What Should You Do Next to Increase Profits? Look at the Sales Cycle

We love local publishers. The publishers who serve their communities, especially the mom & pop publishers that are always in a hurry and trying to make a living at their labor-of-love.

We often hear local publishers tell us, especially before they get to know us, that "I need to scare up some business before my deadline." Or we hear publishers say things like, "Why would I sell a $200 [or fill in the blank] *digital* ad when I can sell at $1k [or fill in a larger blank] print ad?"

These two questions are both completely reasonable and based on a bad assumption at the same time. First, it's not print OR digital just like going out to eat dinner isn't "entree OR dessert" - it's an integrated experience where one complements the other. That being said, we've written before to debunk the myth that print and digital are at odds and this post is about where to best spend your time - or your salespeople's time - to maximize profitability.

With that introduction, lets look at the 3 stages of prospects - the foundation of your advertiser purchase funnel. Everything in the video above and the notes below assumes 2 things: 1. your publication reaches a desirable audience (desirable to your advertisers) and 2. you have loyal advertisers who like you/your publication/your values. Prospect stages include:

• An advertiser who up for renewal - highest ROI per minute of effort; should renew with an Integrated campaign to maximize value for them and revenue/profit for you!
• Advertiser who is mid-cycle - it's always good to revisit advertisers to take their marketing-pulse; introducing digital as a way to create an integrated campaign is your second best use of time and this can be applied to ALL existing advertisers
• A new prospect - can be either inbound or cold call, while inbound is better you'll see that neither are an efficient path for immediate revenue or profit

So, let's do a deeper dive to understand why a new prospect is your worst use of sales activity time starting with why the others are so much better. In a nutshell, it comes down to your cost (or time required) to close aka the sales cycle.

An existing advertiser who is up for renewal

These folks are easy, your renewal rate is likely 80-90% or higher - how does that compare to your close rate?... Exactly! It's easy to approach them with an, "It's that time of year..." message and they're often expecting you with budget/checkbook in hand. That being said, if you aren't selling integrated you're leaving money on the table. Ever been to a restaurant where you wanted to get dessert after your meal and the server never came back? Introducing the options not only makes you more money for essentially no extra work but it also results in a more satisfied customer who gives you credit for "handling their marketing needs" across the board.

Renewal is easy but why is an existing advertiser mid-cycle nearly as good? For the exact same reason - they already like you, in this case it gives you a reason to talk with them and they're still looking for dessert.

Selling digital to existing advertisers, mid-cycle, represents your single biggest/near-term revenue & profit opportunity

While I love metaphors and hyperbole, selling digital to an existing print advertiser really is the highest ROI effort you have after renewing an advertiser on-cycle. You don't have to sell them on you, your audience, or your values. You don't have trouble reaching them or uncertainty about who the real decision maker is. You can immediately approach them and offer the dessert menu without having to schedule long-drawn-out meetings or due-diligence calls and you may be able to do it entirely by telephone if not a short visit. The dollar amounts involved are lower so it's an easier Yes for them and the profit margins are astronomically larger online than in print (you don't have the cost of print, operational overhead, etc).

Finally, new prospects (inbound or cold-calls) provide the lowest ROI for your sales effort

It's hard to get people who don't know or like you (not that they dislike you) to care about what you're doing or believe you can help their business... this is how you feel when you initially hear from Locable :) So it's not an issue of print or digital, price, etc none of that matters until they generally buy-in to your core message and that can take time as can the actual purchase decision.

So, if you want to increase your profitability today start by offering something new to an existing client. It's true in every industry - especially media.

If you'd like help navigating the new media waters and don't want to recreate the wheel every step along the way, Locable can help.