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
