Justin Shaffer Personal Selling Philosophy
prepare two or three proposal options to use when I move to the next step in my sales process: initiating contact. I prefer to call and set up a face to face meeting conducted at the client’s business. I cannot stress the importance of preparation in advertising sales. In a sales call the seller must adapt in many situations and nothing helps me do this more than being prepared for the meeting and conducting it professionally. In the meeting, I focus on learning how the business operates. Asking probing questions helps me determine which of our products would best benefit the customer. After discussing the client’s marketing and advertising goals, I then present the IU community as a potential market. The sales tools our marketing department produces help this process immensely. I use the information provided to me from the client to help achieve their marketing goals. After establishing rapport, I usually try to convince my clients to dedicate a portion of their monthly advertising budget to focus on the students and faculty of IU. My follow up process begins with the creative design process. I usually order two or three spec ads for the client to decide what they like from either one for their final copy to provide more comprehensive customer service. This gives me an opportunity to demonstrate how to use the advertising space they have purchased. I find that when you discuss how to use the space, clients do not worry about the cost of their ad campaign nearly as much. This consultative sales approach assists me in closing the sale. During this conversation, I inquire about collecting payment and future advertising plans. After I return to the office, I like to send a follow up email to electronically document what we accomplished during our meeting. This helps both the client and myself pick up where we left off the last time we spoke. Due to the high turnover of salespeople in college newspapers, the importance of a long term focus on the relationships with local business owners is crucial. I strive to improve the relationship between the IDS and my existing clients as well as create new professional relationships with prospective customers. When I negotiate an ad sale or campaign agreement, I always make the deal fair for the client, and my organization. Being honest and straightforward with my clients allows me to gain credibility although I am a young college student. Selling has taught me that no matter how polished and fluent one salesperson’s skills are; the efforts of our department are a team effort. It takes everyone using great attention to detail to best serve the needs of every customer. When I decided to make a focus on prospecting, I thought that I could handle every new potential account. Within a month, I found out that my talents better served the paper by helping the other account executives prepare for their meetings with new clients. As I end my tenure at the IDS, I plan to focus on improving the relationship between my clients and my organization as I transition the accounts to their next salesperson.