10 Secrets of Ad Sales Superstars

A Shweiki Media Webinar

Ryan DohrnRyan Dohrn, CEO of Brain Swell Media LLC Ryan Dohrn is an Emmy award winning TV producer, has overseen over 3,000 Web site builds, is a nationally acclaimed speaker, has been featured in USA Today, on ABC, CBS and FOX TV stations, on Forbes.com and has personally impacted millions of dollars in online and related media revenues for media companies large and small.

1. Always be prospectingDohrn has in his sales arsenal a prospecting strategy he calls his, "Big 50 Prospecting Plan." What Dohrn has noticed

throughout his career is how superstar sales people know their numbers. They have a number of prospects that their

going to work in an effort to close a certain amount of business.

Here is Dohrn's personal prospecting technique

1. work 50 brand new prospects in a 30 day period (what constitutes as a good prospect) People that are already

active in the marketplace, new business owners, people with a marketing director.

2.

3. work 50 in an effort to get ten quality meetings

4. from the 10 quality meetings, Dohrn writes approximately 8 proposals

5. work 8 proposals to close 4 deals

2. Work as hard to keep the business as you did to get the businessWhen Dohrn observes superstar sales reps, he notices that there is a detailed attention to making

sure that they retain the really good customers. Rarely do media companies focus on retention as a

major company objective. What does one do in a non-sales way to take care of someone on a weekly,

monthly, quarterly basis.

● share business articles with advertisers, no strings attached

● invite advertisers to seminars, webinars, events

● anything one can do to keep their brand in front of an advertiser (give away swag)

3. Always pitch to the decision maker(but when one can’t equip the liaison to the fullest)

In a media ad sales space, typically one often can't pitch to the decision maker. If one wants to be number one in

their market, in their company, in their industry, they have to understand how to equip the marketing director to

take one's information to the next level. So how does one equip the liaison? Dohrn starts by communicating to the

gatekeeper that if they are interested in his product, he asks them what tools he needs to equip them with to gain

their bosses' interest. One of the media problems with media kits today is that media kits are often designed for a

broad audience. Dohrn advices salespeople to deal in specifics.

Does the decision maker prefer?

- more analysis

- more images

- powerpoint

-pdf

- video

4. Advertisers buy when THEY are ready to buy, not when YOU are ready to sell

This is important because as a sales person, one's timing is usually very bad. How do we fix this?

Number one sales reps usually plan 3-6 months ahead of their deadline. The other piece is, undue

pressure is not good. Putting people under the gun typically does not work out. Dohrn recommends

selling 4-5 months in advance. By planning in advance one can: save the advertiser money, design a

more effective campaign, relieve pressure the pressure of selling on a deadline.

5. Great sales people know how to ask great questions

What are the go-to questions? What are the questions that salespeople should always ask on a sales

call? Dohrn wants salespeople to consider this thought specifically, how can one separate his/herself

from other sales people asking quality, but typical questions?

Dohrn's Key Questions

● Who do you feel is your harshest competitor?

● If we could create the perfect ad for you, what do you want to have happened from that ad?

The right question can separate one from media sales counterparts, opening the prospect up to a

boosted level of interest.

6. Know how to sell competitive angles Most sales reps gather leads by looking to see what businesses are advertising within their choice

medium. The reason that this doesn't work well is because one is always seen of being late to the party.

Dohrn recommends choosing advertiser thats running ads within one's medium and calling on their

biggest competitor. He likes to call this technique "Competitive Chaos." By selling a competitive angle,

one is working with knowledge that promotes instant leverage. Just imagine being an advertiser and

getting a call from a salesperson saying, "Hey, I see that you're advertising here. I'd love for you to

advertise with us." One is seen as sort of being late to the party. Instead call and say, "Hey Mr. ABC, I've

noticed that your competitor is really marketing hard. I feel that I have a way that could potentially grow

your share of the market."

7. Become a time management masterVery rarely does Dohrn meet a successful business person whose calendar is a train wreck. What

Dohrn does is block out time to ensure patterned success. He begins by identifying and blocking the

four or five very important tasks that he needs to do everyday. To become a time management

master it is imperative that one respects the calendar. An efficient calendar is the base management

tool to keep one consistently on track.

8. Manage advertiser expectationA lot of managing advertiser expectations is to avoid over promising and under achieving. Many

salespeople go into a sales call with a pitch that their media team can’t back. Those that are

number one in their companies are awesome at managing customer expectations from the get-go.

Consistently let the advertiser know what they can come to expect from one’s service. By staying

in contact and delivering on one’s promises, one can boost their retention rate tremendously.

9. Teaching is selling!We have more advertising options now than ever before. If Dohrn is looking to hire new salespeople, he

is looking for someone that is a good conversationalist. Someone who can teach in whatever they do.

Teaching is core to understanding. At the beginning of meetings, Dohrn will ask his advertiser to rate

their knowledge of marketing on a scale of 1-10. By gaining insight into the advertisers knowledge base,

he can then construct the conversation in terms that the advertiser can learn from. Advertisers will

always buy more if they accurately understand what one is selling.

10. Paint a picture of potentialGreat salespeople understand that they need to paint a picture of potential. Painting a picture means to

always under promise and over deliver, but it also involves letting the advertiser know what just might

happen if they run an ad. The best way of painting a picture of potential is relaying a success story. A

great success story is story that involves growth from the direct benefit of a placed advertisement. Don’t

focus on things sold. That’s too specific, and may get one in a situation of liability that one would want to

avoid. Instead look for solid, business success stories that will make sense to one’s advertiser and help

the salesperson paint a picture of potential.