Pat Bryson advised conference delegates that they should have conversations with clients to get beyond the nature of the inward focused radio sales process.
What do radio clients think about their sales reps? 62% said that their sales reps “don’t know about my business,” a damning statistic which Bryson quoted in her presentation.
“The world of the sales person and the world the buyer are different. We need to understand clients only care about our world in the way that makes their world better. We need to help make the connection between their needs and what we have to sell.” This relies on knowing the clients needs.
Some of Pat’s key points from her presentation are:
Sales process – The 1st contact is to get and appointment. The 2nd contact is the client needs analysis and then come back for phase 3, the offer.
People buy for 3 reasons – they are in trouble and want to get out. They see trouble coming and want to avoid it or they see something new out there and want to try it.
People move away from pain/risk thinking as their business improves, toward reward/pleasure, where their motivation is to maximise future revenue not defend or improve their position.
Qualify prospect – they must have a problem, we must have a solution, they must have money and be willing and able to make a decision. There’s no point trying to save a dying business.
Find out who handles the advertising decisions? Then present your proposal only if you are in front of the decision makers.
Sales is about what you ask people, not what you tell them. Ask about their ‘levels of pain,’ what it is, how’d it effects the business and then how it effects them personally.
There are 3 types of questions:
Data questions- do some homework and use them to build relationship.
Issue questions- problems
Trigger point questions- personal questions , why is it important to you personally, how doesn’t make you feel. Getting personal leads to bigger longer term dollars.
People buy emotionally and justify it with logic.
We make radio work by repetition and consistency. Ask questions about how much they want to increase their business in dollar amounts. Develop a growth matrix and a return on investment calculation work sheet. They have given you and annual growth objective, hence we return with an annual plan to achieve their goals.
We need to help clients craft their selling message and find their point of difference. We need to track their progress for them.