Is a Free Consultation Good for Business?

by | Sep 18, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

When you hear the word, ‘Free”, does it attract you?  Or does it decrease the value of the product or service?

Let me put that into context.  3d small people holds a magnifier

A friend of mine announced that he was going to stop offering free consultations.

This man is not a lawyer, or a doctor, or an auto mechanic or plumber.

He fixes computers.

Here is what he put on his website last month:

Over the years I have met with many potential clients to discuss their situation and how I can help them.  I usually don’t charge for these meetings, but as I look back a lot of time was spent.  During the meetings I give them advice and ideas which I usually don’t get compensated for.  I’m going to stop giving away this advice and information and whenever I meet with someone, it’s billable.  When I was working for another computer service company one of the owners said something I’ve never forgotten. He said he was tired of meeting for free with people.  From that point on, all meetings were billable because his time was valuable.  What are your thoughts?

What does that say to you?

Is this a wise move or is there another issue that needs attention?

I believe it’s a time management and expectation management issue.

See it really doesn’t matter what your profession is, you have a limited amount of time each day, week, month, year.

I know professionals who offer free consultation for one purpose:

To determine if a paid relationship is needed.

That determination comes from both parties, the professional and the potential paying customer.

Lawyers need to know if the person has a valid case or need.  I used one last year and our initial conversations, in his office were free.  When I asked him to prepare a document, I was charged a reasonable fee.

Doctors usually don’t offer a free office visit because they prioritize their time in the office for paying patients.  Many docs do offer free services at a time and place of their choosing.

Auto Mechanics may or may not charge for a consultation.  Depends on if you are asking a question or if they need to open the hood and run some tests.

My experience with plumbers has been mixed.  I had one company send out one of their crew after I explained in detail what the problem was, and the plumber they sent was not qualified to do the work and didn’t have the tools on his truck to do the job. Yet they wanted to charge me for his visit which was worthless.

On the other hand, I have had exceptional service from another plumber that went above and beyond to fix our issue and showed us ways to save money including ways to avoid having to call him back!

My computer fix it guy friend I have known for 10 years and have seen his business grow. What he really needs to do is decide what he will continue to do for free and what he will charge for.  He needs to manage his time so he is putting his highest priority on paying customers and still has time to help others unless he doesn’t want new customers.

That’s a dangerous decision to make. The one where you decide not to take any new customers.  Instead you usually need to decide which new customers to take on.

I’ll share a couple examples from my life.

In the radio advertising world, there is a lot of work that is done without direct compensation. For the most part, advertisers only pay for the actual air time and not the creative process or the time devoted to creating the ads or campaign.  For example, I have an advertising partner that pays for the 30 ads they air on WOWO each week, but not the meetings and planning that takes place to create everything.  It’s simple.  We contract for the number of ads and they get a bill for the airing of those commercials.

About 10 years ago, I had a client that wanted to see me every Wednesday at 2pm to discuss the next ad and also hand me a check.  When I had the time, this was fine, I thought.  But the reality was this client was nearly an hour from my office and the 45 minutes we met each week was really about 4 to 5 hours of my week when you factor in the work I did back at the station to get their ads updated after the weekly meeting.

Taking care of this client was simply taking too much time each week and I needed to fire them unless I could increase their value.  I took the time to see if we could help them in other areas that they would spend more money by running more ads with me.  Nothing.  I attempted to get some additional business from referrals that they knew. Another nothing.

I didn’t really fire them and pull them off the air.  Instead I gave them to a newer sales person on our team who wasn’t as busy so I could focus on higher paying clients.

Fast forward to today and what I do at WOWO and Federated Media.  Part of the process I and my other WOWO sales team members go through is a consistent evaluation of our on-air advertising partners.

The top 25% in terms of annual spending are labeled Keys.  It has been shown that this 25% are responsible for at least 75% of the revenue.  We go through a process of qualifying potential advertisers to see if they will fit the profile of those in the top 25%.

The businesses that spend the most or have that potential are going to get the most attention because they have earned it.

Now before you go wacky on me and say what about the little people… It really doesn’t take much to rise to that top 25%.  If a business is not willing to invest in themselves to qualify then there are 3 possible scenarios:

  1. They are new and small.  They may need to grow a bit before they are able to invest enough to be a Key Account.  Often times we can still help them with some marketing options but sometimes they are not ready for a paid advertising program.
  2. They are events.  Like a concert or a festival.  There is a limited amount of what we can do because they are in a short-time span or seasonal business.
  3. They don’t understand the importance of having a marketing strategy that includes human relationship principles.

That last one, number 3 is where I spend a lot of my time.  I actually help businesses develop a marketing strategy.  This is different from an advertising strategy but they overlap.

I will devote hours working with business owners helping them develop a plan for marketing that is strategic and customized just for them.  The very last step is to decide which advertising mediums to use.

This is what I offer for free. I decide who to offer this service to.  Some folks are amazed that I do this.  A friend of mine asked 3 times if I would be willing to do this and each time I said yes.  She was used to paying an advertising agency for these kinds of services and being charged by the hour for everything, or paying a retainer.

That is not the way I work.  I actually have time in my schedule devoted to this free service.  It is how we discover if I can help you when you want to spend money advertising.  It is the way we build a trusting relationship.  Not by charging you first, but by this method.

I’ve gone on long enough for this article, want help?  Contact me.

 

 

Mary Says You Should Read These Articles on Radio Advertising

by | Sep 16, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

There is a lady named Mary who is a Business Advisor with the Indiana Small Business Development Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Mary and I have spoke a few times over the past 12 years, but I bet it was less than a dozen times until earlier this month. Information

First, let me tell you about Mary by quoting the ISBDC bio:

Mary Popovich serves in a dual role as business advisor/marketing coordinator for the Northeast ISBDC. She joined the center in October 2007 on a part-time basis and went full time in March 2011. Prior to the NE-ISBDC, Mary was with the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce for 10 years, most recently serving as vice president of communications. Past experience also includes serving as a marketing specialist for Lancia Homes and operating her own public relations business.

Mary sent me an email last week:

Scott, I have a client who contacted me with the following question:

I wanted to see if you have any information/data or insight as to Fort Wayne radio stations regarding their statistics like reach, size of listeners, demographics, ranking, etc. We have been doing some radio ads, but each station wants to sell their strong points and not really a way to objectively look at one versus another. Any thoughts?

My million-dollar question to you is whether there is a chart that objectively compares all of the area radio stations as to types of listeners, reach, share, etc.?

I am going to email my client a link to your blog, which I know has some wonderful information about radio advertising, but if there is something I can send him in addition, please let me know. Thanks! –Mary

I called Mary and told her that there is not one chart that gives all of that information in a way that is going to make it clearer, only make it more confusing.  I offered to meet with her client and together we can look at the information that is important for his business.  That’s better than overloading him with more data.

Mary offered to send me a copy of the article links she sent to her client.  Here are the articles that Mary says you should read about radio advertising. (The first 3 are interesting but may be too much info.)

LINKS RELATED TO VARIOUS ASPECTS OF RADIO ADVERTISING

http://radio-locator.com

http://www.rab.com

http://www.eastlanratings.com

The following blog posts talk about different aspects of radio advertising:

https://www.scotthoward.me/radio-listenership-numbers/

https://www.scotthoward.me/the-reality-of-radio-ratings/

https://www.scotthoward.me/an-insiders-note-on-fort-wayne-radio-in-2014/

https://www.scotthoward.me/creating-radio-commercials-that-work/

https://www.scotthoward.me/does-radio-advertising-work-anymore/

https://www.scotthoward.me/advertising-options-comparing-apples-oranges/

https://www.scotthoward.me/how-do-you-set-your-prices-for-radio-advertising/

https://www.scotthoward.me/comparing-the-costs-of-advertising-on-fort-wayne-radio-stations-part-1/

https://www.scotthoward.me/comparing-the-costs-of-advertising-on-fort-wayne-radio-stations-part-2/

https://www.scotthoward.me/radio-versus-tv-advertising/

https://www.scotthoward.me/the-difference-between-wowo-advertising-rates-other-fort-wayne-stations/

Thanks Mary.

WOWO Radio Advertising Works: Results

by | Sep 15, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

We want to hear success stories.  We cheer for the winners and root for those that are doing their best. Recently the advertising sales team at WOWO was sharing some recent successes of our advertising partners and today, I am passing along some of that info. formula_for_success

I am not going to tell you online who the advertisers are, I don’t have their permission.  But I can privately give you more details on some of these:

  • A small home investment company that buys and sells homes without realtors and mortgage companies. They needed 1 transaction to pay for their first 5 months of advertising.  They have tracked 5 completed transactions in the first 3 months attributed to WOWO listeners.  That’s more than a 500% Return On Investment because it was done in less than 5 months.
  • A dentist located in a neighboring town needed an average of one new patient per week.  Within 3 months on WOWO, they were getting five new patients per week.  Another 500% R.O.I. for a new dental practice.
  • New grocery store comes to Fort Wayne last year. Spends most of their radio advertising with WOWO to promote the grand opening.  It was the largest grand opening month in their company history.
  • Fireworks dealer with two locations both out of town (Fort Wayne) but still in our listening area.  A simple tracking system to measure some of the response was set up that showed WOWO listeners spent over $50,000 in the couple of weeks leading into the 4th of July this summer.
  • A heritage auto body shop just reported an increase of 12% over last year so far.
  • A massive hardware type chain of locally owned stores is beating the national average in their industry by over 3% which is huge.
  • A fast food chain that has struggled in recent years has seen growth in our area of in store sales.  WOWO is a big part of that as they moved a significant amount of their radio budget to WOWO this year. (They spend more on WOWO than any other Fort Wayne station).
  • And here is one I can share their exact words.  It was an event they held this summer and used WOWO radio:The Grace Point 200 was the largest car show ever held in Fort Wayne.  Over 400 cars and 4000 visitors plus a terrific 50’s concert made it a huge success.  Thank you for getting the word out.Rudy

My reason for sharing some of these stories is to show you a couple of things:

  1. We want the advertising and marketing campaigns to work.   Just as much as you the business owner or marketing manager wants success, we do too.  We are working behind the scenes for ways to enhance and improve the results for our advertising partners. This is true of everyone from Art, our seasoned veteran of WOWO to our newest team member Chris.  It’s also true of Lendon, Tracey and myself.  It’s why we work at WOWO.
  2. We have dozens of others that have been advertising with WOWO for years, even decades and they do it because it works.  Having worked for other stations where we had to cross our fingers and toes, hope and pray that the advertising works… we know it works with WOWO when we can work as advertising partners.

Why Ads Cost What They Cost

by | Sep 10, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

I know, looking at the statement, Why Ads Cost What They Cost, is a bit confusing.

Today I’m going to give you some insight on the pricing of advertising and I’m going to start with the next Republican Presidential debate.  CNN is hosting this event on September 16th.

According to an article from AdAge:

CNN is asking 40 times its normal rate for commercial time in the next Republican debate.

The cable news network is charging as much as $200,000 for a 30-second spot in the prime-time brawl taking place on Sept. 16, according to a media buyer. This is on par with the cost of buying commercial time in some broadcast prime-time series.

Typically, an average prime-time spot on CNN costs about $5,000, buyers said.

and

Much of the buzz can be attributed to GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, whose polarizing viewpoints, crass comments and unpredictability have made for compelling TV.

Fox News set a record earlier in the month with 24 million people tuning in to the first Republican primary debate of the 2016 election cycle, making it the most-watched cable telecast of all time, excluding sports programming.

In anticipation of a big audience, CNN is charging big bucks.

My wife and I are planning a trip to Michigan and we were looking at booking a room in Ann Arbor or Lansing.  But the weekend we selected are also weekends that the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Michigan State (East Lansing) have home football games.  Most rooms were sold out.  The only ones I saw available were charging triple the usual rate.

Both of these are examples of the law of supply and demand.  Sometimes it is anticipated demand, but the supply of rooms, or of slots for commercials is a fixed commodity. Calculator How Much Can You Afford or Save

I receive weekly updates on the inventory that we have available on my radio station, WOWO and it has been a pretty remarkable year.

For example, Fort Wayne’s Morning News with Charly Butcher has 150 minutes of advertising available each week during the 3 hours it airs Monday through Friday.  At the end of August, we were starting the month of September with 145 of the 150 available spots sold each week. And the same for October.

The rest of our daily primetime line up from 9am to 6pm weekdays is in demand too. 90%+ of all of the available slots for advertising in September and October was already sold out before the month began.

At WOWO we adjust our prices accordingly.  We don’t gouge people and charge 40 times our usual rates like the CNN example.  Not even 3x the rate like the hotel example.

Now, let me tell you why we are nearly sold out.  It is because of the results our advertising partners are getting.

Think about it.  If you give me $10,000 to advertise and you receive $12,000 in business back that month, that’s a better deal than the stock market. Especially since we have more control over risk and reward than you have in the stock market.

Next Tuesday I will share some of the results our advertising partners have received by using WOWO as an advertising partner.

And just because we are short on inventory, I have several additional ways to help you invite people to become your customer.  Contact me.

The Difference Between WOWO Advertising Rates & Other Fort Wayne Stations

by | Sep 9, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

It happened again. A lawyer in a small town near Fort Wayne asked for a proposal for advertising on WOWO radio to get the word out about some town hall meetings. When he saw the price, he had questions and I had answers.

I’ll recap what we said to help you understand too.   Because I want you to be as smart as possible when you are spending your advertising money.  And because one way to learn is to research before you even contact me.

Lawyer: We want to reach farmers in Northeast Indiana and invite them to a couple of townhall meeting we are having next week.

Scott Howard: Excellent, tell me more.

Lawyer: We are gathering proposals from a couple of radio stations that were mentioned to us that would be good stations to consider using.  We already have the commercial produced and we want to start on Monday to invite farmers to these meetings next Friday.  I got your contact information from my paralegal whom you spoke with earlier this month.

The lawyer and I talk for a few more minutes and he asks me about the other station that was recommended.  It was one I had never heard of.  I Googled it and it is a tiny station on the outskirts of the area that he wants to reach.  They play country music and that’s why they were recommended. Apparently there is a stereotype that all farmers like listening to country music.

The lawyer called me after 5pm on Thursday.  Since he had the ad ready to go, I figured I could get him on the air Monday since we don’t have to produce the commercial. The bigger issue is do we have room on WOWO to run his ads?

I looked at the availability and see it is very limited.  In order to air 20 ads on WOWO between Monday and Thursday, he will need to bump other advertisers off.  This is not something we like to do.  But we do have some advertisers that give us that flexibility as long as we get their ads on each month, we can adjust the daily schedules.  I needed a price that would accomplish this. The price per commercial for the lawyer was $150 each.

This $150 would guarantee that all 20 of his ads would air.  He needs his ads to air so he can get farmers to his meetings.

Back to the conversation:

Lawyer: The price I got from the other station was under $1000 for 40 commercials and yours is $3000 for 20.  Why?

Scott Howard: Our prices are based on supply and demand. Right now we have to bump other commercials to get yours on WOWO.  That is determined by whoever is paying the most for their commercial.

Lawyer: Okay, but why are your prices so much more?

Me: Let me show you information on the size of the WOWO audience compared to other Fort Screenshot 2015-08-14 16.17.37Wayne and Northeast Indiana Radio stations. This chart is for adults age 25 and older.  WOWO is at the top with over 112,000 weekly listeners. Number two on the chart has  less than 68,000 listeners.  The other station you mentioned doesn’t even show up.

Lawyer: But I need to invite farmers…
Me: Exactly.  WOWO has been the leading station for farmers for over 50 years.  Today we have 15 farm reports every day and a weekly farm show that are over 90% sold out each month.   While no one knows precisely how many farmers listen to each station, odds are in your favor that using WOWO with the right message will do what you need to do, get the word out and invite those farmers to your meetings.

Lawyer: Let me discuss this with my partners.

Me: Sure, just remember our deadline.

And that was the end of the conversations that happened on a Thursday night and Friday morning last month.  He missed the deadline. So I gave him another proposal to start Tuesday instead of Monday and a few more hours. The cost per ad did not change but the overall cost went down because he lost out on airing Monday.

This is what can happen when you don’t plan ahead.  But that’s a topic for another day.

A couple of things for you to get out of this:

  1. I will do everything I can to help.
  2. Waiting until the last minute to schedule or “reserve” advertising isn’t the best idea because you may not be able to get on or you will have to pay a premium.  It’s not because we are trying to gouge you or penalize you.  It’s because that minute of air time was already sold to someone else and the only fair way we can bump their ad in favor of yours is because you are paying more.
  3. We do have some advertisers that give us some flexibility in their schedule. We work with that when we need to to help everyone.
  4. Ads on WOWO cost more than other stations because they work.
  5. They work because we reach a lot more adults than any other radio station.
  6. We know they work because our advertising partners tell us so and we can share examples.

And finally:

I am always looking for an effective way for you to invest your advertising dollars and there are options beyond the traditional 60 second commercials.  We’ll talk about these options and see what works best for your Key Marketing Challenges.

Just A Quick Reminder RE: Customer Habits & Radio

by | Sep 4, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights

I’m going to make this quick as it’s the Friday going into a Labor Day weekend. Many folks are taking today off to get an extra long holiday in.

Others are mentally checked out even if they are working.2013-03-14 15.01.35

Then there is a group of folks who are trying to get everything done today since they won’t be working Monday but the workload of 5 days still needs to be done.

Here’s the reminder:

You will listen to the radio this weekend.

So will your customers.

Many will decide when they are in the car, what to buy and where to buy it.

Those businesses that advertise on the radio when we are deciding where to grab a burger, (like McDonald’s) get more business than those that don’t invite us at that moment of decision.

Have a great weekend and I’ll be here to help you invite more customers to spend their money with you via the radio when you return to work.