Anything is Possible Week: Day Two

Aspire!

When I declared this “Anything is Possible Week,” I guess I thought I might be setting the week up for something special.  Maybe it’s the word “anything” that tripped me up.  Put “anything” with “possible” and you start to think “different” and maybe even expect “exceptional.”

So far, I hate to say, “anything” has meant neither anything different or exceptional.

Nevertheless, I will say that Day Two shows improvement over Day One however.  We actually got a thing or two accomplished.  (Imagine that.)  And I enjoyed driving around town.  Plenty of time to think.

And that got me wondering…Do my clients think?

I deal with a lot of small business owners and…well…while I love them, I worry.  (Boy, do I worry.)  I have my theories explaining why I think many people get into business for themself, but they are not very flattering theories.  (Unable to work with others, maybe?  I won’t say.)  Nevertheless, for a group of people you would expect to be smart planners and polished professionals, the  best advice I have is don’t set expectations too high.

If fact I started writing about dealing with these clients and lost my enthusiasm for it almost from the moment the idea popped into my head  I plodded on anyway and that only made things worse.  If I was getting bored writing about it, I can imagine how painful it would be if — and that’s a big if – you read it.

Hollow Suffering (Photo credit: Cayusa)

So, I don’t know…A day doesn’t go by when I don’t scratch my head trying to sort it out.  (The worrisome “what the fuck am I doing” moments.)  These really aren’t Willy Loman experiences, but frustrating nonetheless.

When I look across the table in a meeting, often I see…well, I see nothing.  Staying awake is the goal.  Simple concepts like return on investment mean nothing.  Figuring margins is impossible.  Keeping a budget…forget about it.  But the most frustrating thing I experience dealing with small business owners is the inability to make a decision.

I start looking for an out, unless something interesting is going on in the office.  That doesn’t happen often, but it happens.  Offices with animals offer the most promise for this when things fall apart.  Making faces at cats and dogs when the business owner isn’t looking, for example, relieves a lot of impatient anxiety.  The dogs and cats seem to like it, too.  At least the dogs do.  And so do I.

Plus it is amazing what you can learn from meeting a wide variety of people every day.  It is amazing, too, to see how much social stamina you can build over time in those less-than-stimulating experiences, as in “I am going to stay for ten more minutes and not kill anyone.”  It is like practicing holding your breath.  Over time, endurance increases.

And like breaking the surface after holding your breath underwater, escaping a suffocating office can feel as exhilarating as a jail break, without the hassle of deputies chasing you, of course.  When I eventually break away, I count my good fortune — “Thank god I don’t work there!”– and move on.

It’s a lot of fun, actually.

Have you found your nut today?

Every so often making a sale is a good idea, however, and today I turned a few clients toward the light and got signatures, long overdue signatures.  In this way, I proved once again that every so often even a blind squirrel finds a nut and it really is true, anything is possible.

And, please, please, tolerate me…there are many very smart, polished and enjoyable business owners out there with whom I get to work with every day — and you know who you are, don’t you, superstar! — but if the world were all superstardom, being great would merely be being average.  Isn’t that right?  We strive for more than average, dear reader!  I need the flops for context and it takes a special breed (me) to deal with them.

Such is Day Two.

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Advertising, Small Business, and Sales People

Withhold your thoughts about whether you like direct mail, door hangers, or that sort of thing.  I want to share an experience I had meeting a new business that should give a business owner a reason to think twice before pushing a salesman out the door.

 

Not long ago we had space to fill on a neighborhood direct mail product I offer.  It was available  for a nominal fee, mostly to cover part of the production cost.  Even at a bargain price, I understand that it would not fit all business needs, but a business would reach 10,000 homes in the surrounding neighborhoods for less than two cents a delivery.

 

I usually do not stop at businesses in my neighborhood — in large part because people become irrational about sales and I don’t want to risk that interfering in my relationships with neighbors — but I walked past what like a new optical goods shop in my neighborhood and I thought a perfect fit.  So I decided stop in, introduce myself, and see if they wanted some information about our offer and set an appointment to meet.

 

The woman running the shop cut me off and explained that she had been open for months. word-of-mouth was working great for her.  She let me know her husband works in advertising and has everything handled.  I asked what he did and she told me he was very creative, he knew all about designing and creating ads, and had been doing that for years.  Again, everything is covered.

 

I am not so sure.

 

Her husband might very well be a capable advertising man, but if she were sincere, she’s lost all credibility with me.  Writing a good tagline or laying out an effective display ad is worlds apart from advertising and marketing it.  But there’s a good chance I was just getting the brush off and she didn’t want to talk to me.

 

Not Me.

Here’s what you need to know.

 

I live yards away from the store.  Every Sunday I buy a cinnamon roll in a shop next door.  My insurance agent is adjacent to the shop, too.  Probably not a day goes by when I don’t pass that store  at least once.  And guess what…it had been open for months and I didn’t know it existed.

 

I also wear eye glasses and tend to invest in better eye wear.  If I had known about an optical store opening in my neighborhood, I likely would have at least enough interest to check it out.

 

It is also late in the year.  I have a large balance remaining in my health savings account.  I tend to apply any balance I have at the end of the year to purchasing eye glasses.

 

So I am a strong prospective new lead for this business.  I live in the neighborhood, wear glasses, and have money to spend.   If I live almost on top of the place and don’t know they are there, how likely are people blocks or a mile away to know about the store?

 

Finally, when you open a business — crazy as it seems — people will call or stop in to ask about doing business with you.  When they do, treat them as you would a customer because they might be a customer or become one.

 

A credible sales person will have done his homework and have a good reason for contacting you.  It doesn’t hurt to give him a minute to hear what he has to say.  You can quickly sort out the valuable calls from the rest.  But when you say no before knowing what you’re turning down…well, does that make sense?

 

For my part, I will shop at one of my two shops in Uptown again this year.  And I did mention that large available balance in my health savings account right?

 

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A Note From The Field: Selling to your neighborhood business…lessons for all.

What most business owners look like to salesmen...

I do not like to sell to businesses in my neighborhood because more often than not I don’t like the results.  It isn’t necessarily the “no” that often occurs in sales, but getting to that no that’s the problem.

I prefer to think of my local business owner as a sincere and sharper invidual than most, but a short sales call can turn around that impression in a hurry.

Sadly, most business owners would do much better if they were a little less sure of themself, a little less close minded, and this is as true as it is of your local grocery store owner as it is of the dentist across town.  Your favorite business is likely run by someone no different than most.  So when working on sales I mostly avoid my local business owner and almost always regret it whenever I don’t.

Today, for example, contacting a business facing new competition in my neighborhood is an ideal candidate for a local marketing campaign that includes a mix of direct mail, loyalty promotions, and internet marketing.  Plus we are offering
incentives to new advertisers that make this program especially attractive to a small business owner, including complimentary add ons to even a small marketing campaign.

But the business owner never learned about the promos.  He stubbornly refused to accept any information and when I explained some of the features, he mocked them.  We have, for example, QR links to custom websites we offer at no charge on direct mail pieces.  He said he had never seen a direct mail that included a website, telling me that he only sees websites on the internet.  “I have no time for you.  Sorry.”  And that ended it.

First off, I’m not going to waste my time on the stubbornly naive and unwilling to be informed business owner.  Secondly, I didn’t want to sour my impression of this business any further.  True, what he chooses to do with his business is indeed his business.  I understand that.  And I understand that business succeeds without me.

What most salesmen look like to business owners.

However that does not mean that I might not bring value to a business.

Let me suggest, however, that if you’re going to spend time — even as little as five minutes — you might as well spend that time wisely.  LISTEN!  When people listen, the often learn.  At the very least you can determine whether the offer has merit or not.  It always amazes me when people won’t listen to a salesman.  What do you have to lose?  Do people think they are so weak that a salesman might trick them into making bad decisions?

Have confidence, be bold, and listen to a salesman!  Have some backbone.  All we ask for in return is a bit of civility and professionalism.  In the end you might come out ahead…and maintain a good impression, too.  How you treat clients — and many sales people are also clients — reflects on your business.  Keep that in mind.

 

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Why Republicans Need Not Worry About a Strong Economy in 2012

Bush and Obama. Change wasn't as bad as the right feared.

Looking at my clock it is just a few minutes past 9:00 in the morning and already two small business owners have told me they need to rethink a contract with me.  Why? 

One business owner tells me he’s not sure what next year will be like.  Ok, fine, that’s fair.  I’m not sure I know what next year will be like either.  He says things are better, but it might be “just a blip.”  There’s too much uncertainty, he says.

The other business owner said he has to assess how much it costs for him to operate his trucks.  “Have you seen the price of gas?  I need to cut costs somewhere.”  He told me with all the trouble in the Middle East and Obama in charge, there’s too much uncertainty.

Uncertainty?  I hardly think so.  There is a very carefully controlled message that is far from uncertain.  The buzzword for this election cycle is — at this point anyway – uncertainty.  Anyone who needs a reason to be skeptical about the future has his reason, again courtesy of the naysaying can’t-do political right:  The GOP. 

I work with business owners every day.  Two years ago the word “uncertainty” didn’t pass the lips of one of them.  So why is everyone talking in the trumped up lingo of Wall Street investors today?  Because this idea of uncertainty is one the key talking points on the right.  It also shows the skillful manipulation of public discourse that the right is so much more capable of compared with Democrats and the left.

When was business success ever a certainty?  The myth of the self-made man in America is all about tackling unknowns and succeeding, about taking calculated risks and overcoming the odds.  Am I right?  If there is a profitable margin, someone will move to take advantage of it.  That’s what innovation and competition are all about.  That’s enterprising American capitalism at work.

As the economy recovers, conservatives are in a tough spot.  How do they win the blame game if there is less to whine about?  Of course current legislation proposed by conservatives is at best misguided and insincere, but even passing those backward efforts might not succeed in derailing the economy to favor petulant Republicans and their destructive agenda.  So the idea of uncertainty is a way to hedge against success.  If the economy recovers, we can be certain that it will not be enough.

Conservatives have their lock-step followers who will march right off the edge of a cliff for the sake of toeing the party line.  They don’t actually need to destroy the economy further to gain more power in 2012.  They just need to continue with the Big Lie strategy that has served them so well in recent decades.  And that is the very, very unsettling thing about politics and our future in the United States.

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Selling as a Career

http://www.archive.org/details/selling_as_a_career

Well, this says it all!  No need for me to write more posts about sales after this.  A real gem. 

I shouldn’t be mixing politics and sales anyway.  That is not a good practice.  But beware…Clients often try to draw you into a political discussion and it is best to nod politely and quickly deflect the subject.  Don’t agree or disagree regardless of whether you agree or disagree.  Bring up another topic…quickly and without drama. 

I always say something like, “There’s a lot going on out there, Mr. Client.  Well, we got your advertising out of the way.  That’s good!  I’ll check back in a few weeks and see how things are going…”

That’s it.  That’s all I’ve got to add to this fine film.

Don’t fret, U No Hu, I will continue to write about my annoying clients and my walks in the park.  I won’t abandon sales entirely on the Little Tour. 

Until I come up with something more of my own, however, enjoy this fabulous vintage educational film:  Selling as a Career.

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Starting the Sales Day

Impressive Charts!

We haven’t posted any information about the start of a sales day.  Let’s change that!

Today’s start is a good model.  I work for managers who see starting early as an almost ethical or moral imperative.  It doesn’t really matter if business people want to hear from a salesman at 7:30 in the morning, if you’re not trying you’re not cut from the right cloth for sales work. 

Well, I couldn’t disagree more.  I am working from home this morning and I have accomplished more in my first hour than I would have if I had been dragged to some early meeting.  My reports are all in order, I have sifted through the dozens of email that arrive overnight, and I am rested, relaxed, and happy, three qualities that make a huge difference in sales. 

Let me tell you a little about my reports.  I carry a small laptop for all meetings and it is loaded with information that I can use when meeting clients.  However, I worry that we might be tempted to overwhelm business owners with studies, testimonials, and pie charts.  So I use these things sparingly and on an as-needed basis.  I don’t presume that my audience knows all the facts, but I don’t presume that they don’t either.  Fact finding never stops during the sales process.  You should always be checking in with your client and making sure they are still with you.  A good salesman is attentive and flexible.

You need to present your information clearly and the most important information you present is your product or service.  I follow a format I learned from high school debate.  I find out what my clients concerns and goals are and then answer each of those concerns and goals with a feature and benefit from my service.  Very simple.  And for me the most simple way to accomplish this clearly and with good order is to lay out a simple summary on a sheet of paper and just walk through it with the client. 

An Example:  “You mentioned that you would like to increase revenues at your St. Cloud office by 10% next year.  Here I have included this that helps you achieve that next year.” 

You do two things with this approach.  You show that you have listened to your client and you have answered his concern with a solution.  You would be surprised at how impressed people are when they discover that you have listened!

Most of these summaries are two columns.  I put the product or service in a column and list the benefit of the feature in the next.  I make it clean and casual.  Simple. 

So my proposal outlines are all good to go along with any supporting information I want to include with it.  Even with powerful computers, I insist that it is important to have hard copies of key supporting information ready for your clients. 

 So I am ready to go and it is 9:00.  Of course much of what I did this morning I could have done last night — and some of it I did prepare last night — but I find it beneficial to pull my prep together in the morning.  It gives me an opportunity to mentally go through my day and think ahead.  It is a good rehearsal.

Personally, starting now rather than at 7:30  is better for me.  I am not an early rise-and-shine kind of guy and nothing will change that.   I still get up and get started early in the morning, but ramp it up with my preparations.  I am in a much better mood, my thoughts are clearer, and I have wisely used my time to set up my day rather than feel pushed and rushed.

In my work I cannot always start my days like this.  Early meetings are inevitable.  I have made sales as early as 6:00 a.m. (once) and frequently I am starting earlier in order to get to an early meeting.  This is the reality of the business world.  This suprises no one, does it?  If I had my choice, however, today would be the best way to start all of my days.  It optimizes what I am.

No time for delays, however!  Time to go make something out of this day…

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Imminent Death of Paper Phone Books? Not Quite.

Image by smallritual via Flickr

Time to offer some advice. 

A friend forwarded an article citing a study proclaiming the imminent death of paper phone directories.  Don’t believe it.  In fact, if you’re a small business and you’re looking for a cost-effective advertising investment, phone directories might be a better value today than they were just a few years ago.

First…a disclaimer.  I sell advertising that includes phone directories.  I also sell an array of online advertising services in addition to even more “old media” like direct mail.  The people I work for really don’t care if my advertising sales come from print directories or new media.  I don’t care either.  In fact, I would rather sell more internet advertising.  It is popular, easier to sell, and renews nicely.   A lot of misperceptions support this trend.  I won’t complain, however…

…I have to tell you…

There are several sound business factors that favor people who still choose to advertise in phone directories.  Yes, directory usage continues to decline, but it does so very slowly. 

That is the first positive factor favoring print directory advertisers.  The perception that directories don’t get used have influenced some businesses to mistakenly pull from phone books.  This means there’s less competition competing for the leads that do come from phone books.  Ad content in phone directories has declined disproportionately to the usage of directories.  This bodes well for yellow page directory advertisers.

Second, the economy has been down (remember?) and too many business owners mistakenly see advertising as an expense.  (If it really is an expense, why do it all, in good times or bad?)  This has influenced poor decisions about advertising, again limiting the advertisers competing for leads from phone directories which benefits those who choose to stay in the game.

Even industries that are down still generate business.  In fact, in a down market you can argue that it is even more important to advertise.   There might fewer people seeking lawn care maintenance services, for example, but people still seek those services.  If you think of potential business as a pie, even if the pie is smaller, some businesses are getting more of it because they have less competition competing for it.

Which brings up another good reason to stick with directories.  Now is a time to build market share.  It is not a time for the timid.  Phone directories are a very cost-effective way to build market share.  As long as they generate leads, take advantage of it.

And costs generally are better from phone directories.  (But not all directories offer value equally.  More on that in a moment.)  Many people don’t understand how the internet works.  Social media is a big buzz word, but many businesses are not in a position to see a lot of organic growth from social media, especially for new lead generation.  Services like SEO and SEM can be very expensive.  $100 leads are not uncommon.  If you work with a credible advertising professional, phone directories can deliver leads for a fraction of that cost.

Some businesses inherently do very well in phone books.  Any business that caters to emergencies, for example, tend to do well.  You come home and find a very sick pet…do you log on the phone book and start searching or do you flip open a phone book?  The myth of speed and accuracy from the internet has yet to be completely answered. 

Or discretion…need an attorney?  Do you search on the office computer or even the home computer where searches might be tracked?  Examples abound.

Not all phone directories are created equally, however.  Like all industries, the advertising interest evolves and responds to market changes.  Shop a little.  Leads are leads, they’re like a commodity and some businesses deliver the same product at better prices and greater efficiencies.  The phone book you grew up with might not be the best deal.  Again, a good professional can help you sort this out.

Finally, a word about waste.  A single phone book delivered once a year is significantly less wasteful than the daily mail.  (Remember…I sell direct mail, too, so trying to be balanced.)  If you have the patience to do so, hold a month’s worth of junk mail and weigh it against your phone directory.  (Yes, you have one…go look.) 

Don’t pish posh directories.  Not yet.  Even the study funded by the “ban the phone book people” (coincidence?) admits that older folks make up most of phone directory usage and they ain’t quite dead yet…and they have money!

Enough advice.  Now scroll down and read something better.  Tell your friends!

Why It Gets Frustrating

http://www.yellowbook.com

Let me give you an example of why my work can be frustrating. 

Suppose a client has two advertising options.  I have tracking results for both options.  In one option an advertiser pays less for his ads, but he gets fewer leads.  That might seem to be ok for a business on a budget, right?  Perhaps the business isn’t willing to risk much at this point and they just want to ease into a program to see what results they will get. 

It might make sense for this business to start with a conservative advertising program.  Maybe.  First let’s look at another business considering the same two ad plans.

Let’s the second business has been advertising for years and they decide they need to reduce costs so they have decided it makes sense to reduce ad save money.  I have the same tracking and results to share.  It would seem to make sense that a smaller advertisement would result in savings, right?

Wrong.  Or I should say not necessarily.

You’re only going to save money with advertising cuts if you are losing it by having the advertising in the first place.  In that case you need to think long and hard about whether you shouldn’t just cut it all.  If you’re spending a furtine trying to selll bikini’s in Nome, you might have something other than poor advertising to blame…you have a poor advertising decision.

Or perhaps you’re spending more than you need to spend.  If you’re the only bikini dealer in Nome, you might not need a billboard on every street corner and an ad on every page in the newspaper.  If your advertising costs exceed your potential revenues, your wasting money.  If you spend a million dollars advertising in a half million dollar market, you’re going to be disappointed.  You have to look out for redundancy, too.  A million dollars in sales on a $500,000 budget isn’t as good as a million dollars in sales on a $250,000 budget.

So what do you?  You get a ad exec or rep you can trust…and maybe this is where I am losing the game!  Let me explain my example from the yellow pages phone directory advertising world.

I have two ad plans that we have tracked.  For the sale of simplicity let’s say that Plan A costs $100 and results in an average of 5 leads per month.  Plan B costs $400 a month but results in an average of 100 leads per month.  Which is going to “save” you money?

If you’re the new advertiser and you want to start slow, perhaps you’re willing to pay $20/lead and your business opportunities can justify that.  Let’s say your closing ration is very high on a product that has a profit margin high enough to get a return on your investment.  There are scenarios where you want to play these odds with an untested advertising product.  However…

Let’s say you’re the existing advertiser and you’re already the hypothetical $400/month getting 100 leads.  How does reducing your investment help you?  How does moving from $4/lead to $20/lead make any sense?  If you are not closing enough deals at the $4/lead rate to justify the $400/month plan, how does going down to the $100 plan improve your odds?

Buying down is a common mistake people make in yellow page directory advertising.  Leads are like commodities.  If you can get them at a lower cost, go for the lower cost.  Often that happens in a phone directory simply because you invest smarter.  If you need gas and you see on one corner a station offering gasoline for $2.00 a gallon and across the street another station offering the same gasoline for $2.50 a gallon…where are you going to go? 

This example is a simplified situation that exists in many larger phone directories that contain a lot of competition.  If you open a directory for a major US city, for example, you’ll see dozens of pages of ads for auto services, attorneys, home improvement contractors, dentists, etc.  In these situations the smaller ads often pay the most for their leads compared to bigger ads. 

It isn’t always the case that smaller ads are mistake, however.  And my example here — while being very close to an actual example — is unusual for how clear the cost-per-lead comparison breaks down, but these comparisons are typical.  However, if you’re a small business you might not be able to handle all the business you would need so you could pay for and profit from a larger ad plan.  So you need to be honest with yourself and your potential.  A good rep will help you sort out your opportunities and your costs.  Take your time and do it right.

Also take your time and do it right when comparing companies you might want to advertise with…especially yellow pages.  They are not all the same.  Lower cost doesn’t always mean best value.  On the other hand, the “incumbent” or the “utility” directory might not be the best value either.  Often they charge high rates based on reputation…everyone mistakenly thinks they are the “real” phone book and they charge accordingly.  Today this simply is not a sound way to make a value judgement.  Most consumers have no clue about the distinction between one book and another … and they don’t care.  They use the books with the most information.  More on that later.  But briefly now…you can do the same sort of comparison…reversed.  If one book charges $1000 for an ad and the other charges $500, don’t presume the $1000 is better.   If you get 50 leads for $500 and 75 for $1000, which is a better value?

Don’t be one of the many business owners making poor investment decisions when buying yellow pages advertising.

Buying Yellow Page Advertising: Breaking Bad Advice

Image via Wikipedia

All right…I have had about enough.  Yellow page salesmen are one notch below used car salesmen and half a notch above crack dealers on the sales respectability scale.   That unfortunate misperception is one that can cost a business money.  I have sold millions of dollars of yellow pages advertising and the easiest sales to make are to ongoing customers.  They continue to place ads year after year for the simple reason that it works.  It works quite well, in fact, and business owners — especially new business owners — would do well if they gave this proven source of leads a little more respect.

If you have an experienced yellow pages rep, you have a valuable resource.  Use it.  Don’t worry…the experienced sales rep doesn’t have time to trick you into a sale.  They have a solid book of business and they are looking to build that book of business.  Bad sales become unhappy clients and don’t have much value to an experienced yellow pages rep.  So the the idea that a yellow pages salesman is out to mislead you is the first misconception to overcome.

I will talk more — again — about being prepared to advertise later.  You would be surprised how many businesses — new businesses in particular — who say they don’t have enough money to advertise.  If you don’t have enough money to advertise, you don’t have enough money to open your business.  Period.  Advertising is a key small business fundamental and everyone wants to be smart about their business investments, so choose advertising that is smart and effective. 

Advertising should be an asset, after all, and it should generate profits.  If it doesn’t do this you are only spending money to waste it.  And for some reason yellow pages has become a target of people who see waste in advertising.  We need to debunk this misperception.  It is a misperception that leads to bad advice.  Let’s hit the bad advice head on.

Bad Advice #1:  Start small and test your results.

The idea here is to place an advertisement in a yellow pages directory and track your results.  Be conservative, don’t risk more than you’re willing to lose.  Well, ok.  I’m not going to argue with tracking your results and I don’t have a real problem with letting your yellow page advertising evolve and grow.  There are a few things to keep in mind about tracking and growing, however.

First, if you’re going to track your advertising results, you better have a good way of tracking.  Advertising sales people know all too well that business people claim to know the source of all their leads and sales.  They will tell you “I ask everyone how they found me.”  The best way to test this very scientific survey is to ask yourself:  “When was the last time I was asked how I found a business?”  I sell advertising…I am always waiting and seeking that question.  I will even call businesses from time to time to see if I do get asked that question.  (It’s a bit of due diligence on my part.)  And I believe the last time anyone asked me how I found his business was two or three years ago, if that recent.  People don’t ask!  Am I right or am I wrong?  They don’t ask.  And if they do, how accurate is the answer?

Consider this:   Business owners will tell you their biggest source of leads is referrals (N.B.  This would be a problem if you’re a new business, right?), but in reality that is likely only partially true.  Many customers will tell a business they found them through a referral even if they haven’t.  Why?  Saying so is a way to connect with the business owner, to create and extend a pre-existing relationship.  Customers do this to nudge a business toward more attentive and personal service.  If a business owner thinks an existing client referred them, don’t you think that business owner is going to be less likely to screw you over?  At least a portion of “referrals” are people seeking better service or people just giving the answer they think the business wants to hear.  That’s it.

If you really want to track your advertising results, invest in a lead tracking line, a separate phone line that keeps a record of calls.  This is the only way.  In a phone book it works especially well.  People generally call from the directory…that’s why they are there.  A tracking line is a simple and clear picture of your results.  So, even IF you want to start small and measure your results, be sure you have an objective way to measure your results otherwise your effort is wasted.

As far as going small in order to put less of your budget at risk is concerned…what you really risk by following the “think small” advice is incorrectly assessing what a phone directory really can do for your business.  Not all advertising programs are created equal, and a cheap ad might underperform; it might not make the most of the opportunity you could have taken from the customers using the yellow pages directory.  This does not automatically mean that bigger ads are better ads.  Placement matters most. 

Here’s an important and common sense takeaway:  The ads that get seen the most produce the most.  It is that simple.  If you’re buying an advertising plan on price alone, your ads might not get noticed.

Often the ad that gets seen the most is the largest ad, not because it is large, but because it is seen.  (There are many other considerations about ad content, design, and placement, but for now I am arguing against the less-is-more suggestion.)  If you buy a small in-column ad in a directory that has several pages of display ads — i.e., a very competitive and successful directory– you might not even garner table scraps from the big guys.  Also keep in mind that if people are calling the ads they see first first, you might end up with a lot of lower quality leads, such as price shoppers, for example.   There is a strong correlation in the quality of leads — or lack of quality — as an advertisement appears further and further behind others in yellow pages directories. 

A job worth doing is worth doing well.  Don’t sell yourself short on a yellow pages trial.  Make sure you’re starting with an advertising plan that is worthy of your business.

Bad Advice 2:  Choose a small directory and test that market first.

Very bad advice.  In fact worse than the starting with a small advertising plan.  I am not necessarily opposed to choosing one directory as a test, but it is important to know that not all directories are created the same.  Literally.  In fact some business owners might believe yellow pages is a failing industry because they have chosen to advertise in weak directories.  (Usually because it is inexpensive.)  Among the mistakes you might make is choosing a community directory over a directory that competes with a metro directory.  The yellow page industry isn’t dying, but small directories are. 

Today phone directories are used primarily to locate businesses — less than 5% of all directory look ups are to residential white pages — and most business lookups are coming from people new to a market or people making a specialty or infrequent purchase, like a new roof or dealing with an emergency.  For these things people want options and they want them fast.  Phone books still have an advantage over  internet advertising for this kind of information, especially if you are looking for local businesses.  You’ll likely see more local roofing contractor options in a good phone book than you will on an internet search, for example…even today.  The internet is great for research, but buyers still shop and phone books attract buyers.  Although online phone directories like www.yellowbook.com are closing the gap fast.

Skip the small books.  Choose a book that has good content.  You want to see a lot of existing advertising in the directory you choose.  This might seem counter intuitive, but business begets business.  If you’re the only roofer advertising under the roofing contractor heading that might seem like a good thing, but how many consumers will want a book with only a smattering of ads scattered here and there?  You want to advertising in a book that people will use and for this content is king.  People want to see options.  Choose a phone directory with options.

Then go back to Bad Advice #1.  Don’t sell yourself short.  Make sure you are competitive within that directory.  Buy an advertising plan that will compete; one that will be seen and generate results.

Another somewhat related note:  Who do you think the directory publishers are advertising to on their radio and television campaigns?   The advertisements promote a strong consumer message, but the reality is those ads bolster the directory’s reputation with business owners.  The publisher is really advertising to their advertising market. 

For most people yellow page directories are like tissue paper.  Everyone might call the tissue Kleenex, but it really doesn’t matter to the consumer who made the “Kleenex.”  Leads are essentially a commodity and more than one directory can deliver that product well.  Keep your eyes open for quality.  Look for size, scope, and content.  Bigger is better in the directory world.

Bad Advice #3:  Nobody uses phone books anymore. 

I will sound flippant, but so what?   The idea that “nobody” uses phone directories is a lazy conclusion and a convenient one for someone looking to get out of tried and true old technology and move onto the glamorous world of internet advertising.  In reality the demise of yellow pages directories has been predicted for at least ten years now and yellow page directories still provide results.  In fact, if you buy smartly, you might find that yellow page directories are the most cost-effective advertising investment made by your business.  The bottom line is simple.  If you are getting a profitable return from yellow page directories, invest in it. 

Also keep in mind that you, the business owner, don’t need to use a yellow page directory to justify investing in yellow page advertising.  What matters is what the prospective new business is doing in your market.  Furthermore, yellow pages doesn’t have to be your biggest source of new business, it only needs to be a profitable one.  Yellow pages remains a key connection between buyers and sellers and likely will continue to be one into the foreseeable future.  People predicted the end of radio when television came along.  Radio is still here.  It is hard to say what form yellow pages will take in the future, if any at all, but until they stop becoming profitable, businesses are making money from yellow page advertising.  Don’t let the perception that the industry is dying prevent you from profiting from the medium while profits still exist.

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It Pays to Listen

Business Transactions Happen Everywhere

Good listening is essential to sales success.  If you don’t listen well, you’re likely going to struggle.  But I am not going to spend a lot of time writing about that today.  I want to point out to business owners that it pays for them to listen, too.  A lot of opportunity is squandered when you refuse to listen.  My argument here is simple.  Take time to hear a sales pitch.  You might learn something.

After years of working with mostly small businesses, I am amazed at how many of them are run by people who do not have even a basic grasp of small business fundamentals.  They don’t understand assets versus expenses or when an expense operates as an investment.  They wouldn’t be able to read a spreadsheet anyway.  And return on investment?  Forget it.  If a check is being written for anything, it is a loss. 

These business owners, but not only these business owners, would be in better shape, maybe even much better shape, if they listened.  It isn’t just a matter of listening to sales people, either; however I have to believe that if they don’t listen to me, they probably don’t listen to a lot of people with ideas for their business.  Even successful businesses can gain from listening.  And keep in mind that if you listen to someone it doesn’t mean you have to be swayed by what they tell you.  But let me say it again…you still might learn something.

Hell…when listening to a salesman you might get some competitive information about your market and your competition.  You might see what your competitor is doing to market his business, for example.  You might get an idea of what he is investing for that marketing exposure.  Knowledge is key, is it not?

But I am dealing with a lot of people who possess something like an eighth grade education.  They might have graduated from high school, but somewhere along the line the learning process shut down.  You see these people in college for that matter!  Now this is a slur and it isn’t meant to describe everyone, but you do have a lot of small business owners who are in business because either they inherited the business or they couldn’t find anything else to do.  I often question if these are the best ways to become involved in a business.  Even the kid who inherits the family business needs to care, right?  There are a lot of knuckle-dragging, mouth breathers with little or no passion about their business and that’s a problem from the get go.

I am going to pick on beauty salons again.  (Sorry.)  If I had a dime for every time a beauty salon owner told me he couldn’t afford advertising because times are tough but then told me he didn’t need to advertise because all of his customers came to him by referral, I wouldn’t be writing a blog about sales, I would be writing a blog about investing. 

Sometimes you just need to call people out on these logical inconsistencies, but you need to be careful about it.  For my part, I am not that good at it.  I tend to come across as condescending or as a know-it-all.  Truthfully, guys that more of jerk get this done better.  You kind of have to be able to tactfully say:  “Are fucking stupid or what?  Don’t make me come over there and hit you!  Christ!  Now shut up and look at this again.  Tell me, what about fucking advertising don’t you get you pea-brained moron!”  If you can find away to say that in a professional and polished way, you can win with these fools.  I tend to sound like this:  “You’re stupid.”  I’m missing the more insulting and crass part of the art.

But it shouldn’t be this way.  Why wouldn’t a customer see this for herself?  Well, there’s the rub.  In reality you are not addressing the business owners’ real objection.  They are afraid that they will lose even more money.  (Most of these knuckleheads are losing money because they couldn’t manage a paper route.)  But the problem starts before any objection is raised IF the business owner will not listen.

So here is the point — I’m growing tired of my condescending negative tone — there is something to be gained by listening.  Who is going to disagree with that?  Listening is different from answering.  You can always tell someone no.  But it is important to remember that we all don’t know everything about everything and there are many things yet to be learned.  Am I right or am I wrong?

Perhaps I am just growing weary of dealing with bumbling unsophisticated intellects.  But I do get to go on nice drives and visit nice parks!  Oh, boy…yesterday was a good one.  Many wonderful stops.  Perhaps I’ll write about that next in the Random Asides page.

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