'Insider' selling: four ways to boost your visibility and credibility and gain entree to reluctant prospects

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Oct 1, 1992 by Josh Gordon

In space sales, you are not selling just to a series of individuals--you are selling to a community. Whether you sell space for a trade magazine or sell a category for a consumer magazine, your efforts are played out on an invisible network of personal relationships and shared industry history that can work for you if you become an "insider," and will certainly work against you if you do not.

Trace your current client list back, say, 10 years, and you will find that many of these people have stayed within the industry or category as they moved from company to company. Analyze their career paths and you will see that many competitive clients have worked with or for one another over the years. Most still talk regularly or meet through industry associations.

And when your clients get together, what do you think they talk about? Being competitors, they can discuss business only to a limited extent. But the space reps who call on them represent common industry ground that is safe for conversation. If the buzz on you is good, it will help you get in to see people. If it is bad, you could have a tough time of it, even with people you've never met.

It's easy to recognize an insider when you see one. It's the rep who effortlessly gets in to see a client, where other reps can't even get him to come to the phone. Dave Scelba, CEO of Scelba, Scelba, DeTitta & Wolfson Integrated Marketing Communications, is one of the most "inside" people I know. He sees a lot of space reps and views the insiders as his personal news bureau of the industries/categories they serve. Says Scelba, "Space reps see a lot of different people in an industry, so they are in a position to have an overview of what is going on. Not that they should tell me anything confidential about competitors, but because they travel throughout the business my clients are in, they can tell me if business is good or if budgets are being cut and so forth."

But being an insider is more than just being a gossip, Scelba adds. "A space rep who is plugged in to an industry has his feelers out constantly, is networked into that community. It goes far beyond just buying and selling space. If one of my clients is looking for a product manager, for example, I may mention it to some of the well-connected reps I know, and they may be in a position to refer someone to me."

When you are marketing yourself to an industry or category, the word-of-mouth you generate is all important. Unfortunately, most word-of-mouth is negative. In his book, Word of Mouth Marketing, Jerry Wilson offers this "3-33 rule." Simply stated, in business, for every three people who are willing to say something good about you, there will be 33 who will say something bad. And negative word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire. Writes Wilson, "The White House Office of Consumer Affairs finds that a dissatisfied customer reveals the unpleasant experience to nine others. A California market research firm shows that dissatisfied automobile customers tell their stories to 22 others. A Dallas research firm says that in banking, a dissatisfied depositor will tell 11 others about a bank mistake."

So, offend three key media buyers in an industry or category, and within six months you are dead. Don't let it happen to you. Here are several ways to work on becoming an insider.

Impress the key people. Within every industry there are clients who are better connected than others. Working with these "wired" clients more aggressively will work to your advantage. It may be an account executive at an agency who has several accounts in your industry, or an industry executive who has been in the business forever and knows everybody. Focus extra time and effort on this client. After you sell him your magazine, sell him on yourself. Make sure you become an extremely valuable contact for him and his company.

Learn your client's business. When you call for an appointment, does your client look forward to spending time with a knowledgeable industry representative, or are you someone who just sells space? To become the former takes hard work. Remember that everything a client needs to know to buy ad pages from you is spelled out in your media kit. There really is no reason to meet with you if it is just to buy pages. So be an industry person first, and someone who sells ad space second.

Get involved. Becoming an industry insider takes time. I know many reps who have worked in the same industry for years and who have never become insiders, and reps who have started with new industries and become insiders within a year. The difference is a willingness to get involved. Join a trade association committee and spend non-selling time with clients working on industry issues. Learn enough about the industry to make serious proposals. Concern for the growth of your client's industry is another way of saying to your client that you care about his business--and he will eventually recognize and reward you for it.

Build a network. A real insider knows things before anyone else. To become an insider, you need to earn the trust of people who can share information with you. This means developing a reputation for being able to keep your mouth shut. If clients share sensitive information with you and the world soon knows all about it, their trust in you will vaporize and your network will crumble.