Ad Sales Training: 10 Ways to Get Advertisers Out of Red Light Mode and Into Green Light Mode

Ryan Dorhn

Shweiki Media Printing Company is excited to announce that they’ve once again teamed up with Ryan Dohrn—founder of Brain Swell Media, Publisher of Sales Training World, and creator of the 360 Ad Sales Training system taught to over 4,000 sales people around the globe —to present a webinar on how to get advertisers out of the objection-based “red light mode” and into the receptive, open-minded “green light mode.”

1. Remember Advertisers Are Typically In Red Light Mode…

Red light mode typically means that the prospect isn’t listening, and the answer is ultimately going to be some version of no. For example, if one offers a client a free ad and they automatically decline, saying their budget is used up (which, of course, isn’t an issue if the ad is free), the client is clearly in red light mode and was planning on saying no from the get-go.

 

2. …And Are Trained to Say No

It is very common, when selling advertising for the advertiser, to be engaged with the process, believe the product, and ultimately not buy. That’s because, as previously mentioned, advertisers are more often in red light mode than not, so even if they appear to be in green light mode, one needs to ask more questions. Showing signs of purchasing interest can ultimately be an objection if the advertiser just wants to fast-forward through the sales process, so one should combat this by asking questions like “Can we set up a time to review that?”

 

3. Don’t Give Up and Plan For Future Meetings

In today’s environment, one will need to reach out to an advertising contact as many as 15-20 times to move them from a red light to a green light mode. Meanwhile, a brand needs to be in front of a new customer as many as 30 times before a customer will want to try out that brand. As a salesperson, one can use that statistic to gain insight into the power of earning sales trust and the importance of being persistent.

 

4. Ask a Bold Question…

If one has an opportunity to meet with an advertiser and encounters objections, one strategy is asking a bold question: “Why is our audience of readers not important to you?” Although it might take a bit of guts, it pressures the advertiser to come up with something more than a blatant “no.”

 

5. And Another One

Another objective-countering question that throws advertisers off guard: “Why is our audience not attractive to you?” Too often salespeople just give up, when it’s questions like these that throw the advertiser off guard and force them to think and actually evaluate one’s proposal.

Get Advertisers to give you the green light!

6. Have an Advertising Engagement Process…

Often one will actually send out a message, get a response from an advertiser, and then never take that data the next step forward. What was one communicating? What day did one send the message? What time was the message sent? When sales start to slow, a systematic process will help salespeople get the ball rolling again. Sales preparedness is important, and one’s messaging strategy has to be sharp and needs to be tested. It’s important to find the messages that work really well and develop some type of engagement process.

 

7. And an Advertising Engagement Message

Using engaging messages and varying those messages is very important. The point of using templates isn’t just to use templates. It’s to save time and to take advantage of repeatable patterns of success. One should test their template messages and adjust them according to success rate.

 

8. Recognize Red Lights and Have a Response

There are no new objections in the marketplace; advertisers will simply rotate from a number of different objection phrases depending on their current business state. It’s important for one to recognize that these aren’t new, and to come up with a practiced, eloquent response for every one.

 

9. Promise Not to Waste an Advertiser’s Time

Few things are more valuable than time, and when trying to move an advertiser from red light mode into green light mode, it’s important for one to be an excellent manager of their time. It’s a good strategy to promise advertisers that their time won’t be wasted. For example: every sales call should run about 10 minutes or less. Transmitting a message quickly and effectively is the best way to get an advertiser’s respect and gain

 

10. Create an Action Plan

There are three factors that go into putting a good habit into place: the first is knowing what to do, the next is knowing how to do it, and the third is gathering the desire to make it happen. When one has an action plan, it’s a simple matter of carrying it out. Success will follow.

Ryan Dorhn

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Ryan Dohrn

Ryan Dohrn, CEO of Brain Swell Media LLC

Ryan Dohrn is an Emmy award winning TV producer, has overseen over 3,000 Web site builds, is a nationally acclaimed speaker, has been featured in USA Today, on ABC, CBS and FOX TV stations, on Forbes.com and has personally impacted millions of dollars in online and related media revenues for media companies large and small.

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