By Neil Bell, Owner, New South Outdoor

When I began in this business, I was fortunate to receive great training from my employer and that early instruction has served me well throughout my career. The most important lesson, by far, was how to conduct an effective sales call. Billboard Insider asked that I briefly share some of what I learned about that process.

To begin, when calling on a new prospect, the goal should not be to sell them something that day but rather to “close” a later meeting. Most prospects are busy people and in order to make a sales call the most effective, it will require both their time and attention. Once you have set your meeting, you must show up ready to ask questions. The core of the sales call is not about you or your product. It should be about their business and how you can help them solve a problem.

Here is a set of questions I learned to ask throughout the meeting:

• Prospect, tell me about yourself, how did you get in this business?
• Tell me about this company. How many people work here? What are your annual sales? What are your primary products?
• What are your goals for the year? Sales goals? General growth?
• How are you planning to hit those goals?
• What could keep you from hitting those goals? What would you do if that happened?
• Who are your best potential customers? What do you want them to do and why should they do it? (This is a good question to inform copy ideas later.) Where do they live, work, go to school, etc. (This is a good question to inform what locations you propose later.)
• Who are your competitors? Why would someone do business with them over you? Why would someone do business with YOU over them? (Another good copy informing question.)
• What kind of advertising do you typically do? What do you like about it? What do you not like about it?

At this point, hopefully, you have only discussed their business and gained enough information to finally begin talking about your product and how it can solve their problems.

• Prospect, you said your goal was to hit X in sales this year. If we could get Y new people into your store, would that help you hit your goal?
• You said that your customers lived in X and worked in Y. We have displays in X and Y which could reach those people. Do you think reaching people in these areas would help drive more sales?
• You said that you offer X faster than your competitor. If we could design copy that would effectively communicate that advantage, would you be willing to try outdoor?
• You said you didn’t like X about the reach of the current media you are using. If we could show you how outdoor could help amply that reach, would you give us a try?

At this point in this discussion, you should explain all of the features and benefits of outdoor, how it works and why it fills their need. Then you can get on with asking for the sale.

Basically, what I was taught (and have most certainly found to be true) is that in order to be effective on a sales call, we really should not be pitching anything until we understand the prospect’s business needs, their motivation, and their goals. Otherwise, all we are really doing is trying to sell them something.

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