Print
Solutions January 2006
433
East Monroe
What’s
Wrong With This Magazine?
When
it comes to rejection, writing
for a magazine isn’t much
different than selling printing.
I contact manufacturers and distributors
all the time looking for stories.
They’re my prospects, and
the vast majority respectfully
decline. The most common objections
I hear are: 1) I don’t have
time and 2) I don’t have
any good stories.
What
do you do when prospects raise
objections to your proposals?
Good salesmen try to work around
them. I appeal to my prospects’
self-interest by explaining how
magazine exposure is free publicity.
A typical interview takes less
than half an hour—isn’t
that time well spent? Distributors
point out that their customers
don’t read our magazine.
I say, ‘Reprints make great
marketing materials.’
The
second objection simply isn’t
true. Everyone has a great story.
If you’ve ever gone above
and beyond for a client, if a
client has relied on your ideas,
or if your expertise has improved
a client’s productivity
or profitability, then you have
a very good story to tell. If
you haven’t done those things,
and you’re still in business—that’s
a great story also!
Still,
I estimate only one out of every
50 prospects I contact eventually
becomes a source for the magazine.
What does it tell you when self-interest
isn’t enough to make a prospect
act? Am I missing something?
Maybe
appeals to self-interest don’t
work because members of this industry
are particularly selfless. When
Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma hit
last year, manufacturers and distributors
nationwide reached out to help
their brethren in affected areas.
We’ve taken note of their
goodwill, despite a uniform sense
of modesty, in “Helping
Hands” (p. 54).
While
those afflicted companies rebuild,
the industry as a whole faces
a slew of challenges—and
opportunities—in 2006. Our
annual State of the Industry report
looks at what lies ahead (p. 22).
Andrew
Brown
Assistant
Editor
“What
does it tell you when self-interest
isn’t enough to make a prospect
act?”
