The New Rules of Custom Publishing

Junta42 | The New Rules of Custom Publishing Ask the question to uncover an opportunity. And the question is, “What are your most pressing communication challenge(s) for this year?,” or more simply put, “What’s keeping you up at night?” Yes, this is simple Sales 101. It’s also a question that is rarely asked anymore in a sales call. The answer to that question will determine whether or not there is an opportunity for custom solution. Asking these questions are also important as it pertains to custom: • • • • • • • • What are your marketing goals and objectives? What marketing initiatives do you have in place currently? What’s working and what isn’t? What is the message you want to send? What is your competitive advantage? What industries or sectors are you targeting? What types of people are you targeting? Users? Influencers? Decision-makers? What needs to happen for your company to call a marketing investment successful? At the end of the call, you want them to ask for a proposal from you. Be sure not to just say you’ll go back and research the situation. They have to ask for help. If by the end of the conversation they have not asked, then ask the question, “Would you like a proposal on XYZ initiative/problem/challenge?” Get this as specific as possible, and follow up specifically in writing. Present the proposal. This is the perfect sales position. They have asked for your help/your expertise in marketing and communications. You have positioned yourself as a marketing and communications expert. They will be very willing to take your call and meeting. At this point, you are their free consultant. In your proposal, don’t be so specific as to have exact products and pricing. Your proposal should be more conceptual in nature. The goal here is to get them interested enough in the concept that they want to see the pricing. In this call, if they latch on to a certain idea or component, you can get enough specifics, such as printing specs, editorial content issues, design specifications, distribution strategy, etc., in order to properly price out a proposal. Again, you want them to ask for more giving them everything at once actually makes it too easy to say no. Buying into a custom plan is a love affair it can’t be rushed. You are creating many small yeses that will lead to one big yes at the end. And it is always important to get a feel for what that company would be willing to invest to meet its objectives and overcome that challenge. Get them to ask for help. The goal of asking the questions above is for your prospects to actually ask for help in some way. So, as a custom media salesperson, it is your responsibility to insert case studies, key testimonials and possibly helpful solutions that are very relevant to answering their questions. Only go into detail when asked this should be part of the flow of conversation. This is not a sales pitch. What you are doing is relating to their challenges, and letting customers know that you are a professional at solving their challenges in unique ways. If done correctly, you should get responses such as, “You can do that?” or “I didn’t know you could do that!” or “Can that be done?” or “We couldn’t possibly do that!” or “We don’t have the resources or expertise to do that.” Present the pricing proposal. In this step, you may have enough information that you actually “comp” a design for a print or Web product. Get them to visualize how this product can help their customers. This is also the meeting where you need the key decisionmakers present. PowerPoint is fine, but be sure to have printouts. If you are pricing a print magazine, have a comp there (if the business is worth enough for you). If it’s Web, working up a Web site will sell. If that’s not possible, similar examples may also help. www.junta42.com/match 11 http://www.junta42.com/match

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The New Rules of Custom Publishing

The New Rules of Custom Publishing World-Class Custom Publishing... Is Possible #1 Understand the Changes... #2 Be Active in Social Media... #3 Acquire Expertise in All Forms of Content #4 Walk the Talk #5 Position Yourself... #6 Have a Clear Value Proposition #7 Price Your Services... #8 Value the Role of the Project Manager #9 Use Questions, Not Answers... About the Author

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.