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!

"But my territory really is different!"

If I had a chicken wing for every time a salesperson argued "I know but my territory is different," I'd be Colonel Sanders, white suit and all. A sales manager consistently tries to coach up the staff on selling tactics, a new promotion or whatever the need of the week is and some salespeople consistently try to sell the manager back on why his/her ideas won't work for them. It's not the salesperson, it's the territory.

"That doesn't work on my customers" or "that stuff doesn't work in my area...my area IS DIFFERENT!"

You know, maybe they're right. I never felt that way until recently.

I had the opportunity to visit a member paper this week way, way out in the hinterlands. Beautiful place, but really different than any area I had ever sold in or managed. Extreme rural with interesting tourism twists. My training style reflects my background, more urban/suburban. It became apparent to me very early on that I had to adapt quickly to the environment they were used to if I was going to be of any help at all. On my way home, I thought a lot about how different the selling life was for this group of people and how perhaps it is possible that I misjudged all those sales folks who I thought were just pushing back for the sake of pushing. Some territories really are different.

That said, how can the manager make the most of it -- how can one celebrate the diversity of opportunities out there?

First, a territory is only different when you compare it to another. So stop comparing. Put the onus back on the salesperson but do it with a little love. Challenge the sales rep to come up with a six-month calendar of promotions and campaigns that specifically speak to the strengths of their territory. Then discuss what you and your team can do to optimize the opportunities with a written strategic plan.

Next, repeat this with all the staff, be it two people or twenty. Plot the individual results on a big, wall-size chart that shows where some duplicity or overlap occurs between the individual plans. Try to engage teamwork in those instances to build your major promos for the year but otherwise concentrate on smaller, niche opportunities that let your salesperson really mine their local opportunities.

Let's face it -- none of us is ever going to become the next Google. We need to concentrate on small, hyper local (coincidentally like Google is try to do) and build lots of little piles of revenue results that add up to big success. That's what we do best. We need to continue to find ways to do it differently – to do it better -- to survive and thrive.

Thanks -- let me know how FCPNY can help you and your sales staff.

The puck stops here

I hope you get to meet my wife someday. Great lady. Has put up with me for 38 years this October, not counting the time before that (we were very young when we met -- that's for a different blog). She has changed lately, though. Somehow she has become a rabid hockey fan, Pittsburgh Penguins specifically.  How? Why? The Penguins are the favorite team of our 10-year old grandson; maybe the link starts there. But she is into it, staying up late last night to watch them lose in double overtime to the Bruins in the playoffs. They are down 3-0 in a best of seven and it does not look good. Unhappy wife is never good.

Three brief sales lessons lie therein.

First, people change. Truth be told, they are constantly changing, you included. Interests, likes, dislikes are always in play. That said, take nothing for granted. Do not fall into the trap that long-time customers and vendors are secure within the fold. Even if your competition isn't telling them to switch they may be thinking along those lines. Treat them well, treat them often and listen to their needs.

Second, keep those around you happy. Just like a happy spouse makes a happy house, keeping colleagues and co-workers engaged, enthused and entertained makes the workplace that much more enjoyable and productive. Prevents negative changes from happening (like above).

Third, you are going to go 0-3 with some customers. (If you're not losing some of the sales battles then you're not pitching enough customers and prospects.) It isn't that you lose some, it's what you do when you lose or -- in the case today of the Penguins -- what you do when you're losing. You can pull things out of the fire and/or regroup for the next campaign when you learn from mistakes, repeat behaviors that have proven to be productive and consistently acquire new skills, new prospects and new insight on your competition. That requires a good amount of objective review of how you approach your craft. Ask respected colleagues and managers for help.

Finally, ask us for help -- FCPNY is here to provide all levels of assistance to our member publications and their staffs. Best wishes!

Reading this post? Thank a soldier.

As we head into Memorial Day weekend we should take a moment of our professional day to think about those who have given their lives in the service of our great country. Without their sacrifice, without the efforts of American fighting men and women now and then, we might not be in business today as we know it.

Want to open a business? Go right ahead. Want to switch careers, maybe move to a different state to start anew? You are free to do so. Want to publish your thoughts and opinions in your publication? The Constitution says "be my guest." Thank a soldier for preserving those rights and privileges. Remember all those who have fallen this Memorial Day holiday but do so during your business day, too. It seems only fitting.

I've never lived in another country but I have to think the USA government is one of the innovators in programs to help people get started in business and to start over in new careers. There are a lot of things in our nation and state that could use reform and improvement but there's still no place better on the face of the earth to live, raise families and do business. Thank a soldier.

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Numbers are changing but it's still a numbers game

Wish me a happy anniversary. Three years ago today, May 15, I was ordained a permanent deacon here in the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. It's a wonderful part of my life, a real blessing. What does it have to do with sales training? I thought you'd never ask.

Driving to the office this morning I had the Catholic Channel on satellite radio. To be honest, it's not one of my favorite channels (classic rock'n'roll!) but, just by chance, I happened to hear the host talking about a study of the young men who are going to be ordained as priests this spring. Fascinating stuff considering the shortage of priests is one of the biggest challenges facing the American church today. I'll be the first to agree that the Church typically doesn't move too quickly, but here was a report on trends and stats for a group of 2013 people. Extremely current stuff. They knew more about these guys than one would ever have imagined. Four percent of them have been home schooled compared to less than 2% of the general population. Thirty-one percent of them had grown up in families that traveled with the military. That's a huge number.

Timely, statistically significant information about a big problem that needs solving.

That's a big part of what a successful media sales group has to bring to the client's table today, more than ever before. With all respect, if a church gets that than you and I had better get it, too.

Google "newspaper readership demographics" and gobs of goodies come up in your search results from respected companies like Pew Research and others. All for free. Subscribe to (and actually use) services like AdMall that give you great local information on business trends and demographics. Understand the information and use it to your advantage. If you are an FCPNY member, call me (315-472-6007) or email me (tcuskey@fcpny.com) to arrange for in-house training on these topics and more.  Use the numbers to help build the most important numbers of all: profitability and cash flow.

Thanks for reading!