Happy New Year?

It’s up to you!

There will be tons of predictions and forecasts about 2013 over the next couple of weeks, but management consultant, Peter F. Drucker, said it best when he said, "The only way to predict the future is to create it."

It’s often said that the only two constants in life are death and taxes. And it can be frustrating to realize we have no control over either.

But there is another constant in life called "change". We do control the impact of change in our lives by choosing to adapt to it, to lead it, and to capture every opportunity it presents.

We are seeing unprecedented changes in media, advertising and sales and the way we choose to accept and adapt to those changes is within our control.

I was reminded of the unstoppable nature of change and the value of choosing to embrace it, just last month. The Dunnville Chronicle, a small community newspaper that gave me my start in media, closed its doors after 116 years.

Considering I now make a living helping broadcast and online media to grow their revenues, many of my clients will be surprised to learn I got my start in print.

Those who look for blame in the weekly paper’s death will probably point to either consolidation or technology.

Some will lament the days when the paper’s local owners were an integral part of the community, as passionate about the community’s success as they were about the papers. On its’ death bed, the weekly was owned and managed from afar by large newspaper conglomerate. The failure must be the "fault" of consolidation. Sound familiar?

Others will blame technology or new media. In its hay day the paper employed 14 full time people. Technology had made it possible to produce an arguably better product with only four people and to capture the local news as it happened rather than waiting for the weekly to be printed and delivered.

In reality, my first employer’s demise is nobody’s fault and no one is to blame, any more than someone is to blame for my hair turning grey (although I sometimes joke with my kids that it’s their fault my hair turned grey)

Change is inevitable, not bad, maybe sad, but unstoppable. And I’ve been able to adapt those same interview and questioning skills I learned as a newspaper reporter, to give me a competitive edge when meeting with advertisers today.

The Chronicle’s old linotype operator who refused to learn and adapt to new word processing technology was one of the paper’s first casualties, way back in the early eighties.

The marketing and sales skills I learned when I asked for a transfer from editorial to advertising are now transferable to broadcast and online media.

Most importantly, I saw the writing on the wall many years ago when I left print to get into broadcast. The best way to predict the future really is to create it!

You can’t escape death and taxes, but you can create your future. What kind of future are you going to create in 2013?

According to an article in the January 1, 2013 issue of MediaPost, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers concede that a full two thirds of media consumption is now spent with radio or TV.

The newspaper folk’s Annual World Press Trends report says "People are spending an increasing amount of time with digital services, with overall media consumption levels increasing to in excess of 400 minutes a day."

The newspaper funded report admits "Two-thirds of this time is spent with TV or radio, during which people regularly do other things at the same time."

I guess it’s pretty hard to read the newspaper while driving your car or searching on Google!

P.S. ENS Media’s ‘Winning in the new Media Economy’ sales training and advertiser seminars are successfully converting former print advertisers to a radio/TV and online media-mix every day. We still have a few dates left in 2013. Email [email protected] to inquire about booking your Winning in the New Media Economy system to increase your sales in 2013 and beyond.

Every once in a while I meet a sales person who proudly proclaims, "I’ve got the gift of gab." In sales, that ‘gift’ is more aptly described as ‘the curse of chatter.’

Successful sales professionals know that sales is really more about listening than it is about talking.

Those with the curse more often engage in product feature speak than they do in providing customer-focused solutions or opportunities.

Customers don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care….and caring is demonstrated by listening.

Listening is by far the most important and difficult skill a sales professional can learn and practice. The sales people who annoy and alienate prospects the most are those who claim to be good listeners but follow every customer objection with a "yah, but….."

There is no room for the word ‘but’ in a good listener’s vocabulary.

To be a professional listener you need to;

1.) Earn the right to ask questions by learning something about the prospect’s business before you make a call.

2.) Prepare with open ended questions that encourage the prospect to express their views and feelings.

3.) Demonstrate you are listening by taking notes. (Always ask permission to take notes. "Your input is important to me, do you mind if I take a few notes?")

4.) Paraphrase and summarize what you hear. Don’t start a debate.

5.) Use the language and needs you hear the customer express when you make your presentation.

6.) Make certain that every benefit you present relates to a need you heard the prospect express.

There is a lot more money to be made being interested than there is in being interesting. So why not shut up and make some money!