Real Tax Business Success
Lesson - 28
Final Words on Media -
Negotiation and Accountability:
Author: Chauncey Hutter Jr.
Look folks, everything is negotiable. And I mean everything! If some ad salesman tells you this is the best deal you can get, I’d say here’s what I’m offering and negotiate some more.
It is really important to BUY your advertising media at the best price possible. The better deal you get, the more pressure you take off your marketing and the higher the chances are for success. Just look at it this way. The better the deal you get now, the less sales you have to make for break-even! (Or for a certain profit level, depending on your marketing goal.)
If the price of a newspaper display ad is $750 and you negotiate an additional $250 off the price (the salesman said was “the lowest he could go” -- yeah right) then you need only one or two new clients to make that ad work as opposed to about three.
Many times the money you save on the “extra” advertising expenses YOU ARE NOW NOT PAYING is the actual spread of dollars that keeps you able to spend more on ads, picking up additional clients. (Why not keep spending a dollar if you keep getting $1.50 or $1.75 in return? You might stop if your return was .75 cents on the dollar. THAT COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE YOU NEGOTIATED!)
Don’t forget about bartering, too! Every sales rep, owner of a direct mail company or any other media person you might do business with IS A TAXPAYER, TOO! (It’s nice being in a business where everyone has gotta do (or supposed to do) what service you provide.) Anyway, bartering works! We still do it today.
TIP: When you are doing business with a small business owner, they are more likely to go for a “barter deal” than some guy working on commission. (But you never know. ALWAYS throw it out there on the negotiating table and see what happens.)
Probably the most powerful negotiating tool to help you leverage a deal is being able to walk away. “Not having to DO a deal” has great leverage power. If the other person really wants to make the sale and you don’t really “need” to advertise in the media he’s selling, you can land a deal you may not want to refuse! (That’s a good place to be.)
Whenever I’m dealing with an ad rep I never act like I really want what they are offering.
(I pay lower prices on advertising because of it. You should, too.)
Remember: Never stop asking for a better deal on your ads. The worst they can say is no.
Hold ALL of your advertising media accountable!
I mean every individual ad you spend your hard earned money on needs to pull its own weight!
Hold it accountable.
Before you spend any more money on advertising. Right now, I want you to ...
STOP!
I want you to make a personal commitment before you go any further in your business. I want you to lay down this accountability “law” on yourself and stick to it! Here it is:
“I will NOT spend money on ANY advertising or marketing ideas,
strategies, media, services, etc. that cannot provide viciously
accurate, fast measurement of return-on-investment.
Period. No exceptions, no excuses.”
If you can live by this one commitment in your tax business, each and every tax season, you will quickly mold and shape your company into a lean, mean “money-making” (and profit building) machine!
Following through with this one secret and it’ll be worth ALL the time and effort you put into this Crash Course.
Chauncey Hutter Jr.
Tax Marketing Expert
Chauncey Hutter, Jr, is a best-selling author and leading marketing consultant and success coach to the tax industry. Mr. Hutter grew his father’s $50,000 per year tax preparation business to a multi-million dollar empire with 24 locations, 400+ employees and over 27,000 tax clients all coming from his marketing campaigns.
For more info on Real Tax Business Success, go to www.taxmarketing.com
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Real Tax Business Success
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