"There ain't room enough for both of us in this town pardner"

The title of this blog posting reflects the way a lot of sales people look at their competition. Like most good sales people I am very competitive. I want to get every nickel of my customer's advertising budget. Unfortunately this is both unrealistic and unfair to my customers. I have competitors and though I believe my product is superior in many ways, I know they have readers and offer value to their customers.

Sometimes our competitive spirit gets in the way of making a sale. By giving the customer an either/or choice we sometimes force them to put all their eggs in the competition's basket. If some consumers are reading the daily paper and others are reading your shopper, it makes sense for the advertisers to split their budget between the two publications. When making a proposal I talk to the customer about allocating their budget between me and my competitor. This tells them that I am being honest with them and that I have their best interests in mind. It also gets them to think about the wisdom of giving their entire budget to the competitor. Most people are reluctant to change, they are more likely to buy if you don't recommend completely dropping their current program and making a 180 degree turn to buy from you. Advertising is not a zero sum game, advertisers should invest in any product which produces sales in excess of the money spent to advertise.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

OOPS--Part 2

As we discussed in yesterday's blog, mistakes sometimes happen when we place a customer's ad. When a problem occurs it is important to think about the customer's emotional state. How you handle the situation will have a big impact on your future relationship with the client. Here are some things to remember:

• No surprises! As we said yesterday, let the customer know about the problem as soon as possible. Hearing about it from you will show them that you are not trying to hide from the problem and that you have their best interest in mind. If they hear it from someone else they may feel embarrassed and betrayed.


• Apologize! Whether the problem is you fault or not, make a personal apology to the customer.


• Customers don't want explanations they just want if fixed! Don't waste time trying to explain what happened to the customer. Frankly they don't care and your explanation may come off sounding like an excuse.


• I'll make it right! Tell the customer exactly what actions you are going to take to correct the problem. The sooner you do this, the sooner you will have this problem behind you. An unresolved problem is like a festering wound, it will poison your relationship with the client.


• Go above and beyond! Give the customer some added value when doing a "make good" ad. This shows them that you value the relationship. If you give them free color of additional coverage, the customer may see a better response and purchase these items in the future.


• Take steps to see the problem doesn't occur in the future. Look at what you can learn from the incident. Can you system be improved? Do you need to add another quality check?

A prompt response to a problem can actually serve to strengthen a customer relationship. Problems give you a chance to demonstrate your concern to the customer. It is far better to have the customer saying, "My ad was wrong, but they took responsibility for the error and made it right for me." rather than "Those BLANKETY BLANK IDIOTS screwed up my ad."

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling

Thanks

Jim Busch

OOPS! What to do when their ad is wrong.

In a business as complicated as ours, mistakes are unavoidable. Try as we may, there are too many places for something to happen. How do we deal with a problem in a customer's ad? Many reps, especially good ones, are embarrassed and angry when this happens. It is not wise to let your emotions influence your reaction. I have seen reps who made a big deal out of a minor error in an ad, They made a mountain out of a molehill and the customer got caught up in their emotions. This can cost you a lot of money and in the long run, cost you customers. Look at the error logically. A incorrect phone number is a much bigger problem than a misspelled word in the body copy. Always try to be proactive and be the 1st one to let the customer know about the error. Apologize for the mistake and assure them that you will make things right. Maintaining a calm professional sets the tone for the entire interaction. More on this subject tomorrow.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

It's about time

Punctuality is on of the hallmarks of a professional sales person. When you tell a customer you will be there at 9 am, you should be there at 8:55 am. This sends a number of signals to your customers. If you do not arrive when you said you would--can they trust your other statements? Punctuality is an easy way to demonstrate that you mean what you say. Nothing is more valuable to a prospect than their time. This is what entrepreneurs bring to their enterprises. Most business people hate to waste time. If you make them wait or ,even worse, forget to show up, you've will have a very hard time getting back into thier good graces. The key to punctuality is keeping in touch with reality. Take a realistic look at your schedule before making an appointment. Allow enough time for each call and for travel time. If you schedule too tightly, you will find yourself trying to catch up all day long. You need to maintain a balance between trying to do too much and doing too little. Use gaps in your schedule to cold call or phone customers. If unavoidable circumstances put you behind schedule, call you customer to notify them or to reschedule. Do this early enough that they can make alternate plans.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Shoot for the moon

When making a recommendation always ask for twice as much as you think the customer will buy. There are several reasons for doing this. First this gives you some room to negotiate. If the customer wants to cut back on the proposal, you can do so and still give them a program that will work. Once you quote a price, this becomes the "set point." This will position you smaller program as a "savings" in the customer's mind. Think about the late night info-mercials that say "you would expect to pay $100, many have paid $75...", this is exactly what they are doing. Selling "big" also protects you from leaving money on the table. Research has found that most sales people under-estimate what their customers are willing to pay. A bigger ad will give the customer dominance and a bigger space to tell their story. I believe that more advertisers are lost because they were undersold than were lost because their rep sold them too much. Larger program produce bigger more noticeable responses. You'll be surprised how many customer will respond with a "YES!" when you recommend an aggressive program.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

Dr. Wayne Dyer

I have seen the effect described by Dr. Dyer's statement above many times in my life. I have seen it when a new rep takes over a territory. Where one rep focused on the challenges in their area, the other looked for opportunities. Consequently the first rep ran into nothing but problems, while the other was constantly discovering new business opportunities. We all look at the world through glasses colored by our life's experiences and attitudes. When we change our "glasses", we change the way the world looks. I choose to look at my world with a positive attitude.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Benefit Lacing

When making a recommendation don't forget to "Lace" a benefit to your statement. "Benefit lacing" is the practice of reminding a buyer why the purchase is a good idea when asking for a commitment. For example instead of saying "

You can have a 6 inch ad in the Anytown Shopper
for $100."

say

"We can put you ad in the Anytown Shopper which
reaches every home in Anytown, Sometown and Nowhere, a total of 30,000 homes. A 6 inch ad will allow you to list your weekly specials and tell people about your new showroom. This will only run $100 which is only 3/10 of a cent per
home."

You can see how reviewing the benefits and selling points when proposing a customer solution put the focus on the value rather than the cost of the program. This reassures the hesitant customer that they are doing the right thing and will greatly improve your closing ratio,





Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!





Thanks





Jim Busch

A surprisingly good book

Recently at the library I picked up Jillian Michaels Unlimited off the new book shelf. Quite frankly I wasn't expecting much from the star of TV's The Biggest Loser, I thought I would just scan through it. I was hooked by the first chapter and read it with great interest. While this book offer no new ideas it organizes the latest psychological research and timeless philosophy into a primer on achieving excellence. This is a must read for anyone interested in achieving their very best. This goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover or by its author.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Ask for their opinion

When closing ,we ask a customer to make a decision to buy your product. The problem with a direct close is that it makes it easy for the customer to say no. I like to use a softer trial close by using the words "in your opinion." When I think I've uncovered the customers problems and offered a good solution for them I ask this question to gauge the customer's readiness to buy: "In your opinion, do you think running (recommended product) would help you (solution to their problem)." If they answer in the affirmative you can move on to an assumptive close "Well then we just need to do the paperwork." If they aren't sure you can ask them about their concerns and continue your fact finding until you have a solution they will like. By asking for their "opinion" you don't prompt the solid "no" which can bring the call to an end.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

I apologize that this post is so late. This site was undergoing maintenance and I could not get on. Better late than never here is this week's quote:

"I never felt like I was in the cookie business. I've always been in a feel good feeling business. My job is to sell joy. My job is to sell happiness." Debi Fields

This quote from the founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies offers an astute observation of business. The key to success is to always think of the customer's needs first. In the cookie business she sells happiness. In our business we sell success for our customers. We sell the solutions for the most pressing problem for any business--too few customers. If we focus on helping our customers, our success is assured.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

The testimonial opener

The most important part of any sales call is the first 15 to 30 seconds. In this short time we have to say something that will engage the customer and make them want to hear more of what we have to say. One of my favorite ways to do this is to use a third party testimonial story. "Mr/Ms Customer, I have have worked with a number of other (Plumbers, Pizza Shops or whatever their business happens to be) and I'd like to show you what they are doing to attract new customers." In just a few seconds this accomplishes several things. This opener tells them that other businesses like theirs has seen value in you product and it makes them curious about what you have to show them. The y may think "I'm not going to buy anything but it doesn't hurt to take a look." Once you have their attention you can proceed to uncover needs and prove value. Never under estimate the power of curiosity. I've have never met a business owner who didn't show interest in what similar businesses are doing.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

The "Word of Mouth" Objection

When a customer tells you "I don't need to advertise...I get all of my customers through word of mouth." how do you respond? Here's how I answer this tough objection. First I compliment them "That's terrific, you certainly must be doing something right!" This defuses the tension in the situation. I then ask them "What is it that you do that keeps people coming back?" This engages the customer in conversation and gets them talking about their business. After discussing their business for a while I say something like "You certainly have a good story to tell and I can understand why you get so many referrals." This puts them in a positive mood. I finish with "I like working with businesses like yours because of the great response they get to their advertising. Every new customer I bring in for you becomes a new source of referrals. Where the average business gets 50 new people, you would leverage that into hundreds of new contacts through your referrals. I love helping businesses grow their base."

This is a much better approach than challenging this objection. Praise the customer and use his referrals as a selling point.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

The Groupon Challenge

Last week when I was at the AFCP conference, a number of people asked me to share my thoughts on Groupon. They were nervous about this new competitor and what it means to our industry. At this point I don't see Groupon as much of a threat. By design, Groupon only makes one offer per day in any area. Their strength lies in keeping things simple, they know if they bombard people with offers consumers will tune out. Their "pay only for response" model is very interesting. They can do this because they control the entire process which gives them an accurate accounting of the response to their ads. To ensure a good response Groupon requires their customers to offer at least 50% off. I registered with Groupon to see what local businesses are using their service. Thus far, I have seen only a few of our advertisers on Groupon. They attract mostly upscale non traditional advertisers. I believe we can learn several things from Groupon:

• The power of simplicity. Keep your advertising simple with one offer to create impact.


• The power of a good offer. Groupon gets great results because they offer consumers significant savings


• Think out of the box, Groupon proves that many "Non-advertisers" will promote themselves if you can offer them something unique.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

AFCP/CPF conference

I just returned for the combined AFCP/CPF conference in St. Pete Beach Florida. While attending these events take up a lot of time and incurs some expense the opportunity to interact with folks in my industry from across the country is priceless. I had so many stimulating conversations and picked up so many good ideas that I couldn't wait to get to the office this morning. In this age of tight budgets and webinars there is still nothing like meeting with outstanding people face to face. One of the best things you can do to advance your career is to attend as many national and regional conferences as your schedule will allow. These gatherings do not waste your time or money but give you a way to invest them that will pay dividends from the day you get back to work until the day you retire.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

I spent today delivering training at the AFCP/CPF conference in St. Pete Beach in Florida. Throughout the day I have been approached by people thanking me for some of the training I've given them in the past and for my Link and Learn articles as well as this blog. It is gratifying to see so many people who choose to sit in a stuffy hotel room a few hundred feet from an amazing white sand beach under cloudless skies. Their dedication brought to mind the following quote from the "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time) Muhamed Ali

I hated every minute of training but I told my self "Train now and live the rest of your life as a champion."

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Selling Attorneys Part II

When working with attorneys you have to be able to make your case quickly and succinctly. Lawyers use computer and smartphone programs that track they time in 6 minute increments. Six minutes is a tenth of an hour which is how they bill. Their hourly rate is so high that literally every minute counts when selling attorney's because they count every minute. This means you can not waste time with small talk or chit-chat. You need to be very well planned and ready to state how your product benefits their firm. You need to be well planned and it is a good idea to have a spec ad ready. In later blogs we will talk about identifying good lawyer prospects, how to get through to them and how to structure your presentation, but the first step is understanding how they think. Lawyers live in a "time is money" pressure cooker and you must always keep this first and foremost in your thoughts.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim B.

Selling Attorneys

I am in St. Pete Beach Florida for the annual AFCP conference. Watching the TV in the room I am struck by how many attorney's advertise in this market. Lawyers are tough prospects but good customers. They are difficult to contact and close but have lots of money to advertise and once sold generally continue to advertise for long periods. Over the next few days I will give you my thoughts on selling them. Why should the cable, broadcast and billboard guys get all of this business.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!


Jim Busch

Curiosity may have killed the cat but it never hurt a sales person

Over the weekend I was talking to a friend who recently retired from the local police force. He is interested in strating a new career and is interested in sales. He asked me what qualities make someone a great sales person? My answer was "curiosity!" Curiosity leads a person to ask lots of questions, a good habit for anyone to possess, but vital for sales success. Prospects sense this genuine interest in their business and open up to the curious sales person. This questioning not only uncovers customer needs and problems but also gets the customer thinking. Curious sales people engage their customers, uncover their problems and get them thinking about solving those problems--a great formula for making sales.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch