Think about your last visit to a doctor’s office.  What if your doctor ignored your stomach pains entirely and just amputated your leg?  You still have the stomach pains and now you have no leg to boot.  As ridiculous as this may sound, ad sales people do it all the time.  We often get so blinded by getting the sale and filling ad space, we forget our advertising should ideally fit the customer’s budget and goals. Doctors gather information about the patient and then from there recommend treatment.  Patients aren’t  all the same, so a one size fits all cure won’t heal everyone.  We certainly expect nothing less than reps exceeding their sales numbers and ensuring ad space on your client’s publication or website is filled.  But also think about the long term impact of your pitch.  Approaching pitches on a one size fits all basis may earn you that sale, but it can lose you the relationship which is more financially rewarding.  Satisfied clients stay with you and they refer you to their network.  Customer retention and referrals require mastering how to assess customer needs and meet them.  So how do you do that?

You accomplish this by conducting a customer needs analysis.  Get answers to the following questions and you can craft an ad sales plan that fits both the prospect’s needs and quickly allows you to eliminate unqualified leads.

• Who are you trying to reach by advertising? This question determines if the publication or site is even a good fit for your prospect.
• Do you currently do any paid marketing and if so where? Is it primarily in print or digital?
• What are the challenges of your current marketing? Use this information to determine a product that does not have those same issues.
• What are your marketing goals? Is it sales, brand awareness, the launch of a new product, etc.?
• What is the biggest pain point of your industry? Sales reps should already know the answer.
• What are you looking to spend for marketing? This is always a hairy subject, but it’s vital for crafting their ad sales plan.

Igniting sales growth…

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