• by Tom Hespos , August 29, 2006

I don't envy sales reps who have to cold-call media planners. The last time I had to work a phone bank was when I was in college, dialing up random homes for a research project. It's an experience I'd just as soon forget.

That said, there are cold calls that have gone well for sales reps ringing my office, and ones that have been utter disasters. If you're dialing a phone looking for some ad revenue, here are some tips that might help you get a bit closer to your goal.

Do write out beforehand a quick three-sentence description of what it is you're selling and what makes it different from all the other things we might be buying. Last week, someone called the office and left a voicemail, wanting a call-back to discuss "a unique advertising opportunity." That tells me pretty much nothing and doesn't differentiate the product in any way. Media planners should be able to absorb what your product is and why it's different with the first few sentences coming out of your mouth. They hear hundreds of people per week tell them that their product is "a unique advertising opportunity." You need to be more descriptive than that.

Don't call an agency without first checking to see if your company already has an established relationship with the agency. I can't tell you how many times we get phone calls from inside sales reps at publishers we've been working with for years. It's an embarrassing situation, because it shows the publisher has its wires crossed. It also sends the message that the business the agency is already doing with the publisher isn't valued enough to show up on internal radar screens.

Do ask, "Is this a good time?" Cold-calling can get you business, but it is interruptive. You might be catching a media planner a couple minutes before an important meeting, or while he's working on deadline to get a plan out the door. If the time isn't convenient, ask when would be the best time to call back. Also get an e-mail or postal address so that you can follow up with more detailed information that can be reviewed when deadlines aren't looming.

Don't threaten to go around agencies directly to their clients because you're not getting the response you want. An urgent need to sell ad deals on your part does not constitute an emergency on the agency's part. Yes, you should expect the courtesy of a call-back and an answer on an ad proposal. But if you're getting feedback and it's a considered "no," this doesn't justify torpedoing an agency relationship.

Do be prepared to call in additional resources to handle questions you can't answer. Sometimes a planner might want to know more about your technology platform, or the intricacies of your research methodology, or otherwise ask for details you might not be prepared to deliver. Don't worry about it. Just be prepared to call in the resources in your organization that can get those questions answered. And pay attention, in case those same questions are asked in the future.

Don't try to fit a square peg in a round hole. Many times, cold callers try to position what they're selling as similar to something we're already deploying for a client, or similar to something I just wrote about in a column. In actuality, there's no relation; the cold caller is really stretching just to try to make a sale--and this is painfully obvious. If you read something in the press and want to try to parlay that into a sale, don't stretch the facts of the situation. It won't help you.

I'm sure these tips will start up a counterpoint from sales reps at the Spin Web site. I'll be hanging out there responding to comments, so swing by there to see how folks are reacting to these dos and don'ts.