Here’s the scenario. You have an appointment that you set up a week ago and it’s a healthy distance away from your office. Do you call them to confirm the appointment prior to leaving or do you not call and take a chance?
Knowing how busy business owners and managers can be, there is no question that if you choose to call to confirm there is a decent chance that they will reschedule. That’s the chance you take.
An aggressive sales trainer would tell you to take the chance, show up and work your way in. Their logic is that it’s much harder to tell someone “no” in person than it is over the phone and you may not get another chance.
The professional media rep that not only respects the time of others, but their own, would call to confirm. Especially in this circumstance where travel time is an issue, we suggest that when you initially set the appointment inform them that you will call the morning of or the day before to confirm.
There are five primary reasons why confirming appointments make sense:
1) Time management – Don’t waste your time.
2) It helps establish you as a professional.
3) It shows that you respect their time.
4) It helps prepare the client and puts them in the right frame of mind, ready for your appointment.
5) If in fact they do cancel, they will be more obligated to reschedule.
Professional media sales are built on long term relationships and being respectful of your client’s time is a good way to ensure they will say “yes” to future appointments.
This little point may seem obvious, but I can assure you it happens on a regular basis. Before it happens to you or one of your reps, do the right thing and make the call to confirm the appointment.
It seems simple, sales reps make sales calls, and we make sales calls for a variety of reasons.
At the beginning of the sales process, we make cold calls to introduce ourselves. Beyond cold calls, we make calls to conduct the interview or the Q&A or CNA. We make presentation calls, follow up calls and calls simply to keep in touch. Once the person becomes a client, we make service calls. The types of sales calls and reasons for calls go on and on.
Prior to every call we make, whether in-person, via the phone, email or text, we should ask ourselves this question, “What do I want to accomplish with this call?”.
Every call should have a clear objective. For some calls, the objective will simply be to set up a meeting or get them to say “yes” to considering radio or whatever else you might be offering. Other objectives might be to get them to agree to consider a promotion, adding another station, increasing their frequency, approving a script and starting the schedule. The reasons are endless, but your objective for each call should be to get you to your next step.
It seems obvious, after all, you know why you’re going on the call, but if you consciously (physically and mentally) ask yourself the question before EVERY call, “What do I want to accomplish with this call?”, I can assure you that you’ll have a better understanding of what you want to achieve and how to go about it. And, by doing so, every call from this day forward will be more productive.
The most common time to upsell a current client is at renewal time. While this is an opportune time to do so, it’s not the only time that we should be looking to upsell.
As media reps, it’s our job to look for opportunities to help our clients grow their business.
The question is why don’t we upsell more? We have found there are two primary reasons; one, we’re afraid to ask for the additional dollars while the client is already spending money with us, and two, we don’t have a reason to ask for additional dollars!
The key to overcoming both reasons can be summed up with one word, IDEAS!
All business owners really want from their media rep is “ideas”. Ideas to help them grow their business. If you can bring a good idea to them, they will spend the money to engage that idea! Even if they don’t have the money in their budget, they will find the money if the idea is strong enough!
The ideas can come in the form of a sales event or in-store promotion. It can be a great creative idea that will enhance and make their current campaign stronger. It can be a cross-promotion with another client or your radio station. If it’s an idea that will help them grow their business, present it to them, chances are they will buy it!
One last key to successful upselling is that you don’t just “tell” them the idea, but rather you present it to them in a “formal presentation”. Explain your “idea” in detail. Lay everything out from beginning to end and show them what the successful outcome looks like.
If you want to upsell more and help your clients more, come up with more “Ideas”! Ideas are the answer to upselling!
I love to help come up with ideas, so if you ever need help, reach out and let’s talk!
All too often in media sales, the conversations with clients or prospects are about our industry, our stations, our formats, our coverage areas, our demographics, our promotions, etc., etc., etc.!
With any sales training at all, we know that our conversations should be more about the client and their business and less about us and our stations.
The real information, the good stuff, and where you build credibility with your client, is when you start to ask questions that they have never been asked before. The questions that go deeper than normal and touch their emotional hot buttons; questions about their hopes and dreams, questions about what keeps them up at night, questions about them and their customers, questions that, frankly, make them feel like you really care about them and their business. Ultimately, questions that confirm that you are a professional and not just another media rep looking for a quick sale.
When radio doesn’t work, the overwhelming reason is that the message was bad. If you only ask the surface questions, the same boring, you already should know the answer to questions, you’ll only have the same answers as every other rep.
Once you start learning how to ask deeper questions, then and only then will you get deeper answers. Deeper answers, help create better ads and ad campaigns. Better ads equal better results for your clients, and better results equal happier clients and longer-term contracts for you and your stations!
One of the best compliments you will ever get from a client or prospect is when they say, “You’re different than the other media reps. You ask some really great questions”!
Start asking Deeper Questions and start getting Deeper Answers!
ENS Media works with media companies to help brand and train media sales teams on how to become marketing and advertising professionals. If you are considering outside training for your sales team and would like to visit about our revenue generating programs, click here or give Rick a call at (605) 310-2062.
Here’s a scenario. You’re in a meeting with a potential client, and like magic, you come up with a “BIG IDEA” that you know is the answer to helping the client make a ton of money, no less yourself. In your enthusiasm to show the client how smart you are as a marketing and advertising professional, you blurt out your “BIG IDEA”!
You’re a genius, right? Wrong!
If you do have a good idea, as in this situation, and you throw it out spontaneously, the chances of it being excepted are greatly diminished. There’s a much better time to reveal you’re a real genius. It’s when you make your presentation!
Ask yourself this question. Do you think your client would put more value on a great idea that someone came up with on the fly, or one that took a week or two to come up with after much consideration and brainstorming? The client will think, “Wow, they really put some time and thought into this idea!”
Instead of blurting out your “BIG IDEA” during the first meeting, say something like, “I think I may have some good ideas, but I want to do some additional research and give some extra thought to these ideas before deciding and making our recommendations”.
While most good ideas take time to develop, we also know that occasionally we get lucky and come up with that GREAT idea on the spot.
It’ll take discipline, bite your lip, but whatever you do, WAIT, and don’t give away that “BIG IDEA” so quickly!