Let’s get right into our sales meeting, shall we? Time is money. I want to paint a picture of a scenario that has probably happened to you many times at other places you have sold. It usually starts when the morning meeting is running a little bit late because the sales manager is in with the market manager and the door is closed.
Eventually, the sales manager comes hurriedly into the meeting room looking disheveled and apologizes for being late. He or she had something they really wanted to do in the meeting today, but things have changed.
Corporate called this morning and told the market manager they really need everyone to push and close as much business as possible in the next couple of weeks. The sales manager knows this is something you have heard before, but this time it is serious. In fact, the market manager even said it was “critical.”
“Guys, we really need to dig in. We have to close strongly and so we have come up with a quick package, we are calling it ‘Fall Into Savings’ and I just need each one of you to close two or three and we will be right where we need to be. I have each of you down for three and I know a couple of you can hit a stretch goal of four or five. We can do this. We got this. Everyone has enough in their pending, we just need to get out there and use this package to get deals closed. This deal is so good, you can even just go and up-sell a few of your current clients and knock it out.
“To make this even more fun we are going to have a contest! Our “Fun Team” is going to decorate the wall in fall colors. We are going to make a turkey with each of your names on it and put it up on the wall. For every ‘Fall Into Savings’ package you sell, you get a feather! The person with the most feathers at the end of the contest wins…are you ready for this?…$100 in trade to the restaurant downstairs AND a pair of tickets to see the Minor League Baseball team!!”
Sound familiar?
While I am somewhat exaggerating the situation, the premise here is management needs you to move quickly and make some things happen.
Can you really just take the ‘Fall Into Savings’ package out and go sell it to a few new clients? Not a chance. And if by some miracle, you do sell one of these, you are about to most likely ruin a relationship forever and have yet another person going around saying, ‘Radio doesn’t work!”
You see that package helps you and your company, but it doesn’t really help your prospect. Just because your manager decided this would be someone they thought would make sense to pitch it to, doesn’t mean the client has any interest in it.
We all know that while the sales manager came in and gave you this package, and the one the month before and the one the month before that, but reminds you often, ‘We are not package sellers! We have to go in, do a client needs analysis, listen to discover their needs and then pitch them something that makes sense for them using our entire suite of products.’
Yep, right up until the time the company needs money and then forget all of that and put on a pumpkin shirt and get out there and see who wants to ‘Fall Into Savings!’
Here is the truth of the matter. You can close a month or a quarter strong. You can get a couple of add-ons from a current client every now and then. Those things can happen. But they can only happen if you have been doing the work beforehand.
You must have prospects in the proverbial sales funnel. People that you have already met with and have asked the questions you need to know the answers to. Maybe you met with an auto repair shop who really wanted to advertise but just couldn’t seem to afford it. Ok, if you met with them and know about them, have maintained the relationship and made it clear that you may have some lower dollar opportunities sometimes, just make sure the expectation is that a short run will most likely only be good for branding. Always manage the expectations.
But to think you are going to sell much of anything by just running into places and saying you have something they have to have, you are out of your mind.
Selling is about finding a problem you can solve. And no matter how many times some people hear it, they still often fail to realize that no matter how strongly you might feel something is right for a client, your job is to get them to see it as a need. That won’t happen by continuously telling them how good your solution is, if you didn’t spend any time diagnosing a problem.
The needs analysis conversation has to take place. This is why it is important to constantly be meeting with people and learning about their business. You may find a major need that you can help address. You may also learn they are not a candidate at all for what you are selling and that is ok, too. You’re planting seeds each time you meet with people.
This is a constant job. Things need to be constantly in motion, and you cannot be just talking to a few people at a time. The numbers tell you that has a low probability of working. The more people you call, the more you reach out to, the more you meet at social or networking events, the better off you are going to be. Part of what we do is balancing all the people we are working with, trying to work with and wanting to work with all at the same time.
If you are not doing the work leading up to the end of a month or quarter, the chances of you saving yourself or earning any turkey feathers become slim to none.
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
