Two-step sales process: providing solutions to problems and good feelings

I’ve always believed we tend to over complicate the sales process. To me, it is not a question of a 5, 7 or 10 step sales process. Ultimately, it is a two-step process for me; solutions to problems and good feelings.

We spend a lot time on the first step, and it is no doubt the weightier of the two in the process. But providing good feelings before, during and after the sale deserves its day in the sun too.

Recently, my wife and I went out to dinner at a higher end steakhouse. While we were not celebrating anything specific, it is a place known for people going to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. The food is excellent, so that is a reason I like to go to this restaurant once or twice a year. The other reason is the customer service I’ve received every time I’ve visited.

This visit, I had a chance to watch the restaurant raise their game when it comes to customer service. At nearby tables, I watched the manager greet the guest as they always do. In a few instances, a person from the hostess stand returned a few minutes later and took pictures of the couple. At first, I thought it was the couple’s camera, but later I found out that it was the restaurants. She returned minutes later with a lovely card with a print of the picture taken moments ago, to commemorate the couple’s celebration at the restaurant. No charge, just a way of insuring good feelings with the customer.

It’s the little things that add up. What are you doing to provide those good feelings to your customers? Like the picture at the restaurant, it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. Often times, the best good feelings we can create are those small things that mean so much to your customer.

Notice a good advertiser’s grandchild featured in the newspaper? Make sure you provide a tearsheet or two for their collection. You see some trash near the entry for your account? Bend over and pick it up and help maintain a proper appearance for your account. You get the point; find a way that can make a difference and you can make a connection with the account. I guarantee one of your competitors is looking for opportunities to do just that too, so don’t let them beat you.

Radio sales reps in my market seem to always have a fist full of tickets to concerts and sporting events. While I might have had a few now and then, I could never compete with the freebies the local radio station had access to. But I could compete, and in fact win when it came to developing a relationship with the customer. Often times that relationship was a direct outcome of providing good feelings.

There was one other thing that always impressed me at that restaurant we visited. Every time we’ve eaten there, we receive a thank you note in the mail. Seriously, a thank you note from our waiter / waitress a few days later. My wife and I have mused about how they possibly got our address. Perhaps through our name on the credit card, probably from the reservations we’ve made. Either way, it is impressive to get that thank you note about a week after our dinner.

I need to practice what I preach, and send more thank you notes. I don’t send enough, and I’m willing to bet you and your sales staff doesn’t either. Handwritten notes are incredibly old fashioned in this era of email and instant communication. All the more reason to do it, if you ask me.

Providing good feelings as a part of the sales process doesn’t have to be flashy. You just have to do it, and that alone helps to set you a part from the crowd in the eyes of your customer. 

Fundamental steps of sales -- is your sales team asking for the sale?

Success on the baseball diamond, especially when it comes to winning the World Series in October, relies heavily on pitchers. Starting pitchers set the tone for the team, and can keep the team in the game even if the rest of the team is struggling.

In my lifetime, the importance of a 'closer' on your pitching staff has gained importance. That strong, usually fast throwing pitcher that comes in at the end and seals the victory for the team is now an essential for any successful team.

For sales teams, the formula isn't that different from a baseball team. We need strong pitchers and powerful closers. The difference is we need each individual to possess the traits of the starting pitcher and the closer.

Too many times, our sales teams are pitching but not closing.  It is a basic fundamental of sales, but all too often overlooked; the close. If your sales rep is not asking for the sale in some way, shape or form then they are nothing more than professional conversationalist and wasting your company's money.

There are tons of websites and books devoted to how to close a sale. I don't presume to add anything new to the conversation that hasn't already been said millions of times. But bringing awareness to the issue needs to happen, and you have an opportunity to take action with your own team.

During a ride-along with a sales rep, one of the questions I will ask once we're back in the car is, "What closing technique did you use on that call?" Getting the rep to think about this specific step in the sales process starts to change their mindset on the process. Too many times, the answer is they don't know or worse, they never tried a closing technique on the sales call.

There are dozens of closing techniques available in the salesperson's bag of tricks. While some companies will teach a strict formula approach for the sales process, I tend to believe that the technique a sales rep using should be based on what they are most comfortable with using. The key is to ask for the sale. Which closing approach you used doesn't necessarily matter to me. In my case, I found myself focusing on five basic closing techniques that worked best for me.

Direct Close - Maybe the simplest technique to use, where you directly ask for the sale. The key in using this one is to be relatively sure the customer is ready to buy, as a direct approach can be perceived as a negative if the customer isn't ready to commit.

Indirect Close - Asking a question of your customer isn't as intrusive as a direct close, and many sales reps like to use this as a closing technique. "How does this proposal sound to you?" If they respond positively, you start working on ad copy. If they respond negatively, you start working on overcoming objections. Either way, you know clearly what the next step is in the process.

Assumptive Close - Assume the customer has agreed, and start to wrap up the process by saying "Just sign this agreement and I'll get this program started." Like the indirect close, you will know the next steps clearly after this step.

Alternative Close - I really like to offer a contained choice to an advertiser as a close. After presenting and laying out the options for the campaign, ask "Would you like option A or option B?" You're giving the customer a choice and thus giving them a sense of control in the process when in fact you've forced them to make a decision or offer objections.

Fear of Loss Close - This is a good option for a sponsorship, premium opportunity or anything that is in limited supply.  By telling the customer that if this is something that they are interested in, they need to decide now because others are out selling this exact package, including potentially to their competition. This is direct pressure on the customer, playing on their fear of losing out and is quite effective.

The key to closing the sale is to ask for it. Too many opportunities are lost by simply not asking for a decision. If the answer is yes, we celebrate. If the answer is no, it just shows there is still work to be done and as a sales person you start finding out and overcoming the objectives.

Newspaper accused of discriminating against Christians is a distortion of the truth

I hate when people only refer to the media as "the liberal media." Over the years, like my entire adult life, I've worked in media and run several media outlets. My political party of choice was never a part of the decision to put my in charge. Which is good, since I don't claim either political party. For the record, I tend to be on the conservative side, which makes for the label of "liberal media" seem so odd to me.

But I do agree that many people in media have a liberal slant in their views. The same could be said for cooks, construction workers, accountants and bartenders. Though I think by and large, there are more liberals in media than a typical industry.

And some of those liberals can distort the truth. And some of those conservatives can distort the truth too. Such is the case with a Fox News opinion piece posted yesterday about the newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The headline for the column definitely caught my attention, as headlines are supposed to do:  "Newspaper rejects ad over the word "Christian". The Knoxville News Sentinel, owned by Gannett rejected a classified ad that read:  "Store closing sale - Cedar Springs Christian Store - Clinton Highway location - All merchandise, fixtures, slat walls must go. Sale through August 13," and then it included their phone number.

Anyone that has worked with front end systems with classified advertising will tell you that certain words will get flagged by the system to avoid discrimination. Running an ad for a 'Christian person to work in my business' is an illegal ad, and the newspaper tries to avoid those types of ads for obvious reasons.

The fine people of Knoxville and Fox News don't seem to be buying the system failure. I can assure all of you and all of my fellow Christian friends, this is not discrimination. This is a newspaper trying to protect itself from running discriminating ads and law suits. Nothing more and nothing less.

There was a failure by the classified department to not check all ads that get flagged in their system. That was a human error, probably by some working class person with no political agenda. Just someone trying to make a living and earn some commission. No word on whether they lost their job or not, but I certainly hope not.

Newspaper advertising triples the effectiveness of a marketing campaign

I've ranted for a little while about the need for positive information in the hands of people, especially sales reps within the newspaper industry. A link to a UK story hit my in-box last night, and it holds some of the most positive research for the newspaper industry I've heard in some time.

The study shows that newspaper advertising triples the impact of a marketing campaign.The overall report can be found at http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/07/13/study-reveals-advertising-newspapers-triples-ad-campaign-effectiveness.

The research also focuses on specific sectors of business, and concluded that newspapers as a part of campaigns for banks and finance increased by 5.7 times, travel by 3 times, retail increased by 2.8 times and my favorite, automotive up 1.7 times That is a great stat to quote next week when you visit the local car dealer who bought 100's of spots on broadcast TV this weekend! Newspapers will help that campaign!

Selling a bigger and better audience still differentiates newspaper versus radio, TV and cable

I've had a subscription to Netflix for a couple years now. This monthly service has been used primarily by my wife and son, but even I've become a binge watcher this summer. The TV show Lost has been off the air since 2010, but it has been must see TV in my home this summer.

Binge watching, according to a quick internet search, is when you watch two or three episodes of a TV show in one sitting. To watch Lost as it first appeared on the ABC Network would have been a weekly investment of 60 minutes. With the magic of Netflix, I can do two full episodes in less than 90 minutes. Ahh, the magic of no commercial interruptions.

Commercial interruptions are a reality of TV, cable and radio outlets. Just the very name of it shows that the community perceives advertising as a nuisance -- interruptions. No one likes being interrupted. I've become a fan of watching TV on Netflix due to that lack of interruption.

Yet newspapers advertising by contrast, is welcome and in many respects demanded by our readers. Advertising content in newspapers are welcomed, encouraged and in fact demanded by readership. Need proof of this?  Talk to the circulation department about calls they receive because of missing inserts from the local grocery store. People can get passionate about the need for advertising in their newspaper.

Newspaper readers actively use the advertising content. According to the Newspaper Association of America's recent survey, 57% of people used advertising in newspapers to plan shopping or make a purchase decision in the past seven days. People buy newspapers for lots of reasons, including the advertising within it. That is why so many newspapers publish on page one of their weekend edition the value of the coupons available from the inserts.

Those commercial interruptions continue to take money from advertisers. People buy radio, TV or cable for a number of reasons. Ego is a big reason, as I believe many of those advertisers love seeing their face on TV or voice on the radio. Relationships are another reason, as those account executives have done a great job of developing a great rapport with the customer that translates to ad dollars out of loyalty.

Selling against those interruptions swings back in favor to the newspaper when you discuss audience. The newspaper audience is bigger and of better quality. Newspaper readers are consumers with more money to spend. The audience a newspaper delivers is also much larger than the typical TV or radio station and cable outlet can deliver.

Thetop five cable networks for 2015 according to Nielsen were:

ESPN                   2.12 average rating

FOX News           1.84 average rating

USA Network      1.80 average rating

TBS                      1.79 average rating

Disney                   1.72 average rating

To compare audiences locally, use these ratings to estimate a local audience. How does that compare with readership of your newspaper? In the case of the market I'm in, ESPN's average audience reaches only 4% of our Sunday readership.

Thesame exercise can be done for broadcast TV. The top rated network show last season was NCIS, with a 16.6 rating. While a much bigger audience than cable networks, it is still likely to be less than the readership within your market. Newspapers still provide a bigger and better audience for commercial messages. Advertisements are welcomed by newspaper readers, and avoided by TV, cable and radio audiences.

And for the record, I'm not quite done watching Lost yet. So don't spoil the ending, please!

Confidence in newspapers continues to sink, but opportunities are plentiful for the sales rep that builds strong customer relationships

In the post-Watergate era of the mid 1970's, a Gallup poll of Americans stated that 51% of those surveyed had a lot or a great deal of confidence in newspapers. That survey would have been right around the time the movie "All The President's Men" with Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford was entertaining us in the theatre, telling the tale of how two newspaper reporters brought down the Nixon Presidency.  

The movie "Spotlight", which showcased the newspaper industry to a brand new generation this past year did not have the same impact on the confidence of American's in the newspaper industry. Gallup'sannual poll released June 13 reported that same survey dropped to an all time low of only 20% of responses showing a lot or a great confidence in newspapers.

Even more alarming was the record high 36% of responses from people with a low confidence level in the industry. While both stats are very unfavorable, I believe there is still a silver lining. Add in the 42% of U. S. adults saying that they have some confidence, and the majority of the public has at least some respect in the newspaper industry.

It is easy to fall victim to reading our own headlines and stories about our industry. I receive a steady stream of emails from industry experts and publications, and daily I can almost always find a stat that makes me want to crawl into the fetal position. That is why I believe so strongly that we have to do a better job of telling our story as an industry, with the positive research that still shows the importance and value of advertising in a community newspaper.

Unfortunately the daily emails don't offer the positive stats as frequent as the negative ones. I guess the click through rates aren't as good, as even that bad news has better readership than positive news. The best book for positive and yet reliable information on newspaper readership is the Newspaper Association of America's annual plan book.

Planning out sales training for your staff but not sure what do to or what information to give them? The plan book offers all the information you might need in one spot. Have a brand new rep and want to give them good, reliable information to build up their knowledge base of the business? From a top 10 reasons to advertise, to quick research on how / why American's buy products and services, to basic ad design and a whole lot more, the NAA plan book offers quick-bits of information to help seasoned sales reps, and can be a great introduction to the business for new sales reps.

While confidence in the industry might have shown a slight decline, a salesperson can still overcome that mindset if they have built the right type of relationship with the customer. Many things have changed in the sales process over the years, but being a trusted and valued resource still holds a high importance.

Sales reps, especially new ones need to demonstrate that they have interest in their customer, their customer's customer and in marketing. It is the responsibility of the sales rep to do their homework prior to making the sales pitch, insuring that they are bringing something to that relationship with each customer.

The NAA plan book should be a essential part of that homework. 

Telling the audience story correctly for newspapers is critical to future success

It started with a post on Facebook from the parody newspaper The Onion.  The humor was evident in the headline, which read:  Report:  Majority of Newspapers Now Purchased by Kidnappers to Prove Date.

 It was a good natured poke by the newspaper that has made me laugh for years. And newspapers weren’t the only media targeted in the post, stating that magazines still have purpose as “kidnappers still find them useful for making cut-and-paste ransom letters and death threats.”

 A few days after seeing that on Facebook, I was riding along with a sales rep who was struggling to defend the newspaper industry’s audience decline. It didn’t take long to realize that the rep had bought into the negative headlines and didn’t have enough data to help show the power of the printed word. And that power goes well beyond just proving the date for kidnappers! I’m not ignoring some alarming trends. As an industry, we have some work ahead of us as things continue to fragment and decline. Here are some real concerns the media world is facing: 

·                  Youth are consuming less traditional media
·                  Media outlet owners are worried about the move to digital
·                  Online consumption of content has doubled since 2010

 The irony of those three headlines is that they were not for the newspaper industry. In order, those articles were from broadcast TV, cable TV and radio. The concerns we face are shared by other media platforms, but my sense is we are defeated reading our own headlines instead of trying to tell our good story and fight the good fight.

 The best digital content on the web comes from legitimate news organizations. Our newsrooms and our content is our frontline defense for the transition to digital. The online audience we have is the envy of the TV, cable and radio industries.

 During my ride along with the sales rep, we discussed readership of the print product. She commented that our numbers had dropped over the previous six months. I asked her what that number was and she was vague. She knew the distribution number and stated that as readership. But there is a big difference.

 There has been a debate on how many readers a newspaper has per copy. The pass around number has varied during my career from 1.9 readers to as high as 3.2 depending on the study you choose to use. For me, I’ve always used 2.5 readers per copy. An entry on the Media Genius Blog quotes a NAA phone survey from 2013 that put the readership at 2.48 people per copy.  There are some newspapers that are higher, and some lower but using 2.5 is still a reasonable number to quote when talking about total audience. 

The key is to put that math to work in your market. While the audience has changed and declined in print, the total print audience most newspapers delivers is still the biggest and best audience in the market. Your total audience versus the local radio station? Your total audience versus the best rated broadcast or cable channel? The newspaper audience is a slam-dunk winner nearly every time.

 Many newspapers are not telling this great story. And you know what? That story gets even better. Pew Research Center has determined that 56% of a newspaper’s audience consumes it exclusively in print. Thus the large numbers of unique visitors to your website expands your audience even more with unduplicated reach. 

Our concerns for the industry cannot be ignored, and I’m not suggesting we should. But there are still some great stories to be told in all of our markets. Better training of what our audience is locally versus our competitors is a good place to start.