The buying process for service selling is somewhat similar to the buying process for missionary selling, although one step shorter: Recognition of needs Evaluation of alternatives, Phase I Evaluation of alternatives, Phase II Purchase Execution, optimization, and verification Recognition of needs We will make the assumption that in service selling you are selling to an advertising agency, typically to a media agency or the media department of an agency or client. In recent years, primarily because of programmatic buying, a trend has developed for large marketers to programmatic buying in house rather than using an agency. Also, large consulting firms, primarily Accenture and Deloitte, have become more active in not only consulting on advertising and media strategy but also in creating and placing advertising, thus taking business from advertising agencies. However, for the sake of simplification, we will refer to agency selling, which will include selling to the media departments of large marketers and to consulting companies. In the recognition-of-needs step, agencies have accounts that already have a budget for advertising, so in this first buying step agencies develop an overall media strategy that consists of determining, based on an allocated budget, which media to use and when to use them. Evaluation of alternatives, Phase I The first phase of evaluating alternatives consists of an agency developing a media plan that allocates dollars to the various media it has decided to use and sending out requests for proposals (RFPs) to the media selected. Evaluation of alternatives, Phase II The second phase of this buying step consists of comparing and evaluating the proposals that have been submitted in response to the RFPs that have been sent out. More and more often, this step is being eliminated by
STEP Prospecting & Qualifying Researching Insights & Solutions Educating Proposing Negotiating & Closing OBJECTIVE To establish your credibility and expertise and to move prospects from attention to interest To find insights or a Big Idea that will help solve marketing and advertising problems To teach your product’s benefits and advantages and move prospects to active consideration To present a tailored proposal that includes price, terms, and conditions To get prospects to take action or give a firm commitment to purchase KEY QUESTIONS “Are you satisfied with your current ads?” “Would you like to get better results?” “What keeps you up at night?” “What criteria do you use to make a decision on what to invest in?” (Conduct research so you understand prospect’s industry, business, competitors, and advertising strategy and objectives.) “Do you with the value in what I’ve presented so far?” “Do we have agreement on your decision criteria?” “Who else needs to see this solution?” “Do you agree that the prices, terms, and conditions are fair and reasonable?” “When would you like to start?” “If you have no other questions, shall we go ahead?” KEY GIVES Give some new information and a success story in prospect’s category. (Create value for your benefits, solutions, Big Ideas.) More success stories (Negotiate on prices, terms, and conditions if appropriate. See Chapter 13.) Give implementation details. KEY GETS Get appointment to present insights, solutions, or a Big Idea. Get commitment to decision criteria. Get commitment to present a specific proposal to others involved in making a decision and to move forward. Get agreement to move forward. Contract signed, IO sent, firm commitment to purchase