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In This Issue
Internet Sales Guidebook
Upcoming Seminars and Presentations
Sales Tip: Tell a Story to Make a Sale

Buy book, focus on what works, save thousands.

MIN ISG Book Cover
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: 
Convincing is Not Enough!

     How many times have you or your sales people come back from a "good meeting" that is then followed by no action?   Being convincing is simply not enough in today's sales environment. 

     Why does so little result so often flow from so many so-called "good meetings?"  Two simple reasons: 

(continue reading below)
Upcoming Public Events & Presentations:
OMMA Behavoral Conference: 
San Francisco, July 20
     Data: Can't live with it, can't live without it.  How is behavorial targeting evolving and how can you make it work for your publication?  Join me when I moderate the panel: The New Age of Discovery in Recommendation Nation at the OMMA Behavioral Conference.  Learn more here.
 
Internet Strategy and What's Next?          
Join me with the Parenting Media Association Chicago, October 1
     The Parenting Media Association Publisher (formerly the Parenting Publications of America) Leadership Seminars conference will be focusing on what it takes for local parenting tabloid publishers to grow online into meaningful profit streams.    Learn more here.
Sales Tip:  
Tell a Story to Make a Sale
 
      Sales people are often disappointed to learn that their contact was interested in the proposal, but was not able to re-sell it to their boss, their colleagues or partners, or their client. 

     People learn and remember in many ways.  One way that is especially powerful is through the context and visual imagery that is provided by a story.  

     The story of the tortise and the hare is a good example:  The point to be remembered is that slow and steady wins the race.  That could be expressed with a formula like this for a one-mile race:  (time = 1 mile/2mph) < (time = 1/4 mile/4mph + 50 minutes @ 0mph +  3/4 mile/4mph).  How did that work for you?  Does the story of the tortise going steadily and the rabbit taking a nap mid-way make it easier to relate to and remember?

     In advertising sales the core story is how your clients' customers consume media and make purchase decisions.  A sales person who can tell that story in a riveting way, with visual imagery to help the advertiser imagine their customer reading your magazine or using your web site, or being influenced by your readers who did, will win more business than the sales person who is the master of the numbers; what percent-composition of your readers intend to buy their product in the next year etc.

     Good stories start with an interesting, captivating vision. For advertisers they like thinking about their customers. So help them: Don't start with your readers, start with their customers.  Tell a good story of the obstacal course their customers must navigate before making a purchase.  DO back up your story with some statistics.  But don't rely on the statistics to make the sale.

     Ambro.com can help construct that story and train your sales people to relate it in their own way.  Call us for help.  Or for more inspiration read the Harvard Business Review article on story telling for executives.

      For more on modern advertising sales and other sales skills click here, or contact us.  To read more sales tips, click here.  Or to learn about ambro.com Strategic Sales Tactics Training and other services click here.

DearColleagueContinuedDear Colleague (continued):  
Being Convincing is Not Enough
  • Your contacts have listened and been convinced but you (or your sales people) have not given them the chance to "learn by doing," so they can't remember enough to sell it to another person an hour, a day or a week later.  How do prospects learn by doing?  The sales person asks questions that allow the prospect to put your attributes and benefits into their own words...internalizing the thinking.
  • You have not provided the right collateral material to support your contact when they communicate your idea/media attributes to their colleagues, boss, or clients.  Superior communications material yields superior results.

     Many sales people are convincing.  Their media is perfectly nice, perhaps even "right" for the client.  They successfully get the appointment and make their pitch.  The subject of the call nods affirmatively during the pitch and makes agreeable noises, but the prospect has neither agreed that the sales person's media is "better" than the alternatives, nor have they agreed to a course of action. 

     And finally, most so-called prospects for advertising need to convince someone else, and the sales person has not done enough to teach the prospect how to defend their own position. 

     Are you providing the training and resources to support your sales team?  Are you providing your prospective customers the right support material to support the sale when you leave the room?  We can help.

    

To learn about ambro.com Strategic Sales Tactics Training and other services click here.  Or contact us for a custom proposal.