Magazine Advertising Sales Training: Never Cold Call Again

I received this question from one of my clients last week: Your great techniques seem to more based on responding to incoming calls. How do you not fall into not talking about yourself with cold calls when they don't know who I am!
It has been said EF Hutton can't cold call. Everyone knows them! Does everyone who should know you know you?

My response? "Nothing changes! Start with Fact Finding - even with new "cold" calls. Always start with fact finding. The trick is to call people who know who you are so you don't need to tell them anything up front." So how do you do this? It's easy: send a copy of your magazine each month to every prospect. This way, everyone who needs to know you, knows you.
Next, communicate regularly through an ezine. Remember this... ezines are about them NOT about you! Each month, write a short article about something that will help their business... then later in the ezine, you can write a short blurb about you. They have no reason to want to know about you if they don't see how you can help them. So show them that first.
Every day people sign up for my ezine, and less than a handful opt out each year... because the ezines are about them first.

Your database is your prospect list! Spend time putting together the names and email addresses of the people you want to reach... then reach them! "
They didn't opt in, so that's SPAM," you say. "Nope, it's not.... if it doesn't meet four critical rules."

1. Are your From, To and Contact information accurate?
2. Does your subject line live up to its content? (Don't deceive)
3. Can they opt out easily and obviously.
4. Is your physical address included?

There are so many incorrect ideas about what is and is not SPAM (and I'm not talking about the food!) Here's a link to the FTC's requirements for the CAN-SPAM act.

Cold calling is when people don’t know who you are… that’s what's cold. When prospects know you, it’s a warm call. Referrals are even warmer. When prospects receive your ezines and magazines month after month, year after year… you can never make cold calls.
This does not mean I wouldn’t call someone who doesn’t know me at all, but it’s not my preferred method. Make sure everyone in your industry who needs to know who you are, knows who you are.
I AM a BIG fan of calling NEW businesses. The method is the same. Start with Fact Finding. Ask a good opening question to stimulate interest in the conversation. Then go right into fact finding. ALWAYS talk about them… what you have in terms of what it will do for them. Follow this procedure, and you'll never sell ink on paper.

Welcome to Stress-Free Selling^®,
Jenae

P.S. If I can help you overcome sales challenges and reach your goals, call or email me. 954-290-9896 Jenae@MagazineAdvertisingSales.com

P.P.S. For a list of sales resources, click here.

P.P.P.S. Publishers & Ad Directors, call for a free consultation (954-290-9896).

Magazine Advertising Sales Training: Stop Wondering. Start Selling

A client just emailed me with this question: "What approach do you suggest for a prospect like this? They come from outside the industry. I don't want to introduce them to our competition if they are not already aware of them, on the other hand if they have since found them I don't want to under-pitch."
My Response:
"Pursue more questions. In addition to missing critical questions, ask, "What other publications are you looking at right now, or are you only interested in the flagship magazines?" In this prospect's instance, they already stated they're using only "flagship magazines" to reach another industry. You can play off her idea of what's important... which you should continue to do... and in her words, "flagship publications."

The problem is, very few were asked in the fact finding stage. Guessing how to respond means you don't have enough information, so go back and arm yourself. Otherwise, you'll spend all your time wondering and not selling.
Welcome to Stress-Free Selling^®,
Jenae
P.S. If I can help you overcome sales challenges and reach your goals, call or email me.
954-290-9896
Jenae@MagazineAdvertisingSales.com
P.P.S. For a list of sales resources, click here.
P.P.P.S. Publishers & Ad Directors, call for a free consultation (954-290-9896).