Who's really da Boss??? This mistake could be costing you thousands of dollars.

Actual meeting with an "Advertising Account Executive" occurred last week in my office and it went bad for the, er, "Executive".

Now keep in mind ad sales are an excellent way to generate income very quickly with next to nothing at risk financially on your part. Most of the sales can be done prior to the actual advertising piece hitting the streets. The deposits or pre-pay will often cover the cost of the project, allowing you to market first to test - then roll out with the funds picked up prior.

The above would be an independent advertising project, but this story pertains to any type of sales across the board. So listen up...

It all starts with a new web site to market some insurance products across the State of Wyoming. Site is pretty much complete with ezine, contact forms and quick quote forms. I've tested them and everything seems to be in working order. All emails are redirected into separate files for processing. Now I want to test in a small market to work out the bugs and to see if the staff will be able to handle the workload.

Instead of going statewide, I opted to test regionally in one market. Reason being is there is northing worse than being deluged with buyers when you aren't capable of handling all in a reasonable timeframe. And no sense bringing on new staff prior to knowing what the response/sell ratios will be either.

Contacting a local multi-media advertising guy, I tell him what I have going on. Give him the web site URL. Tell him I'm looking to "test" the site for response as well as uncover any "bugs" in the system. We agree on a time to meet.

On the day of the meeting I hear him in the front office and he is a few minutes early. I like that. Never be late for a meeting and never arrive more than 5 minutes early for one. In sales, ALWAYS BE ON TIME! No sooner - no later. Respect and courtesy is paramount to a good first impression.

Right off the bat he greets me and tells me I can run a classified ad in a local shopper paper for $6.00 a week. No disrespect intended I tell him that is not the market I'm trying to reach.

We then get into a discussion where he is defending his shopper. I once again tell him, I am more interested in radio spots and not getting lost in a classified among a few hundred others.

His comeback is a small 1"x1" square in the Service Directory of the shopper for $40 a week. Again I tell him I am not interested in "getting lost" with 36 other one inch squares on one large page of the shopper.

Twice now I've told him I wasn't interested in the shopper paper. But he once again tries to close by telling me for an "additional $5.00 a week" I could have a "border" placed around my ad. Great. Now I'm lost with a border. But I have to tell him no again.

And if I wanted to run a service directory ad, or classified, I would have opted for the statewide paper and spent the same amount of money.

Now he gets into high gear in defending his shopper. Telling me he "is the expert" on advertising in our area and he's done it for over 10 years. Nice. He sells classifieds and one inch display ads.

He also is affiliated with the radio station. I have told him three times now I am interested in radio - right from the beginning.

Finally he tells me radio spots are $10 per 30 second spots after 30 minutes of debating me on the validity of a throw away shopper paper. I'm looking to cross sell to an affluent market, but he assures me the affluent market reads his shopper. But I'm not too certain the affluent market here, is very interested in discounted Doral cigarette cartons, what time the bingo game starts, or which pawn shop gives more money for your stereo's.

Near the end of the meeting he repeats for the umpteenth time, "I know my advertising and what's best" line, from which I respond that I am the one with the money and I make the decisions. Thanks for your time...

Online or in the real world, when you make your first contact, and a prospect is begging you to sell them something... Why would you not give it to them? Why antagonize the situation?

Give your target market what they want initially. Then develop your relationship.

Have you surveyed your target market? Do you even know what they want? Or are you just telling them they need this for whatever reason?

Simply because you have a "solution" doesn't necessarily mean I have a "problem". My problem was I wanted to get on the radio. The solution wasn't buying a classified ad!

Have an ezine already? Then send them a survey on your product or service. Discover if they would buy something else, something different or maybe a slight change to what you're marketing now could result in 300% and higher increases in sales. I've seen this happen time and time again.

I may hire and fire office staff. But my clientele are the true bosses.

So... Who's da boss in your neighborhood?

Success and Regards... Mike