Читать книгу Media Selling - Warner Charles Dudley - Страница 68

In their Harvard Business Review article “Make sure your customers keep coming back,” F. Stewart DeBruicker and Gregory Summe identify two types of customers: inexperienced generalists and experienced specialists.²⁹ In media selling, examples of inexperienced generalists are smaller customers, often retailers and others called on direct (those who do not have an advertising agency), who are new to advertising in a medium. Examples of experienced specialists are advertising agency media buyers. DeBruicker and Summe point out that selling and creating value strategies to these two types of customers must be different.

Inexperienced generalists typically do many jobs in their businesses. For example, a small, owner‐run retailer might keep the books, set up displays, and do personal selling as well as place advertising. If this retailer, who we will call John, is unfamiliar with radio, for instance, he wants to know how to buy it, how to schedule it, how to write copy, and how to best position his store to appeal to his target customers. John is more interested in expert marketing and advertising advice and in results (selling more goods) than in price; therefore, a salesperson must provide expert advice in those areas in which John needs help.

Experienced specialists typically specialize in one activity. For example, an agency media buyer does only one thing – place media buys – and is an expert in that activity. If this buyer, who we will call Jane, is making a television buy in a market, she is primarily interested in price and service – fast, responsive service. Jane is not interested in marketing or advertising advice or in advice about writing effective copy; she is interested in a different type of results – ratings, circulation, cost‐per‐points, cost‐per‐thousands, cost‐per‐clicks, reach, and frequency, all of which you will learn about in Chapter 18: Measuring Advertising.

As inexperienced direct accounts gain experience, their needs shift from asking for marketing and advertising advice to asking for responsive service and competitive prices. However, one thing direct accounts, especially retailers, will always focus on is results, which will always be more important to them than ratings, circulation, or research data. In the following sections of this chapter, you will learn more about strategies for calling on direct accounts and on agencies.