Sales Training: Cheap and Effective Advertising Techniques
Value Added Selling Skills
Which is more valuable to you; gaining one quick sale based
strictly on a low bid, or building a long-term relationship with a client that
will yield steady sales for years to come? Sometimes there is more to sales
than just making one sale. In today’s hyper-competitive environment, one
of the most important things you can have going for you is a great relationship
with a customer built on the kind of trust and respect that will earn you repeat
business. One of the most important things that you will learn in our Value
Added Selling Skills seminar is exactly how to forge such a relationship, one
that will create friendships, not just accounts.
Sales & Marketing
Q: I just started a new at-home computer
business, and I took the small amount of money I had to put some advertisements
in the local newspaper and in a weekly newspaper. I put fliers up at all the
local Laundromats, insurance companies, any place that would allow me to, and
I still haven't received any business. Only one person has called me. The only
thing I can think of is to wait until the new phone books come out, but that's
not for another six months. Do you have any ideas on advertising that would
be cheap and somehow effective? How do all the other small computer companies
get business?
A: My strong advice is that you stay
out of the Yellow Pages until you've found a message that works for you. Your
problem isn't that you've been using the wrong media; you've simply been saying
the wrong thing. To illustrate how widespread your problem is, read the following
question that arrived within minutes of your own: "I have to write a research
paper for my Advertising and Media course, and I need to know what makes advertising
effective. I have already read many books, but I hope to get your expert opinion
since none of the books really answer the question. I hope to hear from you
soon. I am waiting for your response."
Here are a few matches to strike
when heating your ad to maximum sizzle:
Great ads begin with great opening
lines, so pay wide-eyed attention to your FMI (first mental image). The FMI
of your ad will be the first thing your listener will "see" clearly
in his or her mind. Consequently, "A great, big, bright red..." is
a bad opening line because nothing can yet be seen. You're modifying something,
but is it a ball, a rose or a nose? "A truck—big, bright and red—came
rolling into my field of view." See how much more imaginable that is?
Most people bury their FMI about
one third of the way from the top of the script. They lead up to the main point
of their ad when it would be far better to just drop the cat in the punch bowl—SPLASH.
(See what I mean about imaginable?) Consequently, scan down about one third
of the way from the top of your ad, and you'll usually find your opening line.
Rip a big X through everything that occurs prior to the FMI. Fling open the
curtain on your list of unexpected words and you'll find it easier to seize
the listener's attention. Open big.
Action words are big. Especially
the ones with tread left on them. Avoid verbs that are worn slick with use.
Wallop, sting, smack, slap, snip, jolt and vibrate with verbs. Write with too
many adjectives—modifiers—and everyone will think you're a moon-eyed
poet in junior high. So croak the modifiers with action-word bullets. Shoot
to kill with unexpected verbs. (Notice how the verbs in the previous two paragraphs
lend energy to the writing and make it easier to read: bury, drop, scan, find,
rip, fling, seize, open, avoid, write, croak, kill.)
No writer can edit his or her own
ad. It takes a second pair of ears to hear a weakness. That's why brilliant
writers demand their ads be edited by a heartless bastard who won't spare their
feelings. Soft-shell writers want to argue about every little thing. That's
why their ads are ineffective.
The LMI (last mental image) is equally
as important as the FMI. Ideally, you want the LMI to loop back to the FMI,
thus completing the mental circuit, driving the memory of your message ever
deeper into the mind.
The perfect ad causes the readers/listeners/viewers
to imagine doing the thing—taking the action you want them to take. But
DON'T tip your hand by opening with the word "imagine" or anything
like it. Asking the listener to imagine something is like saying to a woman,
"I'm going to compliment you now in the hope that you'll think I'm thoughtful
and considerate. Ready?" Don't tell her to imagine, cause her to imagine.
So make sure you do the following:
Open with a vivid FMI.
Trigger voluntary mental participation.
Employ unusual verbs.
Minimize adjectives and modifiers.
Cause listeners to see themselves taking action.
Close with a vivid LMI.
Say what you want to say and say
it hot. It's how businesses are built and bestsellers are written. Now go build
one.
By Roy H. Williams
"Performance Sales Systems
- Don't Waste Time With Pricey Advertising"
Performance
Sales Quote
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then
you win."
--Mahatma Gandhi
Suggested Reading:
Advertising
and Sales Promotion Strategy
by Gerard J. Tellis
The
Secret Sales Pitch: An Overview of Subliminal Advertising
by August Bullock
Hospitality
Sales and Advertising
by James R. Abbey
Amazing
Formulas That Guarantee Advertising Sales
by Mark Smalley
Arnie
DeLuca's Newspaper advertising sales training program
by Arnold A DeLuca
Sales
Training Work Book, Buying Styles
by Michael D. Raimey
Sales
Training: A Guide to Developing Effective Salespeople
by Frank Salisbury
Ounce
of Prevention Marketing, Sales, & Advertising Law for Non-Lawyers
by Steven A. Meyerowitz
Your
Sale Advertising Can Be Better
by Judy Young Ocko
Executive's
Guide to Marketing, Sales, and Advertising Law
by David C. Hjelmfelt
Radio
Advertising Sales Success: The Game Plan
by
William M. Pacelli
Interviewing
and selecting sales, advertising and marketing personnel: A guide for the screening
interview
by Arthur R Pell
