Selling Advertising? Who To See First

 Low Hanging fruit.
In every market there are people who are ready to buy. In advertising sales, these people buy advertising from almost anyone who sells it. They buy because;
1) They know how to make it work, and the more avenues in advertising, the better (this is rare).
2) They like advertising for ego reasons, or have a huge budget, and just want to spend the money.
3) They sell something with a high enough profit margin that almost any ads will generate a profit.

Whatever their motivation, these people buy lots of advertising. The easiest way to find them is simply to look at ads in the local newspaper, direct mail magazine or envelope, and the Yellow Pages. You may as well start your sales career off with a bang. See these people first.

But you need to know this; Just because they spend money on advertising, doesn’t mean they know how to advertise. Most companies don’t track their ad results. They don’t really know which ad is working and which ad is not. After you ask them “Is this ad working for you?” in reference to an ad they are already running...ask “How do you know?”. The answer to that question will tell you whether they really know if it’s working or not.

If they are compulsive advertising buyers, my advice is to accept the business, try to give them information and suggestions to make the ad better, and let it go.

What if they won’t kiss on the first date? (Did that get your attention?)
Everyone buys at their own speed. Different people make decisions at different speeds.
There is a sales process time line. You want your client closer to the end of the process before you sell the advertising. You want to keep communication going between you. This can be done with mail, E-Mail, drive to website, recorded message, or touching base by phone.
Even if they bought the first day, the sales process continues. You are in the relationship business...the results business. The first sale you make supports the second sale...which supports the third sale. That’s why selling gets easier with the same client.

Want to know more? Go to;
Claude Whitacre Speaker And Author

If you are brand new to selling advertising (Or anything else

A quick tip; Go with an experienced rep for a few days. Just ride along. Don’t talk when they are in front of a prospect. This benefits you both. You will see that cold calling is easy, and that nothing bad happens when you do it. Or you will see that you simply hate it, and would rather go to the dentist than talk to a new prospect. Either way, you’ll be ahead. It benefits the person you are going with, in that they are now forced to work. It’s amazing how much you will accomplish when someone is watching....even when that someone is a new rep.

Good News & Bad News.
First the bad news. Your prospect is getting phone calls from telemarketers several times a day. When I’m in the store, I get between 15 and 30 calls a day from reps of every sort. Most are either selling internet Yellow Pages advertising or wanting to change my long distance, credit card processing,  or utilities. Two or three times a day, a rep comes through the door selling something. This happens every day to everyone you want to talk to.

These callers and visitors all have something in common. I don’t want to talk to them.
None of them give me an immediate reason to stop doing what I’m doing and listen to them.
None of them make me glad to see them.

I haven’t scared you away from cold calling? Good. Just don’t do it the way they do it.
There’s a better way.

How can you make the prospect glad to see you?
Give them something they want, or tell them something they want to hear.

Here’s a cold calling phone script that will get you in the door more times than not.
“I saw your ad in the (Yellow Pages/newspaper/direct mail piece/etc.). It’s a pretty good ad, and I work with local businesses to improve their advertising and reduce their costs. I think I can improve your ad results. I can show you what I mean in just a few minutes. Are you going to be in tomorrow at 3:00?” I used to use that script when I first started helping people write ads (I don’t do it anymore). It really got phenomenal results.

Look at that again. You gave two benefits (improve ad & reduce costs), appealed to his vanity (It’s a good ad). You need to say “Show you what I mean” ...not “tell you”. If you say “tell you” the prospect will simply say “Tell me now”.
What helps is that you are talking about a display ad. You really have to show him, not tell him.

The power of gifting.
Reciprocity is a powerful force. If you do someone a favor, or give them a gift, it’s very hard for most people not to return the favor. For example, in my retail store I give free service on minor repairs. I will install a belt on a customer’s vacuum cleaner..and not charge for it. Why? Because I’ve tested the results, and found that for every dollar I spend in “free belts”, I get back $60 in new vacuum cleaner sales. Some people just can’t stand it when they don’t return a favor. It eats at them. So they come back and buy from you...or buy before they leave.

When I was selling in people’s homes I made it a policy that, if they sold a small item...or their kids were selling something for school, I would buy it...maybe multiples. My selling average skyrocketed in those cases. In fact, I don’t remember a single case where they didn’t buy from me after I bought from them.

So what’s a good free gift when you are selling advertising? A fruit basket, a box of donuts, a book on advertising (Hint Hint), articles about what other businesses are doing to increase business, free tickets to a seminar, anything that would be considered a gift. Don’t give gifts for buying advertising. That’s a mistake, and could even be illegal. But delivering a small gift when you meet someone? Smart. And you’ll be the only rep who did.

The Grapefruit Story;
When we first opened our store, we had a nice lady bring in a giant grapefruit. It was huge. She said that she was an attorney, and had extra grapefruit. She handed us one (with her card) and left. A year later she did the same thing...and the next year. On the third year, we called her to rewrite our will. We wouldn’t have considered anyone else. By now, she was a friend. We have given her thousands of dollars and she has given us seven grapefruit. And we couldn’t be happier.

Does this mean I’m suggesting you have to wait years to ask someone to buy? Of course not. She could have started the conversation of what she could do for us on the first visit...with the first grapefruit. But we didn’t need a lawyer then. But everyone needs a lawyer eventually.....and we wouldn’t have dared use anyone else. I really like grapefruit.
You have a huge advantage over the lawyer. Everyone you talk to needs what you have...now.

To get more, read my book Selling Local Advertising. Here...

The Real Reason Ad Reps Fail.

The first time I spoke to a group of ad reps, I learned a very valuable lesson.
I joined a group of reps for breakfast at the hotel. It was the wrong table. It was the bitching table.
For about half an hour, I got to hear how the company was doing everything wrong. Everything was either the company’s fault...or the customer’s fault. Oh Joy.
One guy said  “Customers don’t get this business. I was talking to an advertiser the other day, and he told me that the ad wasn’t making him any money. I told him that my job is to get the customer to his door. What happens after that is his business”. Then he looked at me and said “Right?”
I said “No. You can sell that way...but what if you designed an ad that actually made people want to buy his product? He would stay a client-for-life. You just need to see it from his point of view.”
He looked at me like was from Mars, and said “I don’t know what the hell you are talking about”...and he walked away. After the seminar, we shook hands...he wasn’t a bad guy.

Unfortunately, this guy was stuck in the “We sell ad space” rut. If you think that way, your career will be filled with cold calling, convincing people against their will, competition stealing your clients, and being perceived as a pest.. Selling will be exhausting.

This is why reps fail; Not seeing the advertising from the client’s point of view...not concentrating on helping the client sell more of his product or service. This “Us VS Them” attitude is still pervasive in all types of sales. It is perpetuated by people that don’t know how to sell.
Your client’s success is your success.
It’s still common for ad reps to do one-shot-selling. They show up at a business. Give a short presentation, and leave. The business owner either bought...or they didn’t. This actually has merit if you have an unlimited number of prospects, or if you are selling a special project and won’t be in the area long.  But it isn’t much fun.

What is your responsibility?
To make the prospect want to do business with you....and want to continue to do business with you.

You can find out more in my new book.  Selling Local Advertising

http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Local-Advertising-Insider-Secrets/dp/1481862596/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360180517&sr=1-3&keywords=claude+whitacre

Image Ads VS Response Ads.

Ad reps love image ads. Image ads are the ones you see in national magazines that build Brand Awareness. Their purpose is to make the consumer feel better when they think of the brand name. Examples are ; “Have it your way” by Burger King, Prudential Insurance’s “Own a piece of the rock” , Chevrolet’s “Like a rock”, and Motel 6's “We’ll leave the light on for ya”.
(Thanks to Selling Air by Bob Diamond for the examples)
Brand awareness ads work.
These ads pre-condition the consumer to more easily accept local ads that actually sell the products.
Image ads sell the company name. Response ads sell the product. Which would you rather sell, if you were the client?
Ad reps love this type of ad for a reason: The sales can’t be tracked...because the ads create no sales. So the advertiser continues to buy the ads...without expecting an immediate result. Also ad reps (and ad agencies) get to concentrate on being creative rather than producing sales results. Frankly, this type of ad is just more fun for the ad agency.
National companies, with dealer networks, like this.
The dealers in their network then advertise with response ads locally, and the image ads help the response ads work better.
The problem is that occasionally, you’ll met a business owner that thinks that brand awareness ads are what local advertising is. So they run these ads, get no sales, and then blame...you.

Response ads are where the prospect responds to the ads by coming into the store, calling on the phone, or going online (depending on what the ad directs them to do). Generally, the purpose of the ad is to cause the reader/listener to come in the client’s store/business and buy.
These ads create sales. The results can be measured. Here’s another difference; Image ads don’t generate sales, but response ads will generate a positive brand image almost as well as the image ads themselves....and at the same time, pay for themselves and produce a profit for the client.
All infomercials are response ads. All QVC or Home Shopping Network ads are response ads.
Almost all of your clients will be local. Almost all of your clients will be dealers looking for sales.
Response ads that also create the desired image...are where the money is...for the client.

Selling Advertising VS The Business Of Advertising

I have a vast library of books on advertising, selling, and marketing. Almost every book on “how to sell advertising” so far is missing one key point; It’s far easier to sell advertising when you have a clientele of satisfied advertisers that are bragging about how well their ads are working. If you sell an ad...and it generates $3 for every $1 in ad cost...how hard will it be to sell that second ad? Not hard at all. And this book will show you ways to sell that first ad.

You will not need to learn the business of every client you have. Fortunately, advertising principles are pretty universal. At the back of this book, I have listed recommended reading. For under $100 at www.amazon.com you can have a small but concentrated library on advertising.

Business owners tend to advertise in several media., or they don’t advertise at all. So you are likely to have several other reps competing for the client’s business. This is to your advantage.
Since most ads are easy to find, you simply go to the business owner that is advertising with someone else, and they are very likely to buy your offer too. Business owners that are currently using any advertising are infinitely more likely to buy your media too...at least a trial run.
They don’t need to be sold on the idea of advertising. Eighty percent of the work is already done for you.....by the other rep. Of course, we’ll also cover selling ads to the prospect that never advertises.

If you take the time to work with the advertiser...building ads that produce results...helping them improve ads that fail....and sharing with them what works with other ads you’ve produced....I promise you this; You will be the only one. No other rep is taking this route. All of them are selling advertising as if it were a commodity. Eventually the advertiser may cut ads out of their budget. Who are they going to keep? You. No businessperson drops an ad that generates $2 for every $1 invested in the ad.

The odds are very strong that your prospect has never read a single book on advertising, and is basing his advertising decisions on what other reps have told him, what his brother-in-law told him, and what he has seen in the movies. Most ad reps also never read a single book on advertising.  Would you trust the advice of a doctor that never read a single medical book?

Between you and the client, don’t you think that at least one of you should have an idea of how to make his ads pay?
When you meet a prospect, you have zero control over what he knows or believes (big difference between knowing and believing) about advertising. You have 100% control over what you know about advertising and how you can help the client make his ads pay.

You can get my book on advertising at  http://www.amazon.com/Advantage-Advertising-Subtitled-Newspaper-business/dp/1570877270/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360180517&sr=1-4&keywords=claude+whitacre

Video Advertising Essentials

What are the changes in advertising, the way people buy, and what you can do about it.
Right now, there are adults that have never used the print Yellow Pages, and never will. There are adults that have never read a newspaper, and never will. The numbers of these people are growing. Soon that number will be 100%.
Do you have a print ad out right now? Do you know what 67% of the people, that used to just walk in your store, are doing? They are looking up the brand name, model number, and price on the internet...probably on Amazon.com. They are looking for more information before they buy. And if you have a higher price than the lowest price online..your ad just sold a vacuum cleaner for an online competitor. Happy New Year.
Ignoring these facts won’t change reality. Downtowns are full of vacant stores where the retailers thought "This too shall pass".
So what can you do?
Sell models they can’t find online, at any price. If you won’t do that, at least package your offers so they are more difficult to shop. Parts of your offer may be a commodity, but as a whole it won’t be. And give your offer a name. When shoppers look it up online, you will be the only one offering that package.
Have a website? Does it show up on the first page of a local Google search? It better. Is your website Mobile Ready? Millions of searches are done with phones today. Your website better convert, or it’s like you don’t have a website at all.
With a mobile search, maybe 3 listings show up on the first page. With a laptop, ten search listings show up. Make sure they are your listings.
Google recently changed how they rank websites, directory listings, and articles. Heartache for some. Opportunity of the well informed.
What is the one solid unchanging, dependable method of online marketing that is unaffected by these radical changes?
Video. Especially Youtube videos.
Why? Because Google now places a huge preference on "Authority websites". What is an Authority Website? A website that is for an entire industry, or has thousands of pages of content that people can access through a menu or index.
Wikipedia is such a website. So is Amazon, Yelp, Manta, and Youtube. Google loves Youtube because Google owns Youtube.
Youtube has two huge advantages; A video becomes an entire page of content you are not sharing with anyone else, and Google prefers videos when they rank listings.
What’s that you say? "Claude, I have a video, and nobody ever sees it". That’s because you have to market your video. You have to make Google love our video, by showing Google that your video is popular, relevant, and completely matches the search phrase typed into Google.
Fun Facts About Youtube Videos;

Individual videos can be promoted, linked to, and can link to other videos.
If you comment on other video that are highly ranked, it creates a higher rank for your videos.
If you post your video more than once on Youtube, they will delete the second video. Do it more than twice, and the bar you IP address from Youtube (IP address basically means anything from your computer)
The more people watch your entire video, the better it ranks in Google.
Links from websites to your videos help. But links from your video to your website has no SEO value.
Google only allows two videos on each page of search results If you do any kind of search for vacuum cleaners in the United States....my videos show up, or videos I created for my clients in the vacuum cleaner business. Why do they show up? Because I now do 137 separate steps to ensure that they show up.
These videos are designed to bring buyers into your store or to the phone to call you.
At the VDTA I’m conducting a three hour workshop behind closed doors. I’m going to reveal the complete method I use to get videos ranked at the top of Google searches. Every question asked will be answered. No stone will be unturned. You will see the best kind of videos to post online. You will see where to post them for maximum results. You get linking strategies to make your video listings bulletproof. I’ll teach you how to use other people’s videos to market your videos. And you will see how to write titles, descriptions, and tags to literally force Google to rank your video at the top of the local Google searches.