NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> A Rant About Online Sales Reps
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> A Rant About Online Sales Reps
Leo Sheiner (leo_at_netcomuk.co.uk)
Tue, 6 Oct 1998 17:49:46 -0500 (CDT)
"Mark J. Welch" <MarkWelch_at_MarkWelch.com> wrote
>I often get a similar complaint about advertising at my
>site: that I am not terribly responsive and perhaps the
>best way to describe my strategy is that I take orders,
>rather than "selling" my ad space. The reason is simple:
>a lot of the inquiries I receive are very tentative, and
>quite honestly, the people who start out saying "I
>definitely want to buy advertising starting immediately"
>are the MOST likely to just be fishing for information
>and some of my time for free.
I sympathise with Mark about not having the time to sell
advertising. Since Safe-Audit was established I can safely
say I have never had the time to go out and sell advertising
(or thankfully the need) to actively sell space. It is all I can
do to keep up with fielding the enquiries.
I do try to return the calls,
>but I try to be as direct or blunt as possible, and often
>I try to be as rude as possible to make it clear that I
>am not interested in teaching people how to buy
>internet advertising. I sympathize with sales reps who
>likely have the same experience.
Here I part company with Mark. I always have time to
speak to and give assistance to anyone who has a
serious business objective and needs some
assistance. I do not see that assistance as necessarily
linked to the opportunity to do business. It is part of the
ethos of the web which I embraced naturally and readily
when I started out about three years ago to assist people.
That is in part what motivates me to participate in these
forums.
Of course some enquiries may be frivolous or
indeed without any sound business basis but most are
genuine. In some cases I have spent time and effort and
have known that it was highly unlikely that there would be
any benefit to me. In numerous cases, I have told
people who have expressed a wish to advertise with
Safe-Audit that they had to do other things first, otherwise
they would waste their money. I am content to take the
time to review a prospective advertiser's site. I will discuss
their pricing strategy, their unique selling point, their site
and promotion's objectives. in fact I give free and
unbiased marketing advice without any thought of
relating it to, let alone making it contingent upon making
a sale.
Indeed it is far from unknown for me to include the advice
not to use banner advertising. I never regret turning
business away because my objective is not to make sales
but to have successful and therefore satisfied advertisers.
I don't always succeed but I do always try to give good
advice and that in my view is the only way to build a
business on the web. I have never regretted spending
the time to advise someone. Very often, when I have
suggested doing several other things first, the prospect
will reappear weeks or months later, having implemented
that advice and saying OK now I am ready to advertise.
So, if Mark will forgive me I think he is wrong here. My
advice to anyone selling space on the web if they are in
it for the long haul, not just to make a quick buck, is give
honest and sincere advice and take the time to help people
even if it looks like being a waste of their time. It will pay
dividends in the long run and it will make them feel good.
Buy into 351 million pageviews p.m. on 11,135 host sites to gain
the results you want. Free consultancy and animated banners
Why advertise using Safe? http://safe-audit.com/adpromo.html
Why host banners for Safe? http://safe-audit.com/hostpromo.html
mailto:leo_at_global-m.com Telephone +44181 346 0770 Leo
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