"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

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