Author Archives: admin

Make It Grand!

It is imperative that you play a leading role in making every new client’s ‘Grand Opening’ grand.
            First of all, as the old saying goes, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Your first impression with a new account is the role you play in the success of their grand opening.
            But here is the real key……did you know virtually EVERY Grand Opening is perceived to be successful? That’s partially because the new business owner has no bench marks to measure his or her grand opening sales against.
            The other reason every Grand Opening is perceived to be successful is because the new business owner has usually spent years and their life’s savings in anticipation of this first event, not knowing what to expect. When that first customer walks through the door or makes a phone call the new entrepreneur breaths a huge sigh of relief….their dream of making that first sale is actually a reality!

Imagine the repercussions if they are able to realize this “success” without you!
            If you are perceived to have played a leading role in the grand opening it will be very difficult for a competitor to de-throne your enviable position. Conversely, if the new business can have that success without you, it will be equally difficult for you to ever become a significant player in future media plans.
          While I’ve never been a fan of “packages”, every station should have a Grand Opening Package which gets your new-found client started on the right foot. Your “package” will set the stage for all future business so it should NOT include a discount. Rather it should be a total value bundle, positioning you as the new business owner’s advertising consultant.
            Your value bundle should include a complete business or SWOT analysis, a 52-week follow-up campaign, a creative concept, tips on “how to make your opening successful” and more.
            YOU should always be present and front and center during the actual event. Send flowers or some other sort of congratulatory gift. Do a “Grand Opening Wrap-Up” report and take credit for this exciting day in the new business’ life.
            Last, but not least, in all likelihood the new business owner does not yet have a trusted media advisor. Guiding him through this stressful but rewarding event will place you in good stead to partner with the business for many years to come.
 
            WHAT??!: I’ve discovered a client who thought I buy and re-package these tips under my own name. Each tip I send you is written by me every Saturday morning based upon the questions I encounter while consulting clients across North America each week.

Beyond Solutions-Selling

My wife, Angela, has mastered the difference between selling to fill a need versus selling to fill a want.  Angela sold cars, first for GM dealerships, then Ford, and most recently BMW.
            “At Ford and GM” she says, “most people came on the lot because they neededa car.  At BMW they came with a whole different attitude because they wanted  a BMW.”
            “Selling to wants versus needs is always a more positive, lucrative and pleasurable experience.” she maintains.
            In needs-focused selling, traditional sales trainers maintain that until you uncover a problem and provide a solution, you don’t have a sale. This approach works, and is necessary, at the early stages of building a relationship.
However, the problem with making this your only approach is two-fold;

1.  Dwelling on problems is never as much fun nor as profitable, for you or the client, as focusing on hopes and dreams.
2.  If a competitor promises to solve the problem or fill the need cheaper than you, the client will fill their need with them instead of you.
Needs-focused sales trainers explain, “When the cost of the cure is lower than the price of the pain, you have a sale.” This equation obviously revolves around ‘price’ and ‘cost’and usually involves short-term solutions.
            When focusing on wants, however, the equation shifts from price and cost to ‘achievement’ and ‘investment’ and the goal becomes long term and exciting. 
            There is no doubt that problem-solving selling should be one of the strategies you employ at the entry-level in a selling relationship.  Selling to a want is a rarely understood, yet absolutely necessary skill in establishing profitable long-term relationships. When somebody wants something with all their heart, price quickly takes a back seat and the relationship they develop with their ‘dream facilitators’ becomes much stronger than it is with the provider who only band-aids their pain.
            For example, the typical retailer will book a flight to fill a need… “I need to move all of last year’s inventory before the end of the month.” The same retailer will enthusiastically make long term commitments to the person who can help them build the strong and sustainable business they envisioned when they first opened their doors.
          It’s not about pushing last year’s units, it’s about sending their kids to college, early retirement, and being the leader in their field.
            The client who ‘has to advertise’ has a totally different attitude than the client who ‘wants to advertise’. 
            But dreams and emotions are not something most people will openly share with a typical sales person. Most relationships will be opened by solving a problem first.
            Once you have done this, you can earn the respect and the right to get out of negative problem-solving territory and into more positive relationship-building territory by showing the client how you can help them achieve their dreams and aspirations.
 

Getting to the Heart

Last week we talked about moving your key account relationships beyond solution or needs-based selling. We discussed the passion, commitment and investment that you can attract when you begin to appeal to your clients’ hearts instead of their heads.
            Many of you wrote to me and said our “Beyond Solutions Selling” memo was our most valuable memo yet. So, okay, you can see the merit in filling a want versus filling a need, but how do you get there?
            In early-stage selling you generally begin your relationship by asking questions like “What keeps you up at night?” or “Why do some customers deal with your competitors instead of you?”  These questions are designed to help you uncover current problems or needs you can solve.
            Once you have clearly demonstrated your sincerity and ability to solve those problems, you can earn the right to move on to the next level ….. finding the client’s dreams, wants or passions.
            At this stage, your questions will be more future or want-based. You’ll learn to frame questions like;

  • “What was your goal or vision when you started this business? Why”
  • “Where do you want to be five years from now? Why?”
  •  “In a perfect world, what would your life at work and outside of it look like. Why?”
            You can see that this type of questioning will focus more on sending the kids to college, growing a dynamic enterprise or building a retirement nest egg. Entry level questioning on the other hand will generally explore band-aid solutions to short term problems like hitting this month’s sales targets.
            Future vision questions should always be asked outside of the client’s stressful daily environment. Book a meeting room in a conference facility, go on a boat trip, or reserve a quiet and private corner of a quality restaurant, to get the client away from the harsh realities of today, and get them thinking about a brighter future scenario.
CAUTION:  It is absolutely imperative that you sincerely and genuinely care about your client’s future more than you care about making a sale at this juncture. This level of business relationship transcends all of your goals and is strictly about helping someone find and achieve their dreams and goals.
            Ironically, if you do genuinely care about your clients, your sales goals will automatically be achieved.
            When you get as big a kick out of seeing your client’s success as she or he does, you really have grasped what ‘relationship marketing’ is all about!
 

Free Franchise, Part 2

Last week we discussed your sales peoples’ “free franchise”. One of our readers in Florida liked the idea so much that he is using it as the basis for a recruiting ad; “Free franchise available……”
            Did you know that not all franchisees experience the same degree of success? But more importantly, I’ve learned that it is the franchisee who makes the franchise succeed above and beyond expectations, NOT the franchisor!
            Here’s what your free franchisees can learn from the more successful franchisees across North America;
Embrace Change
          When a franchisor introduces new products, ideas or changes, it is because they firmly believe it will improve the results for the franchisee….and the success of the franchisor is directly dependant upon the success of its franchisees.
            Your station’s success is also dependant upon the success of its sales people. When management introduces change, it is because they are convinced it will make their salespeople and themselves, more successful…give change a chance.
Rally Behind the Flag
          In franchising, there is a thing called, The Franchisee Dependency Curve. When the new franchisee comes on board they are always happy and delighted, learning new things every day, managing their own business, and appreciating what the franchisor brings to the table.
            But some franchisees after time, go stale. As their learning curve flattens they begrudge the royalties they are sending the franchisor. These franchisees begin to fail when they say “But my market is different”.
            Your franchise is no different. When you say, “yes, but my account list is different” or, “I know a better way,” you begin to loose the power and benefits of your franchise.
Go Beyond the Call of Duty
          The most successful franchisees actually go beyond what the franchisor expects. If, for example, the franchisor expects them to participate in one local charity for publicity and networking, the most successful franchisees support two or three charities. 
          The most successful franchisees I’ve met actually improve upon and build upon management initiatives and volunteer to sit on franchisee project committees.
          And, when they do find an improvement that works they enthusiastically share it with the franchisor for the benefit of all franchisees. They recognize that a stronger company benefits their individual franchise.

 

 

 

 

The three keys to you making your franchise successful; Embrace Change, Support the Brand and Go Above and Beyond the minimum expectations management sets.

CLIENTS ARE NOT STUPID!

For the past few weeks, I have been responding to our readers’ overwhelming interest in taking customer relationships to the next level through moving beyond CNA’s (customer needs analysis) and getting to the heart of the matter with Customer Wants Analysis.
            In considering this series of relationship-building tips, it must be said that, “clients are not stupid”.
            Promising to “partner” in delivering a dream or vision is a very emotional territory. That’s the good news. Selling to these emotions and wants creates passion, commitment, loyalty and excitement.
            But here’s the bad news…..anger is an emotion as well. Nothing will arouse the anger of a client faster and more permanently than betraying a deep and personal confidence they placed in you.
There are three keys to maintaining that confidence…..
1.) Sincerity,
2.) Competence and
3.) Confidentiality.

 
Sincerity. There is a chemistry or aura which surrounds account executives who sincerely and genuinely put their client’s needs first….and your clients can detect this invisible aura.
     Everything from your body language to the recommendations you make will contribute to the confidence your clients place in you.
 
DREAM-WEAVING RULE NUMBER ONE:  Clients are not stupid. If you don’t care more about your client’s success than you do your own, your intentions will read all over you like ugly on ape.
    
Competence.  Media fragmentation, new technologies, increased competition, changing economies and consumer trends make marketing one of the fastest changing and most exciting fields in business today.
      If you are to become a trusted advisor and dream facilitator it is absolutely imperative that you can offer cutting-edge marketing ideas.
      Read every day. Keep up with trade journals and business books.
     Keep on the lookout for seminars and courses which will make you the clients’ C.K.O., Chief Knowledge Officer.
      And continue to do post-campaign analysis to learn how to make each campaign better than the last.
 
DREAM-WEAVING RULE NUMBER TWO:  Clients still are not stupid. If you have not kept pace with what works in today’s competitive marketing environment through reading, training and experience, clients will recognize the folly in your proposals.