Response Oriented Selling gives your ad reps unique powers to break through the toughest objections and sell more, larger, and more frequent contracts by enabling them to do the unthinkable—prove response upfront.

In movies where good and evil battled it out, no matter how strong and well trained the good guys were, no matter how advanced their weapons, when the superheroes arrived, they brought with them powers that gave them such a huge advantage, it changed the rules of the engagement completely.

They didn't have to dodge bullets, they didn't need superior negotiating skills. Instead, their powers enabled them to save the day without having to deal with those problems.

 

Similarly, the Response Oriented Selling program gives your ad reps special powers that enables them to sidestep the major roadblocks they're facing now in a completely different way and make the sales that your competitors simply can't. Over 1,000 newspapers have adopted the approach over the years and many believe it's truly their secret weapon.

 

What's the real problem with selling local advertising?

We're in a very unusual industry. In others, sales is relatively simple. For example, a car dealer sells cars to people who at least believe they'll get a car out of the deal. Federal Express sells overnight delivery to people who believe, at the very least, their packages will be delivered overnight.

 

But while your local businesses simply want to get a response when they give you money, that's not what your ad reps are able to sell. They can sell a piece of what influences response—great circulation, readership, and impressions. Maybe a nice-looking spec ad. But advertisers are keenly aware that even when these things are all good, that doesn't ensure they'll get the response they need out of the deal. Your ad reps know it, too.

 

It's a tricky problem to solve. Better designed ads don't solve it. Better information-gathering, analysis, and solid strategies behind a good-looking design helps (and we teach these things). But the problem goes deeper.

 

That's because, even if your ad rep was able to come up with a perfectly effective strategy, including the right medium and the right message, your local businesses probably wouldn't believe it. That's because, for the most part, prospective advertisers still think advertising is very much an art form and a creative process that's subjective. That 2x2 that he ran last year with his dog in it? As far as he can see, there's nothing wrong with it. Instead, they assume your newspaper is the problem.

 

Maybe print is dead, like they keep hearing about. Maybe nobody looks at banner ads anymore. Maybe your newspaper's rates are so high they can't make a profit. Maybe you don't have enough circulation. Maybe it's because your free. Or paid.

 

Whatever the reason, when your ad rep walks in the door of their business, they're walking into a confused and often angry prospective advertiser. And traditional ad sales techniques, no matter how good your ad reps are at them, typically don't provide them with the tools and techniques to deal with this onslaught. Ad reps leave demoralized, knowing all the prospective advertiser cares about is response but unable to fully and believably prove it.

 

So, what's the secret power?

We teach your ad reps how to sell the only thing that motivates a local business to run—response. Actually, we teach ad reps how to prove it will occur, in advance. Which changes every stage of the sales call.

 

How do we do it? First, we teach them how to get the right information, do the right analysis, and create an effective ad strategy they can hand off to the designers to make look better. But, again, that won't by any means ensure the business will actually run, since the odds are that the strategy is completely different than the way they think it should be.

 

The real key is to get inside the head of the prospect, fix all the incorrect theories about what works and what doesn't, and replace it with a reliable, predictable approach. And we teach ad reps to make the whole process the prospect's idea by drawing it out of them using their own life experiences.

 

The ad rep then combines this process with the information gathered from the prospect about their business, target customers, and competition, and, when following our approach, the prospect moves from not wanting to run at all to spending serious money with your newspaper. They realize where the problem was all along and now understand it wasn't your newspaper that was the problem. Not your rates, not your circulation. Not that print is dead.

 

Your prospective advertiser also realizes your ad reps have a unique skill that no other media in the market has—the ability to provide (and prove) the total response package. Ad reps begin to look forward to the upfront stalls and objections. They're able to easily switch the conversation from "Your newspapers don't work" and "I have no money" to discussions about response.

 

It does what most newspapers (and their competitors) still believe is impossible. And it drives revenue like no other approach.

 

Feel free to look around this web site. Look at the different components of the course. We give the ad rep everything, and we mean everything. See the different ways we mix and match the components to fit just about every budget. See what others say about our program. Learn about Bob McInnis, who developed and teaches this approach. Read some of his insights and watch a video. You can even download a free e-book that'll teach you how to organize or choose a training program.

 

If you like what you see and are interested in taking next steps or just have further questions, feel free to contact us.