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One man’s solution to a tough selling problem - history repeats itself in surprising places
| Guest post by: Drayton Bird |
Article Overview: How a chance meeting in India reminded the author of the birth of the advertising agency business - with a moral to be drawn.
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Free Download - A Chinese puzzle: the battle between sales and marketing By Drayton Bird |
One man’s solution to a tough selling problem - history repeats itself in surprising places
“What goes around
comes around” is something my former wife used to say to me in moments of
philosophical reflection or veiled threat.
This brings me to the
name of Arun d’Souza, a man I met about 8 years ago when I was doing some
speeches and a brief TV appearance in India.
I met Arun when he
drove me from Mumbai airport to the Taj Hotel, which can take up to two
hours. We passed the time with
chit-chat; and I asked him about his career. He had started selling credit
cards face to face and then moved on to selling space in newspapers.
“That’s a tough job,”
I said. “I was a complete flop at it. How did you do?”
His answer intrigued
me. He had succeeded by employing a stratagem which is at least 150 years old –
maybe older.
He used to go to
prospects and say he would create an advertisement for them himself and run it
in the paper free. They would only have
to pay if it worked.
“This is really amazing,”
I said. Many people don’t know this, but that is how the first advertising
agents started in the days of Queen Victoria. They were space salesmen, and they realised
they would do much better if their clients’ advertisements worked. So they used
to offer to create the advertising for them.
This worked so well
that eventually they stopped working for the publications and started working
for the clients, collecting the traditional 15% paid by the media as
commission.
Arun said he knew
little about direct marketing so I asked him on what basis he talked about
results to his clients. “Oh”, he said, “I mean how many responses they
get”. That amused me enormously. I said “Arun, you actually know an awful lot
about direct marketing already. Because that is precisely what it’s about:
responses”.
So Arun, struggling to
survive in a big cruel city – a damned sight crueller than New
York or London,
I can assure you – had discovered the harsh realities and succeeded by
exploiting them, all on his own.
I wonder how many of
us would be able to do that? I know when I sold space so badly early on in my
career, I didn’t have the guts or the talent to do what he did. And how many
agencies today bet their income on responses? Don’t ask.
60% of the Sales Cycle is Over – BEFORE a buyer talks to your Salesperson
ADHD Tools on the World Wide Web
3 Simple Steps To Effective Online Marketing Videos! ~CASH MAGNET
Where's the Problem with Increasing Sales?
Leaders Aren't Leaders Based on Their 'Say So'
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About the Author: Drayton Bird RSS for Drayton's articles - Visit Drayton's website Click here to visit Drayton's website   WHY IS UPSIDEDOWN MARKETING SO POPULAR AND IS IT KILLING YOUR BUSINESS HOW BAD MARKETING KILLED A GOOD MAN Recession survival strategy Force your marketing to make money by measuring Why do advertisers spend so much money talking to people who have very little to spend Because they like talking to themselves often defined as the first sign of madness One mans solution to a tough selling problem history repeats itself in surprising places |
Related Forum Posts
Re: Is Internet Marketing Over?
- (Note from Forum admin: Mal is responding to an earlier post, made by another member, that has been deleted due to spam infractions.)
... The problem with many newbie’s is that it is not that they don’t want to work at it, it is more likely that they become discouraged thru lack of success and being constantly bombarded by Internet sharks who take their money off them like candy from a baby.
The solution is mentoring and training, keeping your hand in your pocket and concentrating on all the free things that you can do to build a business then when a bit of money starts to come in you can go for a few of the paid programs.
The problem is that the vast majority are just fodder for those that prey on the newbie’s who are desperate for success but have no help to get there. That is where places like this forum and other mentoring sites can save all the grief but many fall by the wayside before they discover the help that is there.
regards,
Mal.
Keyboard problem solved
- I had an old computer sitting in the garage with a USB port connection (there's places around here to recycle old computers but I haven't gotten around to it yet.... thankfullyas it turns out!)
I plugged that keyboard into my laptop and it works fine.
So I've decided that's a good enough solution!
Re: Gap Between Rich and Poor Widens
- This really is a tough problem to solve. Unfortunately, I think it will only get worse as time progresses. You can't make someone want more for themselves, but I do think we need to do more to encourage them. I'm just not sure what that would be. I am thankful that many of the rich people in the United States aren't all greedy because I think they are very good about sharing their fortune with charities here. That's great, in my opinion. If it weren't for that we would have an even greater problem on our hands.
Re: Evan why is . . . .
- It's just about "PROMINENT BUTTONS" and positioning . . .Besides more traffic helps everyone.
Just one mans opinion.
Have a happy New Year everyonne
Re: Fed rate cuts . . .
- [quote="BizLoanz4u":1hw6furk]These are truely tough lending times and i don't really think the lower rate helps the avarage person.[/quote:1hw6furk]
Well..but is tough lending good or bad?
Most of the problem today has been caused by lenders being too soft on their "due diligence," haven't they?
I used to think that banks only lent money to people who didnt' need it. Now, thatmay come true for real!
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