How Audience Data is Reinvigorating Advertising Sales

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 audience data is reinvigorating advertising sales and how to use it effectively to drive sales.


Data is everywhere, and now, more than ever, it is unbelievably important for a salesperson to be able to use and interpret it. What can one do to focus on this data? How can this data be used to sell better and faster? The concepts Dohrn covers in this webinar have been used by over 200 magazines titles around the globe.

What will salespeople do to use data to drive their ad sales agenda forward and close more deals? Today, the topics that will be covered are:

  • Using data in a pre-call set-up.
  • Using data to drive sales call.
  • Using data to drive ROI (Return on Investment).
  • Improved sales proposals.

Advertiser 101

Advertisers DO NOT buy what they DO NOT understand! Think about it, do you buy things you do not understand? No. The reason why most advertisers are not buying from salespeople is that they either do not fully understand the digital products (banners, e-newsletters, videos, etc.) being offered or they do not see how it will fit into their overall marketing mix. The best solution is to create a path of least resistance.

Create a path of least resistance. The best way to do this when working with advertisers is to figure out what their needs, goals and desires are. Start with the advertiser then work backwards. Next,  find out which product will best meet the advertiser’s needs. Unfortunately, most salespeople do not do this. Instead, they start with their one sheet or media kit and then pitch forward from there. That is a fundamental flaw in the system. When selling data and digital products, it is best to create simple sale one sheets.

Create simple sales one sheets. This is the simplest path for a salesperson’s advertiser or client to understand what he or she is trying to sale. One sheets are normally created by the marketing department and very often there is too much data on them. One page simple sales sheet should have, on average, around four to five bullet points, not ten. Try cutting the clutter by about 50%. Once one’s sales sheet has been refined, then one needs to practice the simple approach.

Practice the simple approach. Many times people try the shock-and-awe approach. However, this approach does not work in sales or advertising. Salespeople need to simplify the process when they are talking about data, digital products or other complex products. When it comes to using data and reinvigorating sales, salespeople are not trying to save the world.

Do not try to save the world. Keep it simple, straightforward and understand you are an educator and not a salesperson. Sales is the number-one profession in the world, but what do most people hate? Salespeople. Generally, people have a fundamental problem with salespeople. What can you do to be different? One way salespeople can differentiate themselves is by promising not to waste people’s time and trying to make it as unn-sales-like as possible. Remember, if one is talking about sponsored or paid content used in the digital space, one may need to use video.

Use videos to explain complex issues.

Using Data in a Pre-Call Set-Up

Salespeople should first ask themselves five questions:

  • What data is important to the client?
  • What data might surprise the client?
  • What data might make the client mad?
  • What data might overwhelm the client?
  • How does a salesperson incorporate that into the pre-meeting sales template?

What data is important to the client? When salespeople get a hold of data, their first reaction is to go crazy with it. It is important to understand what data is important to the client. How does one know what data is important to the client?

  • Any type of data that is about the client’s relationship to their competition is important.
  • Any type of data that proclaims how many potential new customers a salesperson can put in front of an advertiser.

What data might surprise the client?

Before rolling out data in the prospecting or pre-call set-up phase, salespeople need to ask themselves, “What should I do with this data? Should I do a data dump?” A salesperson should never do a data dump.

What data might make the client angry? A client might get mad if the data shows that their competition is killing them. However, this emotion can be used to drive things forwards.

What data might overwhelm the client? The only data that might overwhelm the client is when there is too much data given in a high quantity.

How does a salesperson incorporate that into the pre-meeting sales template? It is fairly straightforward and easy. Dohrn recommends reaching out 10 to 12 consecutive times when contacting a new customer or someone who has not bought or advertised in the past. Because salespeople should reach out so many times before they are willing to have a serious conversations, it is best to have pre-call templates.

A good template with data looks something like this:

“Hi Bob, I have discovered a small group of highly influential customers that have expressed interest in a product like the $100. Could I have 10 minutes to share an idea with you this week? I promise not to waste your time…10 minutes.”

What makes this an A+ template? For one, this is not promising the world and it identifies a small and influential group because it is talking about a “small group of highly influential customers.” How was the data appropriated? There are a number of ways a salesperson can collect data, such as looking at an email list or at demographic and psychographic information. It is also important to declare or to call out a prospect’s product. This is done by using the phrase “have expressed interest in a product.” It is also important to identify a finite amount of time, such as “10 minutes,” because the client does not want their time wasted.

Also useful are third-party companies like Knowledge Marketing that will help to mine data. If salespeople do not have information about their readers that they can potentially sell, then they are selling from a point of disadvantage.

Using Data to Drive Sales Calls

  • Be careful to not “show up and blow up.”
  • Find out if one is dealing with a “Data Diane” or a “Normal Joe.”
  • Do not present a buffet of data. Get specific.
  • Use competitive chaos to drive the call.

Do not “show up and blow up!” This means that salespeople should avoid data dumping. Most clients do not want to hear about a lot of data and numbers. They want to know about data that is specific to them and can give them a high return on investment. Find out before a sales call if these people who love data or not.

Are they a “Data Diane” or “Normal Joe?” Salespeople should figure out if they are dealing with a “Data Diane,” which is someone who loves numbers and data, or a “Normal Joe.” A “Normal Joe” is just a normal person running a business and wants some help with marketing and advertising. This type still wants data but they do not want a dump of information.

Do not present a buffet of data. Get specific!  Never present a buffet of data.  It is best to get specific about offerings, such as creating a custom package or presenting what is most often bought by advertisers.

Use competitive chaos to drive the call. It is important to understand that ethical data on a client’s closet competitor can be used to drive sales forward.

Always remember to under-promise and over-deliver!

Using Data to Drive ROI

  • Begin to explain what ROI (return on investment) really means.
  • Guide them to understand that small e-Lists are more expensive.
  • Explain targeting by using examples that make sense. It’s better to have 10 good prospects rather 1,000 chances.
  • The perfect marriage is between the perfect message and the perfect audience.

It is best to manage expectations from the very beginning by explaining what ROI means. If that information is left solely to the advertiser, then their expectations are going to be dramatically different than yours.  Salespeople should make advertisers understand that smaller lists are actually more expensive than larger ones. This is because the more the future of advertising grows, the more expensive smaller lists will be. The more targeted the market is, the higher the ROI will be.

There are two direct phases for almost all marketing plans:

  1. Branding
  2. Lead permeation

There cannot be one phase without the other. Without branding, it’s impossible to drive somebody over to lead generation and a lead-generation product doesn’t work if no one knows the brand.

Improved Sales Proposals

  • Data adds substance to the proposal.
  • Data increases the ROI impact.
  • Most media is “vapor.” Data is factual.
  • Be sure to manage expectations.
  • What are the expected vs. promised results?
  • Try A/B Testing of proposals. When one has found the one that works, rinse and repeat.

Data adds substance to proposals and increasees the potential ROI or total impact of advertisers. A/B testing proposals is a great way to get data on what types of proposals work: those with a lot of data or without.

Where Do You Grow From Here?

  • Identify opportunities based on the data available.
  • If there’s no data available,  get rolling or get rolled over.
  • Determine what data is right for what client.
  • Segment to improve ROI and total sales.
  • Identify proposals that work and re-use them.
  • Practice all aspects of using data.

 

 

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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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