Repeat Sales

There are two strategies which you adopt after you make your initial ad space sale and move to make repeat sales. Both depend upon your client being delighted with the results of their first advert .... so that they now TRUST you.

1.      Get your client to agree to a SCHEDULE of further ads with you as quickly as possible ..... then keep adding items to the schedule, which becomes a 'marketing package'.

It's much easier to 'add a couple of items' to an existing schedule or package than to make a 'new' sale.

2.      Find ways to INTEGRATE some part of your client's marketing operations with your publication ... so that the COST OF CHANGE becomes HIGH. It HURTS them to stop doing business with you.

Let's look at both of these strategies:

1. Schedules and Packages

Now that you've got your first sale, it's time to sell something entirely different -- Packages of multimedia advertising, marketing tools and events.

It's a switch. Instead of single sales, your goal is to sell 'contracts' and 'packages'.

Which means that you need to become good at selling Web, event and sponsorships as well as directory listings, buyer's guides, Web ads, booths at trade shows .... and anything you can get money for.

It's going to take some more learning (the products, not the sales techniques - these stay the same) but the rewards of selling media packages outweigh the difficulties.

So. You need to learn how each medium works, and how to offer clients synergy through cross-media programs. Be realistic, however. You shouldn't be bogged down with the technicalities and service required for Internet ads.

You're offering the RESULTS of what a multimedia package will do for your client . The 'process' of how this works is secondary.

Just think "package," and call in the geeks and new media wonks if the client wants to get technical.

But.

Not all advertisers are ready for this.

So you use the techniques which worked to make the first sale again, but with a different offer. And every client gets a slightly different offer -- one which fits their situation.

Some are already moving their budgets from traditional advertising into online, Web sponsorships, custom publishing, shows and other 'new' marketing vehicles.

Others need to catch up.

Because the most effective ads are no longer just pitch on a printed page. They're also a link on a Website, a button on an online page, an icon in a game, a sponsor of a program.

Which means to you ....

You should now start creating the 'packages' which you'll offer to your first-time advertisers .... thinking first of each possible product as a stand-alone 'marketing tool' that benefits your advertiser.

Here's how:

1. Pick a possible product -- perhaps start with your smallest -- and outline its

features. It could be as simple as a banner ad to be placed on 10 selected websites

Outline that tool's benefits, such as immediate impact at point-of-purchase,

long shelf life, seen by people already interested in the topic, easy results tracking, can be quickly revised.

2. Examine any research that helps establish ROI and success rates with this product.

3. Bring out any testimonials from prior advertisers.

4. List the CPM and price variables for the product.

5. List five clients whose needs -- unveiling a new product, for instance -- could be met by this banner.

6. Prepare an appropriate presentation on how this particular product will help the account accomplish specific sales and marketing goals. You must carefully justify and tie together your recommendation with this client's needs.

Now, repeat these steps for each possible product.

What you are really offering your 'repeat' client is as many touchpoints as possible, from Web sites and magazines to podcasts and virtual shows.

 
Today, the Web is still young, but not so young that most advertisers don't know its value as a rich, targeted medium. More importantly, it's becoming the glue in the marketing mix, offering powerful synergy with print, events, custom publishing and other marketing solutions.

As you move from selling pages to selling packages, each piece of the marketing mix becomes intrinsic to the whole, and you can't add or detract without affecting the advertising results.

2. Integration

There are three levels of customer relations:

1. You Bribe your Client Continue the Business Relationship
People are human and because of that we are naturally greedy. The principle of greediness is what makes capitalism successful. Publishers who reward (bribe) their customers with coupons, points, credits, and bonuses create an incentive-based relationship that crumbles once the incentive is taken away.

2. You Have a Positive Relationship
In this instance, your client liked their ad, they've signed up for a small schedule and now have a positive relationship with you and an emotional bond with your publication.

Unfortunately, unless the emotional bond is nurtured, it dies a fast death - - and quite frankly, there are extremely few publications that properly nurture their relationships with their customers. They're too busy looking for 'new business'.

3. Your Client "Has" to Continue the Relationship Because the Cost to Change is Too High
This is what you want. Your goal is to create a client who ties has his operations into your publication so closely, that to move to another product or service provider would cause damage emotionally, socially, operationally, or financially.

Why would any client allow you to do this?

To give a couple of examples from different industries, consider a person who is emotionally dependent on his therapist (emotional) or a customer who uses your software to run their business (operational).

These are "Integrated Relationships" because the relationship extends into the life of a person or into the operations of a business. Of the four types of Integrated Relationships (social, emotion, operational, financial), the operational relationship is the most powerful.

Operational relationships exist when the actual work processes of two businesses overlap.

So your goal is to get your client's work processes to overlap with your publication.

It's The Secret Key to Guaranteed Repeat Sales

The Integrated Relationship has severe penalties for breaking the relationship and therefore forces your client to come back again and again whether they like it or not.

This is the ultimate customer relationship and the secret key to guaranteed repeat sales.

Now ask yourself these questions:

Operational
1. Do you have a technology that you can deploy into your client's business?

·         If you can help your client with their website, especially if you can help smaller businesses by organising the design and the hosting of their website -- they're tied to you

2. Can you take over or manage a portion of your customer's business operations?

·         If you can use your printer to procure for them all their printing needs -- they're tied to you.

·         If you can organise their exhibition booths and bookings -- they're tied to you.

3. Can you house or manage your customer's data or assets at your place of business?

·         If you can store your client's bulk print, or exhibition stands -- they're tied to you.

Social
1. Can you get your customer to be a public poster child (i.e. provide a public testimonial) for your business?

2. Can you create a brand so "cool" or popular that to not use it would be embarrassing?

3. Can you present an award to your biggest customer(s) (or target prospect) and announce it to the industry?

Financial
1. Can you offer a program that requires a large upfront investment that delivers products or services over time?

2. Can you offer your significant customers an opportunity to financially invest in your business?

3. Can you lock your customer into a long-term contract with penalties attached for breaking the relationship?

Emotional
1. Can you provide your customer with so much support (i.e. advice, attention, help) that they can't do without you?

The idea is to move your client from a single ad to a package of marketing services, to becoming integrated in some way with your publication.