Does it Take People Skills to Manage People?

Does it Take People Skills to Manage?

Often I am dumbfounded, mystified, shocked and even heart broken at managers who have no idea how to manage. I know there are wonderful motivating Sales Managers out there. I am not addressing you. Hopefully you know who you are. Management has been part of my career although I choose now to enjoy my first love, outside B2B sales. It has been very good to me over the years and I have made more than enough money to survive; most of the time.

The sales profession, which I believe is the greatest profession in the world, is an attitude driven profession. Your heart must be in your product or service you offer. I also believe you must have at least a semblance of good feelings for the company you bring your beloved clients money into. You work hard, face diversity, rejection while you wade through a sea of no’s just to hear that one wonderful, YES! “I’m buying what you are selling”.

A manager with no people skills can kill with a dagger, right in the heart, all motivation you have, if you do not protect yourself. Somewhere along the way some managers forget, or maybe never heard the words my Mama said to me a thousand times, “you catch more flies with Honey than with vinegar” I am sure she was talking about us sales people with our fragile egos. Just because a Sales Manager is not selling to a client doesn’t mean they don’t need tact. I believe a Sales Manager should handle the Revenue Producers with some respect. Taking into consideration, that most likely, if your attitude stinks, so goes your sales. I believe it takes people skills to be in sales and I also believe it takes just as much, if not more to manage those people, with people skills. At least this is my opinion,

Are You Selling Ideas?

Prospects are smarter, well read, and in the know. Now more than ever You must be prepared!


Are You Selling Ideas?

Never more than now do I realize it is a time for selling ideas. Prospects are smarter, well read, and in the know. You can no longer walk into a prospects business and say let me sell you an advertising schedule. You have to walk in prepared. Prepared to fulfill a need and give the prospects ideas he hasn't heard before and will not hear from the next media sales rep coming in behind you. The days of order taking are gone and if you plan to stay in the game you had better learn the new rules. In this day of business we have got to be quicker, smarter, tougher, stronger and more creative.

Take that extra few minutes and research your prospects industry. Look for ways that may have worked in the past. Be bold with your suggestions, and do not be afraid to try new ideas. Brain storm with your prospect and get his ideas. Let's face it; no one else will know his business better than he does. Get him involved with his commercial ideas by revving up his own creative juices. This will give him ownership to what you are doing. I am a believer in allowing the client face time in the commercial. This also gives him ownership and branding. I cannot STRESS enough how absolutely vital it is that you Listen, Listen, Listen to what your prospect is telling you, If you are listening and giving him what he is telling you he wants then he is not longer a prospect but a client!

MPrince
August 23, 2009

Cold Calling 101

Cold Calling 101

I love to Cold Call. It energizes me!

Cold Calling 101!

I love to Cold Call. It energizes me whether I get a yes or a no. I am not talking about Cold Calling on the phone. I am talking about grabbing a hand full of business cards and doing it the old fashioned way, face to face. For me visual works best. I need to see the hustle and bustle, or not, going on at the business I am calling on. I need to see the reaction and body language of my prospect. There are thousands of Cold Calling ideas out there. Some are good ones and some not so good but after twenty-five years of Sales and Cold Calling face to face Cold Calling has worked best for me. The prospect can see I am a living breathing person; not just a sales voice on the phone. It is also harder for the prospect to say no to an appointment when he is looking me in the eye. Another advantage in face to face Cold Calling happens if the prospect is not there. It gives me a wonderful opportunity to begin a relationship not only with the gatekeeper but other employees. I cannot stress enough how important it is to get to know the employees of the business you are calling on. They can be your most important advocates. Gain their trust and you are that much closer to closing the deal. These advocates can tell you What, When, Where and How about your prospect. They many times offer up important information you will need to know about the person that holds the purse strings. Never underestimate the influence of theses people, the gatekeeper and other employees.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that you never make a Cold Call over the phone. You should use the phone and use it often. As a matter of fact you should use every tool in your sales tool box, the phone, internet, referrals, networking, face to face, even a megaphone on the street corner as long as you are not arrested. For many sales people the telephone works best. We just need to find and develop the sales tools best suited for our personal skills and use them often and with ATTITUDE!.

Posted 3 days ago | Delete

Are You Selling Ideas?

Are You Selling Ideas?

Never more than now do I realize it is a time for selling ideas. Prospects are smarter, well read, and in the know. You can no longer walk into a prospects business and say let me sell you an advertising schedule. You have to walk in prepared. Prepared to fulfill a need and give the prospects ideas he hasn’t heard before and will not hear from the next media sales rep coming in behind you. The days of order taking are gone and if you plan to stay in the game you had better learn the new, old rules. In this day of business we have got to be quicker, smarter, tougher, stronger and more creative.

Take that extra few minutes and research your prospects industry. Look for ways that "may" have worked in the past. Be bold with your suggestions, and do not be afraid to try new ideas. Brain storm with your prospect and get his ideas. Lets face it, no one else will know his business better than he does. Get him involved with his commercial ideas by revving up his own creative juices. This will give him ownership to what you are doing. I am a believer in allowing the client face time in the commercial. This also gives him ownership and branding. I cannot STRESS enough how absolutely vital it is that you Listen, Listen, Listen to what your prospect is telling you. If you are listening then he is no longer a prospect but a client!

Martha Prince

August 23, 2009

Are You a Sales Warrior

Are You a Sales Warrior?

Sales people, we are warriors. We march into battle on the front line every day armed with our laptops, cell phones and brief cases and enough confidence to move mountains. Our fatigues are our pressed suits, white shirts and ties and women in our skirts and high heels. We walk with a prideful straight back, our head high with a focused, purposeful look in our eyes. We walk proudly with sales written across our foreheads. We have heart, true grit stamina and ATTITUDE! We fight every day on the front line for our companies, our products and our freedom! We live for the thrill of the chase! We face adversity; we face it with and smile and go to the next sales call because we believe in our recon warrior heart the next big sale is just up ahead. You can spot us a mile away. We know when we make a cold call we are probably the seventeenth sales person that prospect has seen that day but we believe in our warrior heart that we are the one that can give this prospect what he needs to make his life better, make his business grow. All we have to do is "make him know that." We are creative warriors. We know we must never be run of the mill. We must be always learning, growing, and honing our skills, keeping our talents up to date. Our talents, oh yes, they are most important: honesty, truth, knowledge, knowing who we are and being that person at all times, knowing when you are in the presence of a prospect/client, that prospect/client is the most important person in the world to you, listening, giving, understanding, research that clients business so you can be an ad-visor, consultant, become the person the client comes to in your field. I didn't say being a warrior was easy. If it was easy then anybody could do. It is tough! Only those with Heart can be a Sales Warrior!

12 Steps of a Media Sale

12 Steps of a Media Sale!

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I live in the world of broadcast television advertising. It has helped to feed my children, put a roof over their head, clothes on their back, buy them cars and put them through college. When I started in this business I had no training and no one to turn to for guidance so I had to figure most of it out on my own. I developed early on four rules to sink or swim by and those rules are:

1. Always tell the truth even if I loose the sale.
2. Always do what is best for the client even if I loose the sale.
3. Always be myself because people can spot a phony a mile away.
4. Never be afraid to fire a client if necessary.

I also learned there are steps you must take to make a media sale. It is like climbing stairs to get to the top floor. You take one step at a time. Selling an intangible product like television is unlike any other sales process you will ever learn. It is long and difficult process. You go into the sales process knowing you must be very patient and take all the steps in order or you may very well fall flat on your face. Remember, you are selling AIR! Did you get that? Air/time is your inventory, your product. In this type of sales process building a trusting partnership with your client is paramount! I have found of late how most sales people have no clear understanding of the difference in sales and media sales, this is the reason I am writhing this article, 12 Steps of a Media Sale. This sales process can take often take months to complete.

Step #1: Research… Before I make a cold call I turn the prospect into a Hot Lead by doing research…I learn everything I possibly can about that business. I learn who they advertise with who their competition is; I learn as much as I can about their industry and, I get the name of the decision maker. I turn my cold call into a Hot Lead.

Step #2 Cold Call/Hot Lead…This call is for one purpose and one purpose only; an appointment. The last thing I want to look like at this point is a salesperson so if I walk in with a brief case I have sales stamped on my forehead. All I have in my hand is a business card. I ask for the decision maker by name and when I am called into his office this is what I say and do: I shake his hand look him eye to eye and say; Mr. Prospect, my name is Martha Prince with WXYZ Television. I have had some success working with businesses like yours and I have some ideas that may help to increase “your” business. This may or may not work for you but it will only take about fifteen minutes to find out. When would be a good time that I can come back? I close about 3 out of 5 Face to Face Cold Calls that I make when I am trying to get an appointment.

Step #3 Second Call…This appointment a “Needs Analysis” this is the time that I am going to ask all kinds of questions about that business. I ask a question and then I listen. I ask very probing questions. You will find that most business owners are very proud of their accomplishments and they love to talk about it. Most of all they love having someone who wants to listen to them. By the time I leave I know, how long they have been in business, how many employees they have, what their annual sales are, what their plans, hopes and dreams are, who their customer is such as; age, sex, white or blue collar, and whether they are trying to reach a new audience, what sets them apart from their competition, are they planning an expansion in the near future, are they planning on introducing a new product to the market, etc.? What makes them special and how much money they are willing to invest in bringing in new customers? In other words who are they trying to reach and what is their business story? This information is vital for me to know to put a successful advertising campaign together for their business. At the end of the call I make an appointment to come back with an Advertising Campaign Proposal.

Step #4 Schedule ideas for the Advertising Campaign… I put together a set of avails using Nielsen ratings. This is TV jargon for Nielsen ratings on shows and times periods.(Nielsen Rating is an audience measurement system for television.) From that information I am able to determine what areas are best suited for the customer the prospect is trying to reach. I put three different advertising plans together for the client. Please don’t take this step lightly. This is the single most important step of all.

Step#5 Third Call… This call I go through each schedule idea line by line. I explain what my reasons were for putting him in each show letting him know what his reach, frequency, CPM, cost per spot, how many people he will reach and guess what? He likes a little bit of each one of all three of each schedule. The good news is he has not said no. I make another appointment for my return with my proposal re-write. But I do a trial close before I go just to see where I stand. I say, Mr. Prospect let’s go ahead and make an appointment for the television station’s Creative people to come out with me to talk about TV commercial ideas. This way we will be ready to roll when we get your schedule ironed out. If he is willing to make this appointment he is no longer a prospect he is a client and all we need to do is hammer out the schedule.

Step#6 Schedule re-write… I re-write the schedule (proposal) ideas to what the client and I had decided would be best for him which will take again several hours. Keep in mind this schedule (proposal) is the dollar amount the client has said he is willing to invest to reach the people he will need to reach to increase his business. Advertising is an investment and when done properly you will see a return on your investment!
I call for another appointment.

Step #7 Go Over New Schedule…This time he is happy with the schedule and I have a signed agreement. My work has just started.

Step #8 The Creative meeting is brainstorming to come up with commercial ideas on how the client, the creative department and I want the commercial to look. We make an appointment for the commercial shoot.

Step #9 The commercial shoot…The shoot will take 3-5 hours but because of our work load my clients commercial will not be ready for 7 to 10 days.

Step #10 Commercial Approval…Hopefully it will be exactly what the client wants but chances are there will have to be changes to the commercial.

Step #11 Commercial goes on the air.

Step #12 Service, Service, and Service


Martha Prince
Advertising Executive
WDSI Fox