which is easily understood by the average reader. I highly recommend this book to anyone in sales.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Happy Valentines Day

Though Santa has yet to arrive as advertising sales people we should be thinking about cupid. Now is the time to start asking customers about their Valentine's Day advertising plans. Retailers are now flush with cash and in a good frame of mind. Jewelers, restaurants, florists and other concerns that do business during both holidays should be sold on both dates. This puts you ahead of the competition and secures your February revenue. In our business, the early bird gets the ad.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim B.

Lessons from Groupon

Over the weekend I listened to an interview with Andrew Mason, the founder of Groupon. He had some very nasty things to say about print advertising. We are squarely in Groupon's sights and he is coming after our business. He is very proud of the results his "model" is producing for small local businesses. He credits their proactive method of sending offers to customers for generating large responses. Later in the interview he talked about the importance of his people. His people are trained to convince advertisers to offer deep discounts to Groupon members. I believe these highly motivating offers are the key to Groupon's success and that if businesses made the same offer in print that the response would be even greater. The take away here is that we need to push clients to make compelling offers in their ads.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Quote of the week

"Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning." Thomas A Edison

In the past two weeks I have helped three of our reps secure commitments for over $150,000 in advertising for 2011. In one case we took the business from broadcast TV, another from Valasis and in two of these cases we overcame the bjections of their ad agencies. In all three of these cases the appointments lasted more than twice as long as the customer had originally allotted, not because we ran long, but because the customer wanted more information. How were we able to engage the customers and persuade them to buy from us? Comprehensive planning. In each case we prepared research on the market, on their industry and business and prepared a detailed plan for them including spec ads. In addition to putting together a marketing plan we planned how we would present our information to them. The take away lesson is that in today's market, we need to use every tool to land business. Money is tight and the competition is very tough. In better times planning many be a luxury but in a recessionary time it is a necessity.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim B.

Dr. Drucker's Fab Five

Dr. Peter Drucker was in many ways responsible for American industry's fabulous productivity in the middle of the 20th century. For almost seven decades he was the preeminent business thinker in the world. Here are the 5 practices he identified that set high performers apart from the crowd:

1. Effective people know where their time goes. They take a systematic approach to time management.
2. They focus on contributing to the success of their organization. They spend their time on activities that will make a difference.
3. Top performers know their personal strengths and concentrate their efforts on activities that require them to exercise them.
4. Effective people concentrate on their priorities. They realize that time is a finite resource and don't dissipate their energies on low value activities
5. Top performers make decisions thoughtfully. They consider probable scenarios and think them through beforehand. By considering possible situations they can make good decisions on the fly. They look and life like a chess board and are always thinking several moves ahead.

I highly recommend Dr. Drucker's books particularly The Effective Executive. They are timeless classics for anyone in business.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Take advantage of resolution season

On New Years just about everyone makes resolutions. A good question to ask your prospects at this time of year is "What are your New Year's resolutions for the business?" This is a good way to start a discussion about their goals and how advertising can help them realize them. You should prepare some ideas and perhaps some layouts to demonstrate your interest in their business. You want to be sure that you are a big part of their business plans for 2011. Any time you talk about their goals and the future of their business you exchange your sales person's clothes for the much more attractive garments of a consultant.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Now a wordfrom our sponsor

Voice-mail is a fact of life for sales people. Many potential customers commonly use voice mail to screen their calls. If you want to talk to them, you must convince them to call you back. You should prepare a message to leave when you can't reach a "real person." Think of this as your personal "commercial." If you want prospects to return your call, you must give them a reason to do so. Your message should offer a customer benefit. Write out and rehearse your message using a friendly upbeat tempo. Your goal is to sound like someone the prospect would want to talk to.

Also, don't neglect your own voice-mail message. Listen to it and make sure you don't sound like a zombie when people call while you are out.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Be a straight "A" communicator

Here is a formula for effectively communicating with unhappy prospects and customers. To defuse a tense situation employ the "Four A's".

1. Acknowledge--Let the customer know that you have heard their concerns. This satisfies the basic human need to be respected and lets them know they do not have to escalate their behavior to get your attention
2. Appreciate--Thank them for bringing the issue to your attention and let them know you value their business. Most important let them know you appreciate them on a human level.
3. Affirm--You should let the person know you can see their point of view. That you are taking their proposed solutions seriously.
4. Assure--Commit to resolving the customer's problem. Take personal responsibility for remedying the situation and give the customer your personal contact information. Let the customer know precisely what you intend to do and give them a timeline for completing your plan.

This is good advice for handling customer service problems and sales objections.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Quote of the week

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of time and money some scientists spend to research common sense subjects. Scientists using FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) devices have proven that emotions are contagious. When a person sees someone who is happy the sections of their brain which produce happiness are activated. This is why salespeople have known the importance of staying positive for a long time. Here is a quote that expresses this effect quite eloquently:

"If someone is too tired to give you a smile, leave one of your own because no one needs a smile as much as those who have none to give." Rabbi Samson Hirsch

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Getting them off the fence

Sometimes customers just don't want to make a decision. They see the logic of your presentation but are afraid they may be making a mistake. Here are several techniques you can use to "get them off the fence."

• Make reinforcing statements-boil the value you offer into one short clear statement. For example: "Your ad will reach over X thousand homes for only $X, just pennies per home.
• Use the assumptive close-The assumptive close takes the decision making out of their hands.
• Choice close-"Do you want to start the program this week or next week." This simplifies the decision making process
• Use tie downs-As you go through your presentation make statements like "I think this is a great value, wouldn't you agree." This predisposes the prospect to say yes.
• Social proof-This is a fancy word for testimonials. Showing that others have used your product allays the buyer's fears

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Open the door

I was working with a group of reps yesterday and we started our meeting by sharing success stories. One of the reps spoke about a pizza shop who disliked the Pennysaver and would not advertise. He kept talking to the account and found that he was hand delivering flyers to a local business park. My rep had the art department professionally redo his home made flyer and presented it to him. The rep sold him on a small print only order of these flyers. After doing this several times he was able to get the account to insert them in our publications. By closing the small sale the rep was able to demonstrate his dedication to customer service and begin building a relationship that led to bigger and better things. The take away lesson is to focus on selling a new account something. It is much easier to close the bigger deal when you've broken the ice.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch