by Scott Howard | Oct 1, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
Recently a friend of mine who is in the advertising business was lamenting about how he has “challenges” getting his clients to pay him in a timely manner.
I rarely have this problem and I thought this would be a good topic for an article and podcast.
No matter what you do for a living, there is money involved. What I am about to share with you is how I work and will give you some insight on expectations I work with in my world, so if you and I ever work together, you’ll know how the money side all works. For those new to the idea of paid advertising this is part of the conversation I have with them, because, well they don’t know how it works.
We are all in business and we need money for our businesses to stay alive.
You should never be sheepish about asking for payment due to you, however you need to have the discussion before you agree to do the work.
In my note to my friend, here’s what I shared about my experiences of getting paid:
If it’s a new company or one that is new to advertising, they prepay monthly with a credit card we keep on file. If they have established credit for advertising that we can verify, then we extend credit.
For Example:
Advertising that runs in September. If it is pre-pay, we need payment before September 1st.
If Credit is extended, then it is due within 30 days from us sending the invoice. Invoices for ads that ran in September will go out not later than October 1st. We expect payment before October ends.
Some organizations get 60 days because they are a third party biller, like an ad agency that bills their client and that adds an extra 30 days for them to get their money and then cut us a check.
Anyone that is in danger of going 90 days gets a phone call, an email, a text, a message somehow, someway by the 75 day mark to make arrangements to get the old payment paid before 90 days.
I have two clients that are always in that last category. With one, I send him a reminder and a deadline and he emails me his credit card payment. The other one, I visit and they hand me a check.
Sometimes, the owner and the bookkeeper are not on the same page and so if I need to get the owner involved, he makes sure I get paid so we keep his ads running.
In my 16 years of doing this in Fort Wayne, I have had very few losses, sometimes it was due to unfortunate circumstances on their part like a divorce that tied up their funds.
This is the professional way of taking care of business. Do it with a firm smile and expectations up-front when you start the business relationship.
You started your business because of a passion and I bet that passion was not hunting down a paycheck. But like taxes and payroll, this also has to be done, or you will not have a business.
Do you have any questions about advertising and marketing that you don’t know who to ask? Ask me. Email me at Scott@WOWO.com
You can also get my free Sound ADvice Marketing and Business Tips weekly email by filling out the form below.
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by Scott Howard | May 14, 2019 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo Sales Tips, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Every once in awhile, it’s good to take a look at what has helped you become successful and today is one of those days.
In 2009 I wrote and published an article on 7 Sales Secrets that generated some national attention.
I was 6 years into my position as an advertising sales person with a group of radio stations and saw that there were lots of reasons why people were not successful and I wanted to do what I could to help them succeed.
These 7 Sales Secret Tips apply to you if you work for someone else or are running your own business and they are timeless, not matter what the technology changes that have taken place or will occur in the future.
I’ve updated these tips for 2019:
The 7 Secrets are neither original, nor secret.
1. People don’t want to buy what you are trying to sell them.They want to buy a solution to their problem/need/want. The classic example is people don’t buy a drill because of the shiny black handle. They buy a drill because they need to create a hole. What is the other persons real problem/need/want?
2. Price is not important. Value is all that matters. While there are limits to what someone is willing or able to spend, if your customer sees no value in what you are offering, there is no price cheap enough to overcome a lack of value. You can discount yourself out of business and you can also train your customers to only buy from you when you offer a discount. The companies and people that having staying power go beyond price and offer value, Do you?
3. Objections can lead to a yes. An easy “yes” means you either know your client very well, or you’re just being an order taker. I know it sounds harsh, but objections are conversation starters, and these conversations can lead to customizing a solution to their problem/need/want. I rarely have a package or program that I “pitch”. Instead I know why options I can offer. Do you know the difference? Which leads us to…
4. You have to listen and learn, more than smile and sell. I do my homework and am prepared with research about my customers and their business. I also look at their competition and we talk about them. We talk about their goals for the future, their past history, what they have done that was successful and what didn’t work too. Too often salespeople are only focused on what they have to sell instead of seeing how they can help their customers. If you are focused too much on what you want, it will show and you can actually repel people from buying from you.
5. Your customer knows more than you give them credit for. We live in an information age with easy access via the internet. Your customer has done their research. However…
6. Your customer knows less than they think they do. Just because the information is available, doesn’t mean they know how to use interpret it and use it to their advantage. That’s where you come in as the expert. Which means that you better know your stuff inside and out. You are personally responsible for your own education, not your boss. Be your very best. You need to also talk with your customers in such a manner that they understand. Don’t limit yourself to insider jargon.
7. Relationships are forever. Apply the Golden Rule. Treat others with the same honesty and respect that you would like to be treated with. Keep relationships alive with your customers, potential customers and even those that may never become your customers. After a few years I had developed relationships that began paying off in ways I would have never imagined. Now that I have more than 16 years in the media and marketing world in Fort Wayne including working for WOWO radio since 2013, I am enjoying the fruits of my years of cultivating my own brand and reputation. How about you?
That’s it. A half dozen plus one Sales Secrets, that shouldn’t be secret. Your comments are always welcome. Reach me at Scott@WOWO.com if you would like my help or have more to add.
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by Scott Howard | Aug 29, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo Sales Tips, ScLoHo's Fort Wayne, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Today, I have a few key tips for anyone in the business of sales, which is not limited to people who sell for a living, but nearly all of us. The three words I want you to remember is: Help People Buy.
This month, the company I work for, Federated Media, experienced a tragic loss with the unexpected death of Charly Butcher, the host of Fort Wayne’s Morning News on WOWO Radio. Charly began his career with Federated Media in the 1980’s on WOWO’s sister station, WMEE. His life touched countless numbers of people as made evident by the stories and tributes.
One story I heard from my coworker Tracy was how a car salesperson was struggling with a sale but then Charly stepped in to Help People Buy:
We were at a remote at Fort Wayne Subaru and they just got in one single BRZ sport coupe in bright red that was stunning. This guy about 23 was looking at it with lust and the sales person just could not close the deal no matter how hard he tried. Charly went to the guy and said “I tell you what…you buy this car now and I will put you on the air live on Monday to brag about it. You can tell all your friends you will be on WOWO Monday morning.” The guy agreed to it on the spot and sure enough he got his 5 minutes of Fame on Charly’s show that Monday. We had a happy customer, happy sales person, happy manager and Charly was so proud of himself.
I’ve recently told you about my most recent car buying experience, which was filled with unnecessary sales pitches, because by the time I went to the dealership, I already decided exactly which car I wanted and all they really had to do was take care of the paperwork.
Today, I’m going to share with you another bad buying experience I had.
The afternoon after attending Charly Butcher’s funeral, I needed to visit some funeral homes for a brother-in-law who was just transferred to hospice care. Yes, it was a dreadful week, but sometimes you have to plow through it to get things done.
I visited 3 places and told each exactly what I was looking for:
I am here to get price information for direct cremation for the upcoming passing of my brother-in-law who is likely in the final week of his life. I am getting this information for my wife who will be making the decision of who we use. No public funeral or additional services are needed, just the bare bone basics. A family memorial will take place in a few months out of town.
That was the story I told all three funeral homes. From what I said, if they were listening, they would know that I am looking only for their price and I was not going to be buying anything today. I told them I was price shopping only.
So what happened?
At funeral home number one, I get what I am looking for, the bottom line price, in writing, but first the guy shows me his powerpoint on who he is, how many funerals they have done over the past 10 years complete with the standard bar chart.
He was not listening to what I said, he was stuck in selling mode. I redirected him to get the info I needed and left.
Funeral home number two was worse. Two guys, teaming up to sell me, after I told them exactly why I was there. They even asked questions about my wife and I that had absolutely nothing to do with why I was there. Like, “how long have you and your wife been married?” I almost walked out. In the end, I got the answers I wanted and a bad taste in my mouth to never do business with these two salespeople.
Funeral home number three was actually the best. When I told him the same story I told the other two, he actually listened and told me that they are not the least expensive for cremation services. I appreciated his honesty instead of his sales pitch and we talked more. I learned a few things that made me want to transfer some of my own business to them in the future.
I learned a few lessons that day about the sales process that I am going to apply to my work, and hopefully you can apply these same lessons in your company:
How to Help People Buy
- Listen first to find out what they think they are shopping for so you can focus on what they want.
- Ask questions to clarify what they are looking for as an end result.
- Answer their questions first, then ask how else you can help them.
Funeral home number two, almost had me walk out in the middle of their sales pitch, can you imagine having a potential customer come to you and then walk out because you were too salesy?
I bet it happens more than we realize.
By the way, I wrote a piece about Charly Butcher and his impact with WOWO and the community, but did not create a podcast for that article because it contains a few videos. I invite you to read and watch by clicking on the link to this article on my website at ScottHoward.me
Here’s the link: https://www.scotthoward.me/remembercharly-butcher-of-wowo-wmee-fort-wayne/
by Scott Howard | Aug 15, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, Uncategorized, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Time to introduce myself, again for some of you that I’ve known for awhile, and perhaps for the first time if you are unfamiliar with this website and podcast.
This is episode 75 of the weekly podcast titled, The Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast.
Launched in early 2017 as a request from a couple of the managers at Federated Media in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they were asked to create a sales and marketing oriented podcast and they asked me if I would consider doing it.
See this ScLoHo thing has been around for quite awhile. On the ScottHoward.me website are over 13 hundred articles I have written, edited and published since 2011 and the Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast is simply an audio version of most of the articles I have created since March, 2017.
The history of ScLoHo however is much longer that that.
And before we dig into that history, I want to clear something up about what ScLoHo is.
ScLoHo began as an email address and grew into an online moniker, identity and nickname. I even registered a marketing company with the ScLoHo name. ScLoHo is a made up word that takes the first two letters of my first name, middle and last names and mashes them together. Scott Louis Howard becomes ScLoHo. Look for me on Twitter, Instagram and nearly any other social media site that I am on as ScLoHo. Before launching the ScottHoward.me website, I published over 10,000 articles on ScLoHo branded blogs starting around 2005.
So ScLoHo and Scott Howard, that’s me, are synonymous.
I began working in the media world as a teenager when my high school launched a radio station. After school, I landed my first full time job on the air in Marion, Indiana at WBAT, followed by WIOU in Kokomo, WMEE in Fort Wayne, WKSY in Columbia City, WZWZ in Kokomo, and WXIR in Indianapolis. At all of these stations, I worked on the air as a disc jockey and radio personality.
Life changed when I turned 26. I crossed over to the advertising side of the radio business. I was impressed by the philosophy that the Crawford Broadcasting Company had regarding the relationship between the listeners, the radio station and the advertisers. I moved my young family to work for WMUZ in Detroit, one of a dozen Crawford stations at the time. My job was to write and produce advertising campaigns.
I loved the challenge and learning that occurred during my 8 years at WMUZ. I also did fill-in work in the afternoon and spent about a year hosting WMUZ’s morning show in Detroit. My first venture as an advertising salesperson was also at WMUZ.
The philosophy that I learned related to the trust factor we as people have. WMUZ was and is a commercial Christian radio station that has a special bond with their thousands of weekly listeners. Listeners trust the WMUZ radio personalities. Those personalities often talk about their advertising partners and so that trust factor is passed along to the businesses that advertise. WMUZ listeners trust that the businesses that advertise on their station are trustworthy.
My job was not just to create effective advertising campaigns, but to screen out the bad businesses from the good. I carry this philosophy today as I consider which businesses I want to work with at WOWO radio in Fort Wayne.
In the mid 1990’s, we decided to leave Detroit and return to Indiana. I worked on the radio again in Fort Wayne at WBTU, WFWI, WGL and WAJI. Between 1995 and 2003, along with some part-time radio work and voice over production I was doing, I took a few blue collar jobs too in the printing business, the plastics industry and even automotive.
2003 was the year that I returned to media and marketing full-time in Fort Wayne when I joined a group of radio stations in the advertising sales side of the business. I spent 8 years rising as high as one could advance at that company before I was lured away to work for a website development company and later manage the social media for a $50 million dollar internet sales company.
Kevin, Ric and me. Picture snapped by my friend Ryan Recker.
I also served on the Board of Directors for the American Advertising Federation/Fort Wayne Chapter for 7 years. I taught personal branding seminars, guest lectured at a local university, was featured in some national publications including the Wall Street Journal, won a few awards and have had a lot of fun. I have consulted and coached businesses doing newspaper and magazine ads, billboard advertising, social media and all kinds of internet marketing, along with television and event marketing. More recently I was featured on an international podcast for broadcasters to share what it takes to be successful in broadcasting.
I only share all this with you because I want you to have confidence in the Scott Howard dude a.k.a. ScLoHo, that I’m not just hear to sell you stuff. I am here to help. I’m here to teach, to consult, to advise, to coach and even guide you through the process of marketing you and your business.
Human Relationship Principles are the heart of most successful marketing and advertising efforts and I can help you employ them with your business, organization, or event.
I have learned a lot from a lot of people and continue to learn more and more every week. If you have any marketing or advertising questions or answers, I’d love to talk with you.
by Scott Howard | Apr 25, 2018 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, Uncategorized, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard
Just what do you do, Scott? It’s a question I am asked regularly because I often don’t fit the stereotype of an advertising salesperson. A few years ago, before I was doing the Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast, I wrote about what I do and today, let’s update an article I wrote titled A Peek Behind the Curtain.
When people find out what I do for a living, preconceived images pop into their heads. I am a member of the advertising sales team at WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The words I have selected to use on my business cards are about as accurate and precise as I have been able to come so far, but they deserve some explanation and expansion.
Advertising Sales and Marketing Consultant.
Yes, I consult with people about their advertising and marketing. However, I get paid when they buy something from me. Radio advertising, Digital marketing services, these are what have actual prices attached to them that people buy.
So I sell stuff, making me a salesperson. But there is often a path that has to be followed to go from Advertising and Marketing Consultant to Salesperson. Not everyone who sells radio advertising and digital marketing services follows this path.
And before I go any further, all of the stuff I sell is provided by the company I choose to work for, Federated Media, which owns several Indiana radio stations including WOWO and a couple of local ESPN stations based in Fort Wayne that I sell advertising for. We also have a digital advertising division that I also sell marketing solutions for.
Back to the radio stuff for a moment and the Advertising Sales and Marketing Consultant stuff.
My role as an Advertising Sales and Marketing Consultant is to work hand in hand with you to help you create an appropriate plan to accomplish your goals. Depending on the complexity of your business and the goals, it can be a simple process, or complex. I usually meet face to face with you and we talk. My style is casual but my process is deliberate.
The questions I ask and our entire conversation have a path that we take as we explore the possibilities.
Here’s a few more things that you should know:
I do not sell to everyone who wants to buy from me. I am looking at creating long term business relationships and we need to be able to work well together.
I do not attempt to sell to everyone either. Like I just said, I am looking at creating long term business relationships and we need to be able to work well together. Some people are not a good fit for buying something from me right now. Some times they never will be. However, I will still function as their advertising and marketing consultant, even if it is to simply offer some insight and direction.
I only want to work with people that want to work with me. And when I say work with me, I don’t mean just hand over a pile of cash. I mean I want to work with you and continually look for ways to improve your business marketing and advertising efforts.
I don’t want to sell stuff to people who don’t want to buy it. But we may have a conversation where you tell me why you don’t want it. Still I promise not to hound you and annoy you.
Why?
Just like you, my time is also valuable. I am only looking for people who want my help with their advertising and marketing. There are more people out there who I can help than I have time to help, so why waste my time and yours if you don’t want my help? Just tell me and I’ll respect that.
I have my criteria for my ideal advertising partner and I’ll lay that out for you in the near future. However, I also work with others who don’t fit perfectly but there are enough positives to outweigh the negatives and we work well together too.
By the way, there are differences between me and my co-workers at WOWO & Federated Media. We are not identical in our methods and insights. I look at things differently than my co-workers and they do things different from me. Neither is necessarily better, but each is different.
In the year ahead, I will be taking on a few more advertising partner clients, if you want to see if I can help, contact me.
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