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Santa Cruz (CA) Alternative Weekly Generates Tens of Thousands of New Online Revenue, Sold by the traditional Ad Reps!

The Challenge
It's a fun read. It's a dominant newspaper. The Santa Cruz (CA) Good Times is a mainstay to the local population. Knowing that a more concerted effort needed to be made to extending the publication to online readers, Publisher Ron Slack had a new exciting Web site created for the newspaper (www.gtweekly.com, and then needed to make sure his sales people would be able to take it effectively to their advertisers. Ron contacted The Blinder Group to consult on the project. The Blinder Group met with senior management and crafted a program that would train the sales reps on how to sell the Web, as well as generate new revenue for "Good Times."

Program Overview
The newspaper allocated a new "skyscraper" ad position, which appears on the "right rail" of the Web site pages, for newspaper advertisers only.

The actual online ads being offered for sale were to be designed and developed by the newspaper's traditional production department. All ads were developed as a means to augment an advertiser's newspaper campaign, using "copy" from their current ad. Only newspaper advertisers were able to participate in this program. The ads once placed on the Web page were programmed to offer a link to the advertiser's Web site, or for a nominal charge to the advertiser's current newspaper ad. The TimesOnline.com Web department would also develop an online marketing page for the advertiser, if so requested.

The "package" offered each advertiser a minimum number of 5,000 monthly ad impressions for a fee of $275/ month. Only advertisers with a weekly traditional newspaper ad could participate in the program. The content of the online ad would be changed each time the advertiser placed a new newspaper ad in the Good Times. The program was offered for a full year's commitment.

Specific lists of advertisers to be called on, were developed by the newspaper's sales managers targeting:
· Current larger newspaper advertisers with high levels of spending on competing media who should be targeted for" up-sell" into this program, as a means to acquire more "market share."
· Non-weekly newspaper advertisers who advertise on competing media who would benefit from a new ongoing, weekly bundled print/online program.

While on site at the Times, The Blinder Group conducted a proven, highly effective initial training session with the traditional newspaper ad reps entitled "Multimedia Sales 101." The focus of this training session is to assist in shifting the paradigm of conventional sales people to break down their fears of the internet and help them increase their understanding of the role interactive media can play as a viable marketing solution for their advertisers. This training is also designed to educate traditional sales people on how to easily and effectively sell multimedia products and services. These training sessions have proven to be an effective way to educate sales and sales support people in the value of online products in the local advertiser's media mix. "Multimedia Sales 101" takes no more than one and one half-hours. The meeting was conducted prior to The Blinder Group's return visit, in which 4-legged sales training/closing calls were be performed to re enforce the training. Sales people were urged and encouraged during the training, to set up a large amount of appointments, with qualified "decision-makers" of area businesses, so the new sales program developed during the planning session, could be "taken to market" effectively. A customized appointment setting script, along with re-enforcing support information was given to the sales people in the form of the "Blinder Group Success Kit" to help them set up the pending calls.

The Blinder Group also crafted an easy to use "PowerPoint" sales support presentation for the traditional ad reps to use in explaining the program to advertisers. Too often, media companies do not understand the need for high impact, easy to present, sales support materials as a means for showing interactive marketing elements to potential advertisers. The Blinder Group believes that traditional ad reps can offer online products and services WITHOUT the need for computers, as long as they are "armed" with effective sales collaterals.

One of the key elements in ensuring sales success of this initiative was garnering advertiser approval of meeting attendance as well as the validity of the concept in general. Too often sales reps set up appointments with "non-decision makers," without meeting with the person who can offer a final decision. Also, some advertisers are wary of trying new ideas. One of the most effective means of accomplishing attendance and acceptance is to introduce the advertiser to an industry respected "outside" consultant who has had success with similar programs, with similar businesses, in similar markets, all across North America. That is why many media companies contract with the Blinder Group to perform "4-legged" sales training/closing calls with traditional ad reps, to assist in the launch of programs like the one defined in this document. It also proven that as a direct result of these "4-legged" sales calls, where the sales rep witnesses the most effective way to present the product from an experienced trainer, the traditional ad rep adopts a more stronger belief in the concept.

Results
The Blinder Group returned to the market with for four full days of assisted sales training/ closing calls, on targeted advertisers, with the Times sales reps. After each day of the training calls, the Blinder Group consultant issued newspaper senior managers a daily update on the progress of the program. This detailed daily report offers information about every meeting, the result of the call, along with useful information about each advertiser.

The result of the entire training program was $50,000 of new online business generated in the 4-days, with an additional $7,000 likely to close in the weeks to come. In many cases these new dollars came as a direct result of the advertiser reallocating their spending levels from competing media. In some cases, advertisers increased their print advertising commitments in order to take advantage of the program. "When we decided to hire Mike and the Blinder Group, my goal was to empower my reps to be able to sell online advertising. It was just as important for them to understand the power of multimedia sales. And for the company we wanted to have another revenue stream that we could grow and build over then ext few years, said Ron Slack Publisher of Good Times. "Through the hands on effort of Mike Blinder and the Blinder Group, we were able to accomplish all of this. It is really exciting to see four days of sales effort turn into tens of thousands of dollars of added revenue. They made it easy and fun, and my sales team is pumped!"

Contact Information
For more information about the sales strategy and program deployment of this product, contact:
· Ron Slack, Publisher,
Santa Cruz (CA) Good Times
(831) 458 1100, rslack@gdtimes.com

· Penny Brown, Advertising Director,
Santa Cruz (CA) Good Times
(831) 458 1100, pennyb@gdtimes.com

Lead consultant for The Blinder Group:
· Mike Blinder
(917) 865-4827, mike@blindergroup.com

The Blinder Group
Tampa Offices: 6139 Fjord Way
New Port Richey, FL 34652 USA
(727) 847-2464 ~ (727) 847-5959 (fax)
profit@blindergroup.com

SPEAKING PROGRAMS, seminars and workshops

CONSULTING/TRAINING: Strategic Planning ~ Basic Sales Training
Multimedia Sales Training ~ Assisted 4-Legged Closing Calls

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