Ad Sales Blog

Wisdom for free

Kevin Kelly, editor of Wired magazine in its early and truly great years wrote a book with a chapter I highly recommend to everyone in media. It's called, "Relationship Tech, Start With Technology End With Trust."

Kelly, being a "content should be free" Internet kind of guy has posted the entire contents of this book for free on the web. I recommend reading it. So many of the issues we face in media are touched by his vision.

The next time you have a dialogue with a client consider this from Kelly's book:

"Expertise now resides in fanatical customers. The world’s best experts on your product or service don’t work for your company. They are your customers, or a hobby tribe."

"Companies need user groups almost as much as users need them. User groups are better than advertising when customers are happy and worse than cancer when they are not. Used properly, aficionados can make or break products."

Good products and services are cocreated: The desires of customers grow out of what is possible, and what is possible is made real by companies following new customer desires. Because creation in a network is a cocreation, a prosumptive act, a multifaceted relationship must exist between the cocreators.

"...whoever has the smartest customers wins."

Read all of Chapter 9

Read the entire book on line for free

You only get 5 words

 As you send your next email to a client consider that the most important words you write will be in the headline, also known as subject line. If these words motivate your client to open and read your message, then the other words you write will count as well.

When writing email headlines, shorter is better. If you can boil your message down to, say, 5 words that capture the full benefit of reading your message you are on your way to a sale.

An instructive lesson on how to use 5 words with impact is created every year at the Webby Awards. The Webbys, known as the "Oscars of the Internet" give out awards for the best Web sites and has a Web centric way of time managing its "You really like me...you really, really like me" moments; acceptance speeches are limited to 5 words.

Want help picking the next five words for your message line? Take a look at the artistry, brevity, and sheer cleverness as the top minds in the Web World accept their awards. Here are the five words media organizations used to accept their Webbys from last year:

Magazine
MediaStorm - Webby: Technology changes, stories are timeless.

Magazine
Salon.com - People's Voice: The Pulitzers are history.

Movie and Film
Pan's Labyrinth - Webby/People's Voice: Check Sabrina. Thank you.

News
BBC News - Webby/People's Voice: Alan, we're thinking of you.

Newspaper
NYTimes.com - People's Voice: Honor. Grateful. Thank you. Corny.

Newspaper
The Guardian - Webby: Please free Alan Johnston now.

Radio
BBC Radio 1 - Webby: Free the archives.

Radio
NPR.org - People's Voice: Thanks to the best audience.

Television
Current TV - Webby: Current, your TV doesn't suck.

Television
The Office - People's Voice: Join the Dwight Schrute army.

Read all the 5 word acceptance speechs since the Webbys began

Adriana Huffington asks for help with her 2008 five word accpetance speech

Become a marketing hero: talk about their web site

As more marketers see their website as the hub of their marketing efforts, reviewing that site before calling on them becomes essential. But you are not an expert on their business. What can you actually speak credibly about that a client will listen to? 

Simple. Talk about your readers, their site visitors. Look carefully at their home page and think about your magazine/brand's readers and how they would respond.

Never criticize your client’s website. The marketing manager you are calling on could be it's architect. But if you can engage your client in a dialog about trends effecting your readers and advocate prioritizing future content you can help advance their online marketing goals. 

 The sad truth is that many websites are not constructed with a company’s customers, your readers, in mind. Many websites first fulfill internal political goals, or are designed against the claims of competitors. Primary reader benefits can take a back seat. If you discover this sharing your readers point of view, in noncritical way by talking about future content, can make you a marketing hero.  

At the recent "Selling Online Subscriptions" conference put on by MarketingSherpa, Linda Ragano, from ThomasNet, shared this a piece of research that documented a disconnect between what manufacturers posted on their websites, versus what the targeted buyers actually wanted to see. 

On a call.

If you sense this kind of disconnect on your client's site use Linda's slide as a third party example to make the point in a noncritical way. Say, "In some industries (read: not yours) there is disconnect between what readers/visitors want to see on a web site and what gets posted. Show the chart. Then share insights you have about your readers/their site visitors might like to see in the future. Focusing on the future is a good way to share your knowledge without being critical of the present. Your client can then go to management and say, "Look what we can do to improve things in the future." Both you and your client become marketing heros.   

From the ThomasNet presentation at the Selling Online
Subscriptions Summit 2008:

Are you good looking enough to be a rep?

You might not like this.

A recent poll of Cafepharma visitors, a website for salespeople in the Pharmaceutical industry, asked how a salesperson's physical attractiveness effects their selling. The survey was posted with a big helping of skeptical humor with the only three possible answers to the question, "Which type of rep gets the best results?" being:

1. An average looking rep that knows their products and can sell.

2. Doesn't matter. Too many other factors come into play regarding sales.

3. A super attractive rep that is an idiot and can't sell.

A bit over 17%, about one in six, picked #3.

.

Some may find this funny, some not. But it raises a serious question of how we as individual salespeople differentiate ourselves in the field. If what we sell and how we sell it becomes a commodity...what's left? 

Do you have to be attractive to be a media sales rep? I don't think so. But many may disagree.

 

 

See the study on Cafepharma and read responses to it 

RFPs from both sides now

RFPs are a game. As a best practice for buyers, RFPs simplify the buying process and weed out media that is off the mark allowing more time with more appropriate media. But with buyers under pressure to make decisions more quickly, RFPs get misused. When they become the primary tool of evaluation, insightful media buying sufferers.   

James Hering writing for The ClickZ Network back in 2003 posed this summation showing both sides of the sales desk.

From the seller side, we hear:

• "So I'm supposed to tell you why my site is better than the 180 other sites that received an RFP?"
• "Great, another 'we expect totally out-of-the-box thinking' proposal!"
• "Gee, we get a grand total of two hours to pull together a rock-solid proposal that nails the objective. How convenient."
• "We're honored to be invited to be a strategic partner and meet the client's long-term goals with the exciting test budget of $5,000?"

From the buyer side:

• "Why don't publishers respond to my requests in a timely manner?"
• "Ten seconds after emailing the RFP, I get a call with questions for the same information that's noted in it. Didn't he read it?"
• "I asked for a proposal with a limit of $20,000, yet I get a package for $50,000. What's up with that?"
• "I clearly asked for specific targeting criteria, yet 80 percent of what they're offering doesn't meet the stated objectives."

Hering makes the following suggestions for media sellers: 

Timing is key. Responding in a timely manner is fundamental to a buyer who is trying to wrangle several proposals. Always acknowledge when you get an RFP and note if you plan to participate. (Note to sales managers: Make sure you properly transition accounts. Nothing is more frustrating to a buyer than sending an important request to a dead email account or blank voicemail box.)

• Respond appropriately. If the RFP is not clear about where questions should be directed, find out how you can inquire, then provide questions in written form.
• Read the proposal from top to bottom at least twice before you ask your first question. You'll be amazed at how things can become clearer after a second reading.
• Meet the request. Sure, you've got sales goals, but be sure to totally address the request first. Then, provide additional options. Let's face it, almost everyone loves options. Still, we all get turned off if our initial request is overlooked. Nail the request (including the budget), then up-sell all you want.
• No rug-pulling, please. Make sure the inventory is there when you sell it. If it's perishable, just make sure the buyer knows the details and any corresponding restrictions. Nothing will drive a buyer insane faster than getting a client excited about an opportunity only to have to call back 10 minutes later with an "Oops, we didn't have all the details" apology.

Just keep in mind, every time you get an RFP someone is inviting you to do business with them!

Read Hering's post on Clickz

Flipping the fear card

Sales lessons from the campaign trail #4

In response to my last post that showed how  Hilary Clinton's "Red Phone" ad is based on a common media sales technique, I got a question, "What should I do when I am on the receiving end of the "fear card" or similar attack?"

When a competitor attacks...say. "Thank you!" Often they have handed you a gun to shoot them with. Whether the attack is the "fear card" or another approach the steps to respond are they same. The bigger and grander the attack, the bigger the advantage has been handed to you.   

First, get a document of the attack; a promotional brochure, email, web post etc. You will need it so you can go line by line as you counter it.

Second, Initially, you need to react emotionally. Why emotionally? Because if the "fear card" is emotional, and you cannot rationalized emotion away. If you respond without feeling, on some emotional level you are saying the fear or criticism is OK.

Also, at the heart of every successful media sale is the passion for what you sell. No passion, no sale. If you are passionate about your media and someone takes a shot at it, if you stay completely calm how genuine does that passion look? Don't display any anger that feels unnatural. Your reaction needs to be genuine you, no forced hysterics. I use a simple, "They said WHAT? Do you know how CRAZY that is? I can't believe they would tell you that!"

From the campaign trail, Bill Clinton has recently been ridiculed in the press for his "angry red faced finger wagging" responses to perceived attacks. He may look odd on on the news clips but his technique is sound. I fear that Barack Obama's cool response to some of Clinton's early attacks may not serve him well long term.

Third: ask about the damage. Ask if the "fear card" or criticism changed their attitude or raised concerns about your product. The "fear card" only sticks where they are doubts. Ask your client to share those doubts. Now, counter them.

Fourth: Now, respond to the doubts rationally. Take the print out of the attack and go line by line and show your side of the argument. You need to win over your client or, at the very least, prove that your side has at equal merit.

Fifth: Now, go offensive. Label your competitors approach as "sales technique" designed to manipulate feelings. No buyer likes to feel manipulated or played for a fool. Raise questions as to why a competitor might do this; desperation? Disrespect for the intelligence of the media buyer?

Sixth: Now, depending how well you have turned this around, see if you can't build some emotional resentment in your client from the attack. If you really have won over your client, ask, "Now that you can see the other point of view you can see how manipulative this was. (With a smile) How dumb to they think you must be to fall for this?"

No buyer likes to think of them selves as having been "had" by a manipulative sales attack. If you can win them back they will often harbor resentment for the competitor who initiated the attack and be suspicious of them for a long time.

Playing the fear card

Sales lessons from the campaign trail #3

Many credit Hilary Clinton's Presidential Primary wins in Ohio and Texas to her controversial "Red Phone" ad designed to raise doubts about Barack Obama's experience on national security.

Despicable sleaze? Clever politics? Love the ad or or hate it, what I saw was a common sales tactic that every media sales rep uses at some time in their career.

When you sell a product where the outcome cannot be predicted, like a presidential candidate or a media buy, raising doubts about your competition, aka "playing the fear card," is an effective way to win business.

On your next sales call

If you are in a competitive sell where you have the more established, better known, or widely accepted product you can ask "what if" questions to raise doubts about your competition in the mind of your media buyer. Clinton's ad raised asked "what if" an inexperienced president got a 3 AM Red Phone crisis dropped in his lap.

Media questions you can use to raise doubts about competition:

"What if your ad campaign fails because you did not cover a key demographic (that my media covers better)?"

"What if your ad campaign fails because you bought the cheaper media whose circulation is poor?"

"What if you ad campaign fails because you bought the cheaper media upstart instead of the media with the proven track recored?"

And if the media buy is very high profile...

"This is an important media buy. If it fails a lot of people could get hurt. Hey, remember the old saying from the 80's computer industry , "No one gets fired for buying IBM."

Don't push too hard. If your "sales technique" shows you will be branded as a manipulative huckster. To play the fear card you stoke the latent anxieties of your buyer but never overtly say the anxiety is totally justified. After you leave their office you just want them to worry about their media buy if it isn't with you. 

See Clinton's Red Phone ad

Larry "Curb Your Enthusiasm" David's funny post on the Red Phone ad

Why being "likeable" counts

Sales lesson from the campaign trail #2:

Hilary Clinton, behind in delegates and the polls for the Democratic Presidential nomination is taking the offensive. Shown here today taking to task a Barack Obama campaign brochure she claims spreads misinformation about her health care program.

How will voters react?

Voters will react as they always do; ignoring criticism about people they like and embracing it against people they don't.

It is easy to forget that few American Presidents were more widely criticized than Ronald Reagan, but it all just slid off the likable "Teflon President" without a scratch. The minimally funded Swift Boat attacks of the 2004 Presidential election stuck to John Kerry like glue who many demonized having criticized American Vietnam policy, and seemingly to many, the troops as well.

Hilary's case will stick not on merit, but on how likable voters perceive her Vs. Obama to be. Judging by how well her campaign's "plagiarism" criticism stuck last week I would guess not well.

On your next sales call you may think that being likable is not so important, after all we now sell in the measurable world of digital media. Aren't results more important than everything? Think again. On the surface your clients are rational business people, but when criticism flies people are more likely to evaluate on the emotional side. They will ask, "Do I like them, do I trust them?" The next time something goes wrong (and something always does) how much will stick to you will depend on how well liked you and your organization are.   

Paul Simon said it all in the Lyrics to his 1968 song "The Boxer" when he wrote,

"All lies and jest. Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

Using post game Super Bowl chatter to sell ad space

The NY Giants won the football game but who won the ad game? After the show there will be many reviews of the ads and which ones got the viewers attention. It turns out there is a big dividend paid to those Super Bowl ads that score high, literally. University of Buffalo doctoral student Jing Jiang and Cornell professor Charles Chang studied the relationship between company stock price and Super Bowl advertising for the last 17 Super Bowls and discovered that the top 10 Super Bowl ads significantly moved the stock price right after the game for advertisers.

According to the study, "The stocks of companies running ads that ranked in the top 10 outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index by 26 basis points the day after the game and by 1.6 percentage points over the following week.

After four weeks, the shares did almost 3 percentage points better than the S&P 500, although Kim says the link between the Super Bowl ads and the performance of the stock weakens over time because other news and events could influence the price of the shares."

Curiously, there was also consistent minor positive movement on stock price of companies whose ads scored lowest. It seems the most dangerous place to be as far as stock price goes is in the middle.   

As you chat with advertisers today, the day after Super Bowl Sunday, mentioning this curious study is a great way to reinforce the effectiveness of advertising and of the importance of having great creative that connects with an audience.

Read all about the study

Watch the ads

Selling with the "relationship calculator"

This is a great web tool on the Relationship Marketing Inc. website. This "Relationship Calculator" helps marketers calculate the ROI of that results when customers are retained over time. You can use it to show that just a slight increase in customer retention, over time, results in huge financial gain.

Use it on a sales call:

First, plug numbers into the calculator from Yahoo Finance or just from your own estimations. You don't have to be completely accurate. Initially, your goal is to get your client interested in evaluating this the ROI of customer retention, not delivering a completely accurate picture. Then hit the "click to calculate" button to see the results. Share them. If your client does not like your estimates tell them you will redo them to their specifications. This is a terrific tool for demonstrating that keeping just a few extra existing customers, over a few extra years or adding just a few new ones can make a big difference in the bottom line.

Now ask them, "If you could dramatically increase your advertising do you think you could win/retain 2% more customers? If so here is what the financial result would be for the next 10 years."

Use the calculator yourself