(By Wayne Ens) When you consider all the time and effort that go into prospecting and presenting, it’s understandable that some salespeople think of “the close” as the end of a complex selling process. But professional radio marketing consultants understand that the close is really just the beginning of a solid, sustainable relationship with their clients.
Regular wrap-up reports and post-campaign analysis are two tools you can use to reinforce your role, and radio’s role, in your advertisers’ success.
Your wrap-up report can begin with an outline of the goals your advertiser agreed to when you made your presentation, and can include:
• Copies of your radio scripts
• Audio copies of commercials
• Videos or photos of customer activity or lineups during the campaign or event
• Perhaps a recording of a testimonial by a customer who was attracted to the advertiser by your campaign
• A summary outline of the client’s schedule
• And most importantly, a summary outline of how you overdelivered on your promises
Presenting your campaign wrap-up report to document your achievements is a natural segue to a more positive discussion when you offer to do a post-campaign analysis.
To begin the post-campaign analysis process, you’ll say something like, “At WKRP, we’re committed to making each campaign more successful than the last, and to learning what works and what does not work. May I take a few minutes to get your input on how we can improve our performance?”
Your post-campaign analysis is very much like an updated customer needs analysis. Engaging your advertisers in this discussion can be a very valuable and productive exercise for both you and your advertiser.
Many account executives sidestep discussing results after a campaign out of fear their clients will say, “It didn’t work.” Frankly, if the client feels that way, you need to know, and you need to know why, if you expect to get a renewal!
Delivering a comprehensive wrap-up report and conducting a post-campaign analysis with your clients achieves a number of objectives, and creates more opportunities for you and your clients:
1. Your effort demonstrates that you have confidence in your product, and do not fear discussing your value. Selling, after all, is merely a transference of confidence. While your competitors fear such candid conversations, your followup will establish you as a partner in your client’s success.
2. It’s often been said that radio is harder to sell than some other media because radio is intangible. Tangible is defined as “perceived by a sense of touch.” Your written wrap-up report makes your clients’ purchases “tangible.” If the only things your clients get to touch are your proposal and an invoice, you’ll never take the “intangible” out of radio.
3. During your post-campaign analysis, you will learn how to make each campaign more successful than the last.
4. You will gain a clearer understanding of how your clients measure value, and be able to deliver to their expectations when you discuss the results of each campaign.
Engaging in a candid post-campaign analysis will inevitably build your brand as a knowledgeable marketing professional, compared to less confident competitors who fear being held accountable.
You have probably heard that in marketing, perception becomes reality. And you’ve also heard that your prospects are more concerned about the value you deliver than they are about your rates.
Here is the thing: value is more of a perception than a reality.
The value equation that creates the value perception is simple:
Your customer’s expectations of you, plus or minus your customer’s experience when they do business with you equals the value they perceive.
Value is only perceived when the experience you deliver is greater than the expectation.
Delivering what you promised is expected and taken for granted, but demonstrating that you have delivered more than you promised delights the customer and takes you one step closer to a healthy renewal.
Your wrap-up report and post-campaign analysis can be an impressive and productive part of your “overdelivery.”
And, when advertisers begin to consider cutting back their budgets, and they begin to assess the value of each of their media partners, the media with the most comprehensive followups will not be a victim of cutbacks.
If your advertiser’s folder is packed with files that include your presentations, audio samples, wrap-up reports and post-campaign analyses, they’ll recall the service you delivered, and you’ll be perceived as a valued media partner.
You are welcome to use the form we use when conducting a PCA. Simply go to our website, www.wens media.com, click on the “Resources” tab, then copy our “Post Campaign Analysis” form from our “Free Stuff” folder.
Wayne Ens in an international marketing consultant, business-to-business sales trainer and author, specializing in helping media companies create stronger partnerships with locally-owned businesses. Wayne has worked with radio stations, TV, newspapers, and billboard companies to help their local-direct advertisers improve their return on investment.
