Beating down obstacles
By: Ivan Otterstrom
“I like your product, but it is too expensive”
This is a classic and we will be meeting this obstacle very often.
We need to evaluate if the prospect is just horse trading with us of if there is a genuine concern that our price is too much.
The important thing is that the prospect is talking to us. we have not lost the prospect. Our hard labour is bearing fruit. It means that the deliverables are acceptable and that is the first mini-victory.
Is it then all about the money? Not necessarily, there are options here to ‘sharpen the pencil’. We just need to find out what we can do to counter this.
We may start by confirming that the deliverables are the ones that are of interest. We can ask if there are elements we should do away with. An example can be that 50,000 impressions are to much and we can reduce it to 25,000 impressions. That is one way of reducing the cost.
Are the amount of banners sufficient? Is the size OK?
We need to ensure we have the elements right. Confirm it!
Now we might turn to the numbers. We can start asking what price the client could have in mind. It is an old ‘trick’ to get the client to quantify our proposal. If the prospect is actually providing you with a cost they could consider, we can start haggling.
Go from the facts: Your suggestion is a bit steep, but what if we keep the price and reduce the number of impressions and take the banner size down? Will that work?
Or: I can’t go that far on the price, but what if we settle on 15% discount instead of your 25%?
Or: let me talk to my manager and see if we can do that price. But let me clarify: if he/she says yes, do we then have a deal? Can we then get the PO with- in this week?
It could also be that the prospect is comparing our price with what IOL has proposed. Ask the good question: are you comparing our price to a price from our competitors like IOL or Timeslive? Do they have the same deliverables?
Maybe: if I can reduce the price below theirs, do we have a deal?
Never give up
The budget is exhausted for this year.
This is a classic and we need to take it serious. It really means we need to fully understand the client’s budget cycle. When do they do the new budget? When do they need our proposal.
If we are not sure, then we better ask the questions like:
• When is your new budget starting?
• When is you planning cycle?
• When do you need our proposal for the new fiscal?
The client might also have a quarterly review of their marketing budget. That can mean that we have a chance to still be considered.
But it is not over yet. Not until the fat lady sings.
We may still see if the client has any contingency budget left and if we can tap into that. As much as the client may have exhausted current budget, it is also reality that it is impossible to plan everything out for an entire year in advance.
The one entity that typically likes to ‘sit’ on the budget is the agency. You can ask if they have an agency and if that is the way forward. It just might be.
It points into the quest of their activities. Do they have some activities going that you may not have heard of? We must know the best part of what they do, but they may have marketing campaigns that are not ‘public’ yet.
The key question is for all these things: will you put us on the budget for next fiscal and for what activities and with what anticipated amount?
It is also a test to see if your client is really interested. If they are, they will tell you which campaigns they will want you to be part of.
Make sure you follow-up and provide proposals and quotations at the right time and ensure that you keep tap on their campaigns.
I can’t get material made this fast
The client has bought into your proposal. They want to do it, but now we battle logistics.
This may seem like we are there now, but we are not. Material is a very tough one because it might involve a lot more people from our side.
First of all: determine what is it exactly the client wants to achieve? What are we talking about? Is it print editions or is it online banners? This might determine the deadlines you have to set.
First things first: What is the time pressure? There are two options:
• It is a campaign that is linked to a specific motion and the timing is important.
• It is a campaign that is linked to their budgeting cycles. It could be that they need to spend money this quarter; hence the pressure is on to get it done.
If it is linked to a specific motion, they ought to have some material. We are now part of their bigger picture. Look at what they have and see if we can re-use or re-purpose some of it.
If it is linked to their quarterly cycles, we can look at the internet or DStv to see if there is some image-advertising we can use.
And now it becomes complicated. Who is ’we’? it is suddenly editorial and the designers from our side.
Before we commit to doing the job for the client, we need to figure out:
• Can we do it?
• What is the timing?
• Cost implications
The nature of the job might also impact the decision. Is it an advert or advertorial? Designing an advert might be just as hectic as writing the advertorial (editorial input) and do the lay-out.
The two first points are simple, but the last point is not.
If we decide that it is a minor task, we still need to seek approval for doing something ‘for free’. Get approval as these things will typically not be your decision.
And for all these elements, the client will have to approve before we can publish. And that can take time as well.
In essence: as it involves more than YOU, it rapidly becomes a real project with several more people involved and all at a cost that is beyond your authorization.
The friendly client
This is the one client who can ‘eat’ your time. They are nice and attentive and will always respond to you.
… but nothing is really happening.
… but nothing is really happening.
We can easily fall into the ‘trap’ of spending more time with them, because they are friendly. They are nice people to talk to.
We will need to evaluate the client’s intentions after some time. Are they likely to do business with us? where else do they advertise? Do we know their marketing spend?
It also comes down to whether we are talking to the right people in their organization. We need to know more about this type of client. The potential might be there, but we might not spot it.
Emails are easy to do, and it is then important that we furnish them with synopsis relevant to their business. That will require some investigation and evaluation of the client. That must be according to above.
Setting up a real meeting with the client can be the way to get a better understanding of what they want to do. It can give us the chance to let them explain what they want to do and for us to see if there is synergy.
Such synergy is difficult to spot if we are just ‘good friends’.
It is also worth trying to put a year-plan together for such a client. It will enable a dialogue and giving us the chance to see how well we can serve them.
If we are still not getting there, we can email synopsis, supplement diary lists and other information on a reasonable basis.
That might be the preferred method as we should evaluate the time we are spending without any return.
…And that is a story for next time.
However, there is one over-riding factor: is the client of strategic value to us? is it the client we simply have to have as an advertiser?
If that is so, it will put the client into a different league but then the interaction might be different. We will then have to be far more aggressive..
About the author
Ivan Otterstrom is born in Denmark in 1957. He moved to South Africa in 1991 being a sales person NCR/AT&T.
Ivan has always been in sales, starting his career in IT sales in Denmark. With a degree in Computer Science and a degree in Economics from School of Economics in Copenhagen, he has managed to combine sales and financial considerations into high-end and hi-tech sales environments.
Ivan and his wife Sybil are running a very specialised sales company. Their company is providing sales assistance and specialized courses to a few select clients.
It is this base of high-end clients that forms their expertise in sales management.
Ivan is active in several private enterprises and values the company of his wife Sybil and daughter Ntsiki.