Your Clients are NOT Buying Advertising

Sometimes these sales tips just seem to write themselves. This past Wednesday, we continued our RAB webinar series on the Seven Steps to Selling Success. This month's topic was proposals. You can watch it on demand here.

Ted Macejko III is an account manager in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Ted provides more feedback on sales tips and webinars than most, and his insights and kindness always reward us. Ted had a client presentation later in the day and shared this about his experience:

"I hate not being ready at this stage of my life. RAB is quite frankly the best partner we sellers can have.

They bought the foot traffic. They bought the fresh creativity only because it came with foot traffic. Based on what they told me, anyway.

Just sayin'...

The effort you and the folks behind the scenes contribute is more than an hour's worth of graphics. Please pass along my appreciation to those behind the curtain."

At RAB, we teach the rules of advertising; there are many, but here is what we focused on this week:

People do not buy products and services. They buy what the product or service does for them.

The encouragement to the sellers was to think about "why" the client might consider buying advertising and focus on that. In Ted's case, the client's need was more foot traffic, so that's what Ted sold them — foot traffic. I'm sure it came with some :30s, :60s, morning drive and sports, but those were simply the tactics to get the client what they were really buying.

As you review your proposals for next week, take a close look and determine what you are selling. If you're selling advertising, it might work or it might not. But if you're selling what the client needs, you're more likely to have success. Of course, figuring out what the client "needs" or what they are really buying is part of the Customer Needs Analysis process. That is why we recommend the title of your proposal be the number one need the client shared. For example: How to Sell More Jeeps is a far more compelling title than A Marketing Partnership Between WRAB and (Client name).

Are you selling what they are buying? (In Ted's case, it was foot traffic.) Or are you selling advertising?

Think Big! Make Big Things Happen!

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@rab.com. You can all so connect with him on X and LinkedIn.