Managing Your Territory Introduction Go where the money is Those running elsewhere Prospecting sp. sections Time mgt. mistakes A little each day More on special sections The fastest way to increase sales! Participate in this award-winning, newspaper-specific ad sales course on-site or in a Webinar.  • Get past upfront stalls and objections without any pushing  • Make the account believe he really needs you  • Get better information from your prosepct  • Develop quick ad strategies that work the very first time  • Eliminate size, frequency, content, cost and most other objections before they ever arise  • Get dramatic responses for all kinds of advertisers  • Never have to push an advertiser to run again click here

So we know who not to call on, but who should you go after first in your territory?

They say in business, whenever you're in doubt about what to do at any given time, that you should ask yourself "what is the most productive thing I can do at this moment?" With selling advertising, your guide should be the question "What can I do at this moment to bring in the most money in the shortest amount of time?" The answer? Keep going where the money is easiest to get.

So once you go after people who are already running with your newspaper, the second easiest group to go after would be those who have run in the last six months but dropped out. These people might just run seasonally and it might be time for them to run again. Or they might have just moved away from advertising for whatever reason, even just the simple fact that an ad rep hasn't called on them recently.

Go through your reports and identify these people and stop out and see them. We'll get into some detail in the next chapter about what to say to them. For now, let's just talk about organizing who to contact.

Once you get those people running who are already running and/or under contract with your newspaper, accounts running in the advertising vehicles you compete with will always be your best source of advertising revenue.

Remember my brief mention of Willy Sutton in chapter two? He was the famous bank robber that, when finally caught, was asked why he robs banks. His answer: "that's where the money is". He knew what a lot of salespeople forget–to go where the money is. By looking at this week's competitive publications that circulate in your area, and finding the ads in your territory, in most cases you're finding advertisers who are planning on spending money next week on another ad in that publication. And that's where the money is.

Next: Those running elsewhere