An ad sales pro gives six great tips for breathing life back into a dead advertising lead.
The call went great, and they asked for a proposal. You put a fantastic package together, send it off and then…crickets.
When it comes to landing advertisers for your project, we’ve all been there. Sales trainer Ryan Dohrn has been there too, and offers six ways to bring a dead advertiser back to life.
“Sometimes an advertiser will ask for a proposal as a way to shut you up or make you go away,” Dohrn writes. “This is a waste of your time. To avoid this situation, try to set up the next call to review it when the prospect asks you to create a proposal. If the advertiser will not grant you a follow-up meeting, it is very likely that they are not very interested.”
He also recommends reviewing your approach during the initial sales call. Did you make the prospect feel comfortable that they could tell you they didn’t like your idea, without getting the hard sell?
“Talk about this on the sales call and make your prospects feel at ease. This is called managing expectations from the start!” Dohrn advises.
Your follow-up process may also benefit from some tweaking. Instead of the usual “just checking in,” have a purpose and point to each follow-up contact.
“Call them with a purpose. Be sure to vary your message and keep track of the messages you left and sent in your CRM,” says Dohrn.
We all lose a few along the way. But you can increase your odds by getting real with your prospects and truly working out a proposal that meets their needs and grows their business.
“If you see your dead advertiser’s competition doing something solid in the marketing space, call your dead advertiser and point it out. Then, offer a solution with your ad programs to fix their problem,” Dohrn offers.
Most of all, he notes, don’t take it personally. “Your clients have their own pressures and deadlines and often lose interest just because they are overwhelmed,” Dohrn notes. Keep that in mind and be available to help them. You might be surprised that those supposedly “dead” clients have a lot of life in them after all.