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Prospecting versus Stalking

2012-02-01T00:13:01Z

Prospecting versus Stalking

Thomas Szaky shocked his parents a few years ago when he decided to drop out of Princeton University to start a business marketing worm poop. To their dismay, he explained his organic plant food would be made from worm droppings and be packaged in recycled pop bottles as house plant fertilizer.

But the 26-year-old Canadian had the last laugh when his fledgling company landed the Wal-Mart account. First-year sales from the Wal-Mart exposure and distribution exceeded $25 million!

Each week, thousands of inventors, manufacturers’ agents and sales people try unsuccessfully to get their products stocked on Wal-Mart shelves. So how did a young Mr. Szaky nab the business at mighty Wal-Mart?

“I don’t know” he says. “I made sixty one phone calls and the last one finally worked. I guess it was just sheer persistence.”

Selling is often defined as ‘a transference of confidence’. Your persistent pursuit of product knowledge in a changing media landscape coupled with a clear understanding of how your products can achieve your prospects’ goals will build the confidence that in turn creates persistence.

But do you understand the difference between persistence and stalking?

Calling a prospect 61 times in pursuit of an order for your station can be stalking.

How do you feel if every time you see a particular individual they are trying to sell you something?

Preparing a series of valid business reasons for a prospect to meet with you separates stalking from persistence.

A valid business reason for every customer contact means creating an agenda or having a mission which benefits the customer, whether they buy during that meeting or not. It may be a helpful tip to grow their business, you might give them a lead or some useful marketing statistics, or deliver news that affects their business.

Consistently planning a valid business reason for every call demonstrates respect for your clients’ time and clearly positions your interest in growing their business.

Click here to arrange a free online demo of how we can help you create more valid business reasons for prospects to meet with you, and to increase your sales.

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A special thanks to all who completed the survey last week to help us create the most relevant ENS on Sales content.

If you did not complete our survey last week please take 5 minutes to do so here; Click here to do a short online survey to help us do a better job for you.

Secrets to Ads that Sell

2012-02-01T00:09:42Z

The Secret to Ads That Sell

In a recent survey we asked 540 locally owned and operated business “What is the number one reason you advertise?” The answer? 82% said they advertise to ‘increase sales”.

Yet in audits of local media presentations in those markets, less than 10% addressed how the media proposal would ‘increase sales’. Most danced around the issue with benefits like ‘increased traffic’ or ‘increased awareness.’ Many presentations offered no client benefits at all and merely talked about how great their stations were.

There are huge similarities between effective ad copy and sales presentations that work.

One of Sears’ premiere copy writers, Shirley Shea, consistently wrote copy which out sold the ad copy written by her peers. In catalogues, print ads, and radio and TV scripts, her ads were able to produce results beyond any of Sears’ other writers’ ads.

Her secret?

Typically, Shirley would arrive at Sears’ ‘ivory tower’ for a meeting to discuss the launch of a new product. The engineers who designed the product, the manufacturer’s head of marketing, Sears’ marketing people and various other experts would explain all of the technical features of the new product.

For the launch of a new washer and dryer, for example, Shirley would take notes while the experts talked about details like the BTU’s (British Thermal Units), the RPM’s(Revolutions Per Minute), the gauge of the metal and composition of the enamel finish.

Upon leaving the meeting to head back to her office, Shirley would look around to make sure no one was watching while she threw her notes in the trash!

So where did Shirley get the information to write such successful ad copy? She would go onto the sales floor and listen to the questions customers were asking about the washer and dryer.

Customers weren’t asking about BTU’s, RPM’s or the other technical information the ‘experts’ thought was important. They wanted to know how much laundry the machine held, how fast it did the laundry, and how quiet the machines were.

Is your sales presentation all about you, your audience and your features, or does it answer the questions your prospects are asking?

This is a special ENS on Sales, because we want to know the questions you’re asking and the hurdles you’re facing so that we can write more helpful and useful ENS on Sales tips for you in 2012.

Click here to do a short online survey OR Click hereand we’ll arrange a short telephone questionnaire to help us do a better job for you.

Your Ten Best Investments of 2012

2012-01-12T16:05:04Z

Your Ten Best Investments of 2012

            In an economy plagued with uncertainty, there is only one investment you can count on consistently giving you huge sustainable returns.
            The safest investment you can make in 2012 is an investment in you!
            In a rapidly changing world, the only sure constant in your life is you. An investment in yourself, your tools and your career makes huge sense in the new economy. Why?

An investment in yourself stays with you forever, long after you have left your current position.
An investment in yourself gives you a competitive edge over your external and internal competitors.
You control the return on an investment in yourself.

Here is my Top 10 List of Investments you can make in yourself to succeed in 2012 and beyond.

1.) Training - The media world is changing, and like the old cliché says, “Whatever got you where you are today won’t be enough to get you where you want to be tomorrow.” Look for innovative training that stretches you beyond the tired industry standards your competitors have been exposed to.
2) Finances - It is hard to think when your knees are knocking. Get your financial house in order no matter how much effort or sacrifice you have to make.
3.) Breath Mints - You are a brand and the way you package and present yourself is part of that brand. An investment in good grooming and apparel creates a powerful first impression for your personal brand.
4.) Thirty Dollar Consultants - Make a point of reading at least one business book a month to keep your knowledge ahead of the curve.
5.) Accoutrements - Everything you carry or use, from your pen to your car, and from your laptop to your presentations, speaks volumes about the way you feel about yourself and your career.
6.) Networking - Membership in strategically selected clubs, like Chamber of Commerce or Ad and Sales Club can be fun, educational, provide great contacts, and enhance your social life too.
7.) Health - Joining a fitness club or investing time in a daily workout will improve your physical and mental capacity.
8.) Spirituality - Whether you get your satisfaction from family time, religion, charitable work, or any other aspect of your life that makes you a contributing member of society, you need to invest in a balanced life to have a successful career.
9.) Online -Consider developing your own website, blog or newsletter to become known for what you know, or subscribe to services like our SoundADvice to do it for you.
10.) Vacations - A vacation is an investment in your health and your career. You’ll come back refreshed, re-charged and with some brand new ‘out of the box thinking’ that will dramatically enhance your productivity.

You are the biggest benefactor of an investment in you. Regardless what happens to your company, your market or the economy, you will never regret investing in yourself.

p.s. Any investment you make in ENS Media Inc. business development systems or sales workshops is guaranteed to give you a minimum ten to one return, or we refund your investment in full.

New Media Buzz

2012-01-06T16:20:25Z

‘New’ Media Buzz in the New Year

Proven technology like radio, simply does not make headlines today.

Gottlieb Daimler introduced the first gasoline engine prototype in 1885; 127 years ago. The following year, Karl Benz received the first patent (DRP No. 37435) for a gasoline engine automobile.

Even though the gasoline engine is the most proven and popular engine today, you won’t hear much about it in the news. Your friends won’t engage you in an enthusiastic conversation about how reliable and dependable internal combustion technology is.

Yet new technology, like the hydrogen engines with unresolved fuel storage problems, solar powered engines with limited power and electric engines with range restrictions, create excitement, buzz and news almost daily.

Media technology is no different than any other technology. It’s interesting and exciting to experiment with new technologies that offer the promise of new sources of sales.

In the automotive world, hybrid engines combine the best of both worlds. When the proven reliability of gasoline engines is coupled with some of the eco-friendly technologies, you get the best of both worlds; efficiency and reliability.

There is no denying the reliability and results of proven and popular radio.

It’s the electronic age, and the hybrid strategy of using radio to inspire and internet to inform is proving to increase sales for marketers.

Attempts to rely solely on new media have produced some catastrophic results.

A recent article in Advertising Age magazine stated, “The latest news involving social media pioneers isn't good. Pepsi has fallen to third place behind Diet Coke in spite of its widely heralded switch from Super Bowl ads to a huge social charity program called Refresh Project. Burger King has grilled through a couple of Marketing Managers and fired their ad agency after it produced Facebook campaigns and viral videos that generated lots of online attention while the business witnessed six consecutive quarters of declining sales”.

The marketing giants are quickly discovering that online clicks, likes and noise, are not synonymous with sales success. Virtually all successful internet campaigns have had a radio or TV component in a ‘hybrid’ electronic media mix.

Gasoline engines replaced the horse and buggy in transportation technology. Electronic media, primarily broadcast and internet, are replacing the expensive production and delivery costs of printed advertising in brochures, yellow directories, newspapers, catalogues, coupons and more.

But because radio isn’t ‘new’ in the new media mix, your prospects aren’t hearing the buzz. It’s up to you to enthusiastically spread the buzz of the new hybrid electronic media mix.

Click here if you would like to discuss how our Selling in the New Media Economy can help you increase the radio buzz and your sales for you in 2012.

Eat What You Kill

2011-12-09T02:33:58Z

Eat What You Kill

Many organizations experience high turnover or attrition rates of sales recruits at the entry level. I often hear management proclaim it’s because their organization does not have the right training program.

Oh how I wish this was the case! During the course of our various performance improvement projects, we often recommend and facilitate training as part of the solution to increasing our clients’ sales. So if our training were the magic cure-all, I’d be a happy camper.

But seldom is training alone the sole solution. More often than not, it’s what I call the, “Make Them Eat What They Kill Syndrome” that sets up new recruits to fail.

In addition to a lack of training, these high turnover organizations don’t give new recruits a fighting chance to ‘kill’ in these key areas;

1.) Expectations; Advertising sales is a profession that takes time to learn. A typical trade apprenticeship takes 3-5 years to complete. Yet many sales managers claim they want ‘self-starters’ who can set the sales world on fire in 30, 60 or 90 days.

2.) The mandate;Often we expect our newest, and arguably our weakest, sales people to sell the tough accounts our seniors couldn’t or wouldn’t sell. We let our best sales people horde the ‘easy’ accounts and never let our rookies taste success. Nothing breeds success as success itself. Having the opportunity to work and grow real accounts can be a huge motivator.

3.) Remuneration; Eat-What-They-Kill Syndrome generally results in new recruits eating elsewhere when you cut off their meals…their guarantees. It’s hard to sell when your knees are knocking, and working on straight commission before you’ve had the chance to learn the profession is unfair to the recruit, the company, and your prospects.

4.) Recruiting; Many stations use the mirror test to screen potential candidates; they place a cold mirror under the candidate’s nose and if it fogs up they get the job. You have to start with the right raw material if your recruits are going to succeed.

Of course, training is a key ingredient to new-recruit success. But it’s not the only ingredient in a successful new-recruit start up plan.

Randy’s What If

We know you have a full time day job, and focusing on the success of your new recruits can sometimes be difficult. What if you worked with ENS Media Inc. to create a new recruit start-up program that eliminated costly new rep turn-over?