In my work as a consultant it surprises me how many ad sales reps know little or nothing about their competitors. One of the most important aspects of selling advertising is knowing your competitors as well as you know your own magazine. This is especially important when you are trying to sell an advertiser who is running in the competition and not in your own publication.
You learn a lot about the competition by
doing your research. You should have a complete copy of their media kit,
their circulation statement, know their cost per thousand and know what
specials they are offering each month. You can do these things by going to
their website. If their ad rates or circulation are not on their site
you’ll need to get creative. I have had a pseudonym at a “pretend” company
at a PO Box for over 20 years. I am on the circulation list of all of my
competitors and I get their media kit every year. Also since I am a
“prospect” I also receive all of their promotional mailings and
emails. And one of the most important things you can do is READ their
publication every issue. Once you see what they are writing about you will
get an even better idea of their position in the marketplace and can talk about
that to advertisers. And of course it goes without saying that you look at
the advertisers than run in the competition each issue. Those are your
prime prospects!
I was consulting for a company recently who
was having trouble getting advertisers interested in their publication although
they had a very solid circulation that was audited. I asked them about
their competitors and they gave me the names of those magazines but they knew
very little about them. I started my research by calling the competitors
(posed as an ad agency) and asked a lot of questions. I requested a media
kit and three back issues. What I learned when researching these magazines
was that my client had a much better story than any of the other
publications. As it turned out they had more circulation, more data on their
readers, lower cost, lower cost per thousand and they were the only audited
publication. The problem is that none of the sales reps knew this. I
developed their “lead” list from the advertisers who ran in the competition and
not in their publication. We developed a sales story for each competitor
and then trained the sales reps on how to make the call? What is remarkable is
that in a few short weeks they have signed up a few new advertisers and have
several in the pipeline for next year.
If you don’t know who you are selling
against, how can you possibly sell against them?
Happy Selling!
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