I can easily understand where you are coming from, having been there early in my career. Don’t give up yet! It’s easy (and fun!) to make cold calls, if you warm them up beforehand. How do you do that? By visiting your potential advertiser before making the initial sales contact and by being prepared.
The “recon mission” strategy can warm up those cold calls, enabling you to be better prepared, and ultimately more successful. On your recon mission your objective is not to make initial contact or get acquainted, your objective is to gather information, to learn more about, and further qualify your potential advertiser.
The recon mission takes place at your potential advertiser’s place of business. Visit your potential advertiser, look around and walk around, asking yourself these questions: What image is this retailer conveying? What’s the store’s appearance, inside and out? Who are the clientele? What’s the customer service like? What is the depth, variety and look of the merchandise? Is the store signage welcoming, are promotions prominently displayed and recent are advertising efforts or campaigns displayed?
As you gather your information, a picture of your potential advertiser should begin to form. During your recon mission, did you pick up some new ideas or competitive information that will help you with your other clients? Have you begun formulating what benefits your newspaper offers that will match the needs or goals of this potential advertiser?
Your answers to all of the aforementioned questions will help you plan your strategy and better prepare you for your initial meeting with your potential advertiser’s decision maker, owner or manager. Your first meeting, your cold call (and your likelihood for success) is warmer because you have some information, you know a little about what your potential advertiser wants to achieve and you have had the opportunity to at least think through some possible matches between your newspaper’s benefits and your potential advertiser’s goals. You are confident about what you will achieve during this initial meeting. Be careful; don’t be too confident, we’re not selling yet. We are still gathering information.
In preparation for your cold call, ask yourself what your objective is and what questions you are going to ask, not what you are going to tell or sell.
As you walk into your potential advertiser’s place of business ask to speak to the owner or manager. Once that person (or the key decision maker) is identified, address them by name, and introduce yourself, your newspaper, and your intentions (Good Morning, Katie. My name is ____, with ______; do you have a moment to talk about newspaper advertising?). If your prospect says no, ask when a convenient time would be (tomorrow? 2:30?), and set up a subsequent appointment before you leave. Give your potential advertiser a copy of your paper and a business card.
As your potential advertiser mentions a need (we want to reach homeowners), match it with a benefit your newspaper offers (71 percent of our readers are college-educated homeowners). Ask questions. Gather information. Remember to keep this first meeting short. Tell your potential advertiser you would like to set up a subsequent appointment to gather more information or to come back with some ideas, suggestions and recommendations (and proof) showing how your newspaper will meet his or her needs or goals, and basically be a resource to him or her.
Remember, you are building a relationship. The more information about your potential advertiser that you assemble the easier it will be to match needs and benefits. YOU are in charge of building the relationship.