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In This Issue
Internet Sales Guidebook
Sales Tip: Structure Time to Get Appointments

Buy book, focus on what works, save thousands.

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Internet Sales Guidebook; Selling, Managing and Marketing Web 3.0 Media Brands, by Daniel Ambrose 
 
   Print publishers, in particular, will find the point of view of the book to be refreshing and reassuring, because I help readers understand how the business model they are used to -- paid circulation or controlled circulation print publishing -- relates to successful Internet publishing.  And you'll learn how the two media -- Internet and print -- complement rather than compete with each other from the point of view of the publisher and of the advertiser. 
 
To learn more and buy the book click here.
Daniel Ambrose 2005Dear Colleague:
No more excuses; Just Get the Meetings!
 
     My "dear colleague" item last month about a recession in sales calls hit a nerve.  I heard from several once and future clients that they are frustrated with the level of calls being achieved by their sales teams.  
 
     Sales calls matter.  It can be hard to get your clients and prospects to promise their time.  They are busy, and they think they know what they need to know about your media.  But it is the first step to success.
 
     We don't pay sales managers and sales people to accept "reality," but to change it.  We don't accept objections, we handle them.  When we can't sell this account today, we move on to finding one we can close.  But we can't do any of this is we don't get appointments.  These appointments might be virtual - a phone appointment or e-meeting using Go-to-Meeting or Webex.  Of course it's better to be in the room with a prospect.  But however a sales person captures and holds the attention of a prospect is a 'call.'  If you don't want excuses, but solutions, contact me and read my sales tip below.
Upcoming Public Events & Presentations:
Ultimate Targeting Panel:  February 25th, NYC
MediaPost's OMMA Behavioral Conference:  US advertisers in will spend more than $1.1 billion on behaviorally targeted online ads this year, up 21.6% over 2009, reports B2B Online Don't miss my panel where you can learn from the largest-yet-most-targeted major advertising driven business; the Mom media and advertising industry; how are advertisers like Procter & Gamble using behaviorial targeting to reach moms who have very specific needs like training pants aimed at moms with 2-year-olds?
 
Learn to Work With the Networked Economy:  March 17th, San Francisco
MediaPost's OMMA Global Conference:  There is a river of revenue out there.  How can you divert some to your company through an ad-network without flooding out your business? Don't miss my panel with folks from Yahoo, Brand.net, and men's audience site Break Media.
 
Profitable Internet Publishing; April 6-9th, Napa: 
Mequoda Summit:  I highly recommend that niche and B2B publishers sign up for this conference on best practices that ARE WORKING for media companies adapting to our new world of Internet media.  This conference covers content strategy, search engine strategy and tactics, leveraging social media, and of course the segment I'll teach on successful advertising sales.  You'll be refreshed by the jargon-free language, step-by-step tactics and print-publisher friendly atmosphere.  Learn more here.
Sales Tip:  
Structure Time to Get Appointments
 
     If sales start with sales calls, then it is imperative that sales people structure their time to get appointments.  Many of my clients tell me that they accept 5 to 8 sales calls a week as reasonable for a property selling national advertising because so much time most go into preparing for calls and servicing clients.  After all advertisers and agency people often say they don't need to see sales people.  The trouble with that is that clients will keep doing what every they have done in the past; buying from your competition, or buying less than they should, until your sales person gets that appointment and begins to persuade them to view things differently.
 
     If you are a sales person or manager who wants to lift their number of sales calls you can start here. 
 
     Imagine that management wanted sales people to have three substantive sales calls a day.  That would be 15 a week.  There is a simple way to do it.  Sales people must come in every morning with a goal of contacting enough prospects to schedule 3 meetings for later that day or in the future.  They need to stay at it; with as many calls and emails as necessary until they have scheduled  3 calls.  Then they can go on about their day.  If a sales person makes  3 appointments a day, soon enough they'll have three a day to go on.  
 
     It may not be easy.  Determined sales people may find they need to start earlier, or have a list of calls to make on their drive in to work in order to make it work.  When sales results are looked at through this prizm as a simple math problem, sales tasks can be broken down into parts and accomplished.  If sales people aren't done with their call-set-up by 10:00 am, they are probably trying to call prospects when their competitor is sitting in their prospect's office having a meeting.  That will never do.  The more important the prospect is you are trying to reach the earlier they get in the office.  Sales people need to start early too.
 
     Sales people can make it even easier if they make a list of contacts at the end of each day that  they wish to contact the next morning.  By sending an introductory email the night before to each proposed contact, they are paving their own way. 
 
     Need to make 3 appointments tomorrow morning?  Try sending  emails this afternoon-evening before introducing yourself and/or explaining the reason for your contact and asking for an appointment.  Follow up the next morning with phone calls, and you are well on the way.  Need 5 phone appointments a day?  Start with a list of 30 prospective contacts at the end of each day.  Some may be repeats, some may be new.  
 
     If a sales person has 100 clients and prospects and each one has only 2 points of contact for a successful sale, that is 200 appointments that need to be made in a sales cycle.  Of course, some will have less points of contact and some have more contacts who influence the sale.  But it will take about 3 months to cover that many contacts.  Some will require more frequent conversations, some less.  The key here is to manage the metrics that matter.  And I think you agree, if you are still reading this, that sales calls matter.  Contact us for a customized sales training course to help give your sales team the inspiration and the skills to grow sales calls, and grow your business.
 
     To read more sales tips, click here.  Or to learn about ambro.com Strategic Sales Tactics Training and other services click here.