FCPNY

FCPNY
Serving free paper publishers, sales managers and salespeople in NY state

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Dog days are coming

I had the opportunity to travel to Maine this past weekend, stopping along the way in Boston to pick up my son Michael and his girlfriend Lyndsey. Boston is a great city, especially for young people. We walked the Quincy Market area for a while...my wife, Lyndsey, me and Mike who had his miniature Italian greyhound Enzo in tow. Enzo actually belongs to Mike and Lyndsey; a joint venture, dual custody, all that stuff. Cost more than a few bucks, too. You would think a city the size of Boston would have everything you want or need. Not so. Enzo had to be pre-ordered from a breeder in Nebraska who shipped him air-freight to his proud new parents eight weeks after he was born. They "laid him away," if you will, making payments while he grew to travel size.

What's the point of this dog tale?

Enzo, if I didn't mention it, is about as cute and coy as a dog can get. As my son walked the market, holding on to his little pup, he attracted a steady stream of people -- all ages but mostly twenty-something girls and young kids -- who just fell in love with Enzo. Enzo is little but he makes a big impact. Every youngster that came up to him ended their brief visit with a "that's the kind of dog we should get" to mom and dad. If Mike had carried an order form and receipts with him he could have closed ten doggy-deals that afternoon, minimum, in my estimation. The "I don't have the money to buy" objection would likely have never raised its ugly head. Enzo inspires behavior where people find money they don't have to make the purchase. We have all lost sales to a competitor who somehow inspired spending among prospects who couldn't buy from us right now for budget reasons. The competitor -- Enzo in our case -- got their emotions running high. That's just one sales and marketing lesson to walk away with from this afternoon outside Faneuil Hall. There are others.

How can you make your product cute? Irresistible? In a world full of dogs how do you come up with an Enzo? How do you subtly yet powerfully introduce it to the market and let interested buyers easily find you by never staying in one spot but cruising the marketplace, covering all the areas? How do you turn what you do into an emotional catalyst that buyers just have to have?

I don't know, either, off the top of my head but these are the questions we all need to ask about what we sell. I need to examine our statewide ad products that way and you need to look at your publications and digital offerings with the same fresh eyes. Most of all, we need to urge and assist our customers to do the same with their products and services. That's our main job as media sales students. We creatively solve problems.

FCPNY offers training to you and your staff on how to do this. "Making marketers out of your customers" is one class we offer that helps you get better at helping your customers think more about their marketing and position in the marketplace. We are booking fall training visits right now -- drop me a line at tcuskey@fcpny.com or call 315-472-6007 to chat about how we can help you and your staff get better than the other guys.

Be one of the first 100 to call and I'll email you a photo of Enzo.


Thanks for your time today.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

"I'm a people person," she said with a smile...

I have no idea how many sales interviews I have conducted or sat in on through the years. A whole lot, I know that. In more than a fair share of them, at one point or another, the applicant answered the "why do you like sales" or "why should we hire you" question with "Well, I'm a people person...I like talking to people...I like working with people." As opposed to working with wildebeests and Buicks? The interview was over at that point, mainly because I always felt that these very nice people just didn't get it. Now I have proof.

I attended an AdMall webinar this morning, and picked up a lot of valuable information about this tremendous sales research tool, one I thought I knew pretty well already. Great stuff. This one was on local accounts and I recommend it. During the introduction, host Dave Blakeslee put up a slide that summarized some research done on what advertisers look for in an advertising/media representative. Number one answer? Survey said (DING!): "someone who knows my business." 64% of the respondents said this was what they look for, followed by "someone who knows my customers" at 59%. (Multiple choice answers account for percentage totals in excess of 100%).

Coming in dead last, mentioned by 7% of the respondents: "someone likable." You know, a people person.

When you think of advertising you think "creative", a trait considered most important by 35% of the respondents or a little more than half of those who'd rather have someone concentrate first on getting to know what their business is all about. And then learning what that business' customers are thinking and buying. Advertisers don’t need buddies; they need advisors, trusted resources. That’s where you come in. That's not to say that people skills, relationship-building skills aren't important. They are, but should be implemented in the direction of engagement based on the value of information and research-driven advice the well-informed rep brings to their table. There will be plenty of time to talk about golf, fashion, kids and other topics after you've made the client (and yourself) fabulously successful by being a premier asset in their business.


FCPNY members: training on how to develop and implement research from member-benefits like AdMall and CVC audits and on topics like understanding small business marketing is available to you in a customized on-site presentation. Just drop me a note at tcuskey@fcpny.com or call 315-472-6007. Thanks very much!


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Celebrating the roots of freedom

There is no better time to celebrate the "free" in Free Community Papers of NY than this week when we celebrate the birth of freedom in America. It's been 237 years since our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and legend has it that the free paper industry's American roots go back even farther than that, fathered by one of the most famous delegates to the Continental Congress.

In 1728, at the age of twenty-two, Benjamin Franklin opened his printing office in Philadelphia where he published The Pennsylvania Gazette as well as Poor Richard's Almanac. His printing career started ten years earlier. Twelve year-old Ben began to learn the business of printing the truth when he signed on as an apprentice in his older brother James' printing office in Boston. Scientist, inventor, statesman but first a publisher. Makes our industry proud, doesn't it?

Despite our somewhat mythical link to one of our nation's founders the free paper industry hasn't always garnered respect. Looked down upon for years by our cousins in the daily & paid paper business we have had an uphill fight for readership and ad dollars in post World War II America. We did well, too. Highly exaggerated reports of the death of print had been attributed to the Internet, the worldwide web of free publishing and free information exchange. Think about the Internet: a totally free medium, available to everyone in the market that is funded by advertising sales. A familiar sounding business plan, n'est ce pas? Al Gore didn't invent the Internet. Neither did the free paper industry but we sure put a lot of work into perfecting the concept.

The founder of a paper I used to work for long ago told the story of a local dairy chain that wanted to test the free paper with a free offer of their own. It was a coupon for a free half-gallon of milk. Redemption rates were awful. They tried it a second time but changed the offer to a half-gallon of milk for a nickel with coupon and a minimum purchase. Redemption rates went through the roof. Both the ad man and the client surmised that "free" had no value, was too good to be true or had a hidden catch to it that scared consumers away. Perhaps. Value is in the eye of the beholder and our industry has done as fine a job of providing value to the markets we serve as can be done. We have receivership rates that approach 100% with very high readership and motivated-to-buy consumer percentages that prove consistent value in an ever-changing marketplace. Numbers our paid cousins would die for (and in many cases are). Proves trust and acceptance by otherwise skeptical consumers. Proves that free is very valuable. As the Association of Free Community Papers, our national trade association says, "If it's free, buy it!"


Have a happy Fourth and celebrate all that is free in our great nation!