Author Archives: admin

Who is Influencing Your Clients

Who is Influencing Your Clients?

          There is an old joke that says, “Those who can do it, do it; those who can’t do it, teach it”. Having become a management and sales trainer myself, I’ve never taken that joke personally, firm in the knowledge that I have sold and managed successfully for more than 35 years before becoming a consultant/trainer.
          By the way, ‘experience’ and ‘success’ are not synonymous terms. Many people with 20 years of experience really only have one year’s experience 20 times, and some have no successes under their belts other than keeping their jobs.
          But many self-described ‘experts’ today have little, if any, experience and even fewer have had any successes in what they teach! So those who couldn’t do, find it easy to resort to teaching with the magic of the internet.
          Anyone can start a blog, an e-letter or build a network online with no credentials. Why am I telling you this? Is it a slam at some of my competitors?
Is it to brag about my own successes? Or was I duped by one of these online gurus? None of the above.   
          I’m telling you because you need to be aware of the unqualified ‘experts’ who might be steering or influencing your prospects and clients! Do a search yourself sometime and you’ll be shocked at the long list of self proclaimed gurus who knock advertising or don’t even include radio as a contender in their alleged analysis of the pros and cons of various media.
          We’re in the information age, but a lot of what’s spread as information is actually misinformation!
          If one of your clients or prospects has become a disciple of one of these frauds, you’re going to have a tough time persuading them about your rightful place in their marketing plans.
          What can you do about it?
1.) Ask your clients and prospects if there is a particular blog or marketing guru they follow, then learn what these experts are preaching. If their teachings are false, tactfully expose them, and if they make sense, show how what you are offering is a perfect fit with their teachings.
2.) If your client is interested in broadening their marketing knowledge, suggest blogs, books and gurus like Roy Williams or SoundADvice that do justice to your medium.
3.) Become an expert yourself…not just at selling what you sell, but at understanding and helping your clients’ success. You can only become an effective ‘teacher’ by becoming an avid student.
          And after all, selling is merely teaching; teaching your prospects how and why you offer the best solutions.

Recharging Your Batteries

Recharging Your Batteries

          When I was a naïve young station manager, I went for two and a half years with no vacation.  I had booked vacations, but something ‘urgent’ always came up that caused me to cancel my plans at the last minute.
          On one such occasion, the station’s owner came into my office, threw a pair of airline tickets and the keys to his Florida condo on my desk and said, “Ens, get the hell out of here!”
          I thought he was nuts. I was so dedicated to achieving the company’s goals that I was willing to cancel my vacation to get the job done and he was forcing me to take a vacation!
          It wasn’t until I returned to the office two weeks later that I realized his wisdom in forcing me to “get the hell out of here”.
          I achieved more in the next 30 days than I had achieved in the past six months. I now know that vacations are absolutely essential to recharge your emotional batteries and help you see your day-to-day problems and opportunities from a fresh perspective. 
          And an occasional day off, doesn’t cut it. If you’re like me, it will take you three or four days just to start to relax.
          In hindsight, my youthful ego probably resulted in me thinking only I could solve the problems that interrupted my vacations. The reality is, everyone can be replaced and the job will get done. I’ve been away from that station for more than 30 years now, and guess what…they’re still on the air without me being there!
          Don’t wait to take your vacation until you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.

The Value of Warm and Fuzzies

The Value of Warm and Fuzzies

           Reading a lot of the consumer ‘research’ these days, you might draw the conclusion that branding is going the way of the dinosaur; that consumers only care about price and savings.
          But consider the following;
1.) Consumers are NOT fully aware of the complex mix of influences that consciously and subconsciously influence their value perceptions and purchase decisions.
2.) When asked in a ‘survey’, of course they’re going to focus on price….do you expect them to say, “I’d like to start paying more for everything”?
3.) What if the price offered by business ‘A’ is competitive with the price of business ‘B’? What’s the tie-breaker consumers’ decision-making process defaults to? 
          I would submit that in a fiercely competitive pricing environment, branding becomes the tie-breaker, making it more important than ever. It’s those ‘warm and fuzzies’ that can make the difference.
          Of course price is important today. And price comparisons are fast and easy to make by shopping or going online. It’s not rocket science for consumers to figure out which product or service is the cheapest.
          Going to the next level and searching for all of the value and benefits a business offers is more complex and takes time consumers generally do not have.
          That’s where branding kicks in. Over time your advertisers can talk about things like their good corporate citizenship, their ‘green’ attributes, warranties and service to build their brand. None of these are substitutes for competitive pricing, but all can be the tie-breaker in a competitive price environment.
          Are you defaulting to the easy, “we’re the cheapest” campaigns for your clients, or are you building their brands in between the price events?  

Little White Lies

Little White Lies

           Many professionals, like dentists or lawyers, will tell you their governing body won’t let them advertise. They find that excuse gets rid of advertising sales people faster than telling the truth.
          The truth is often more along the lines of, “I don’t want my peers to think I’m an ‘ambulance chaser” or “I don’t want to spend the money on advertising”.
          Your best course of action is to make the call prepared with their governing body’s code of ethics and advertising guidelines. You can usually find them by simply Googling things like ‘Florida law firm advertising regulations’ or ‘Ontario dental advertising regulations’. You can also offer your services to communicate with their governing body to develop a campaign that is approved and acceptable. 
          All professions from accountants to chiropractors in every state or province may advertise. Understanding what their governing body will and will not allow them to say in their advertising, can help you overcome their objections.
          And to get the appointment, don’t ask to talk to a professional who does not advertise, about ‘advertising’.
          Tell them you want to talk to them about an ‘educational awareness campaign’ to clear up misconceptions about their areas of expertise. Every professional has some message regarding their profession that they want the public at large to understand. It may be about changes in the tax laws for accountants, or changes in criminal law for lawyers.
          By sponsoring an educational awareness campaign about these issues, professionals will gain name recognition among their prospects and respect among their peers. 
Click here to inquire about our ‘Selling to Professionals’ sales training.

More Feet on the Street

No Excuses. Every Station Can Sell More

           We take great pride in the success of our media clients. While the ad industry as a whole experienced a decline in revenue during the economic downturn, our media clients have experienced modest, or in some cases spectacular, revenue growth.
          There are four basic pillars upon which we build our clients’ success. The first of which is ‘More feet on the street always equals more sales’.
          I’ve heard all of the arguments against hiring more sales people, but frankly we have consistently proven stations are missing opportunities by not hiring more sales people.
          Consider why some stations don’t beef up their sales departments, and why they should;
1.) Cost of sale? The next 20% of your sales will be much more profitable than the first 80%. While cost of sale for new recruits is high with start-up guarantees, management time and training, once your fixed overhead is covered, every new sale these new recruits make goes almost entirely to your bottom line.
2.) No new business? There are approximately 50 prospects for every 1000 population in your trading area. If you do the math, and understand how long it takes to prepare, prospect, follow-up, present, negotiate and close, you’ll soon realize there are not enough hours in a year for your current sales team to approach every prospect in your market.  
3.) Protect your current sales people? The myth that protectionism creates a more productive sales force is just that…a myth. Your best sales people have built lists that have so much growth potential they don’t have time to prospect aggressively, and they certainly won’t let a ‘rookie’ out-perform them. Protectionism can also create complacency.
4.) The smell of staff turnover? I admit there can be a negative connotation to staff turnover at the entry level. But that ‘smell’ is always overpowered by the sweet smell of success. Even ‘failed’ recruits will leave the lasting residual value of accounts they got on the air that will still be on the air long after they leave. And the new categories they open will see other advertisers in that category follow suit.
5.) There are no good sales people to recruit? Most new rep turnover is a failure of management, not a failure of the recruit. We give them crappy prospects that our best seniors couldn’t sell, no training, and kick them out into the market with a rate card or package and no training or plan. If you hire for attitude rather than ‘experience’ and train and work with new recruits to develop productive plans, you’re helping another human being, your company, your clients and our industry!