Reversing Circulation Decline

By selling the value proposition instead of discounts and by becoming world-class sales organizations, circulation departments can turn the tables on an alarming trend

By Bob Davis

Newspapers across the country have been struggling with declining circulation, but it doesn't have to be that way. The solution is for every circulation department to become a world-class sales organization.

The industry has maintained single-copy sales for the most part, but many organizations have outsourced new subscription sales. The problem with outsourcing is that the paper is paying for bill-me orders instead of prepaids because outsourcers find that bill-me orders are the easiest sales to make. The problem is that they also make it easy for someone who has no intention of paying for the paper enjoy a free subscription for a while.
A missed point

What's more, newspapers are being sold in two ways today - with discounts, and with deeper discounts. When the telephone or kiosk rep is selling a discount with a free umbrella or gift card, subscribers aren't thinking about the value they will receive from the newspaper. It's all about the deal.

In crewing situations, the representative is also selling the discount. Often, however, the prospect buys because he or she wants to help the young person who is standing on the doorstep almost begging for some help. The value of the newspaper remains a missed point.

In my work as a consultant in newspaper sales, retention and coaching, I have seen many newspapers turn circulation decline into circulation growth by selling the value of the paper instead of a discount or giveaway offer. In fact, when representatives tie the subscriber's wants, interests and needs to features and benefits of the paper, they not only get the sale but also get a prepaid order.

Building rapport

It all comes down to developing and using a consistent, robust sales process that allows representatives - whether they're on the phone, at a kiosk, or on the doorstep -to build rapport with subscribers instantly.

This sales process, when applied consistently, makes a real difference in winning long-term, prepaid subscribers who understand the value of the newspaper; subscribers who go in knowing they're getting their money's worth. That's a powerful proposition.

The process starts with an enthusiastic greeting and name exchange that builds rapport with the prospect. Most importantly, it involves a discovery phase. The rep asks key questions that help prospects sell themselves on the value of the paper by talking about what they like about it:

• "How often do you pick up the paper?"

• "When you pick up the paper what is your favorite section?"

• "Do you use the coupons in the Sunday paper? How much do you figure they save you each week?"

Prepaids and the assumptive close

Almost before the rep knows it, prospects are listing all the reasons they would benefit from a subscription. They see the value and are ready to respond positively to the assumptive close we use in this sales process. The result is a prepaid order through EZ Pay!

Now it is true that the Do Not Call Registry has changed the landscape for telemarketing by making 70 percent of our prospects unavailable by phone. However, the remaining 30 percent represents a large segment of the population. Selling the value proposition to this segment of the market through a robust sales process will produce a significant number of new subscriptions. In the crew and kiosk sales channels, the process will boost numbers dramatically as well.

The bottom line is that the circulation department and the entire newspaper organization must own the sale of its products and services instead of outsourcing. It requires the circulation department to be filled with telephone, crew and kiosk representatives who can sell the value of the newspaper.

I urge today's newspaper executives to take some time to visit your call center or outsourcer, accompany your crews, and stop in at your kiosks to listen to how your product is being sold today. Is it a source of pride as you listen, or is it time to implement a new, more robust way of selling your newspaper?

The best value in America

When you stop and think about it, your product is already the best value in America today. Why should you discount it? Using the value proposition, I have helped major newspapers go from declining sales to increased circulation. If everyone in our industry did the same, we would turn the declining sales trend on its ear.

Make selling a core competency

Why selling papers should be second nature for every newspaper organization

By Bob Davis

I was at the customer service center recently for a major metro newspaper. The center was working on a project designed to increase the number of saved cancellation requests. A few days earlier, the newspaper had sent out invoices to hundreds of new subscribers who had been brought in by an outside vendor. Call after call came in:

"I never ordered this paper."
"I wasn't told the paper would cost this much."
"I was told the paper was going to be free."
"The paper I ordered was supposed to be $20 for the whole year, and you are charging me $56 for 13 weeks."
"I order Sunday only and I am getting billed for seven days per week."

Unfortunately, this scene plays itself out daily in customer service centers across the country. What's more, this situation will persist so long as newspapers continue to outsource what should be the primary business of all companies-selling their own products!

New subscription telemarketing is not dead

Many newspapers have done themselves a great disservice by outsourcing the job of selling their product. Yet even when telemarketing is performed in-house, it is often executed poorly. I have urged many publishers and circulation directors to schedule an hour to listen to what their telemarketers are saying to their friends and neighbors in the community. The leaders usually emerge from this experience embarrassed by the low quality of the conversations they heard.

As a result of the prevailing culture of poor sales practices, many in the newspaper industry feel that telemarketing for new subscriptions is a dead practice. I disagree completely! Low sales volume does not mean that telemarketing is an ineffective sales channel. It simply means that the people doing the telemarketing are not doing so effectively.

The first step toward effective telemarketing is believing in the value of the product being offered. Reps must believe that having the daily newspaper delivered to one's home is, even at the standard price, the greatest bargain available in America today. It is clear to me that most reps are not taught to believe this.

Discover the value

Right now new subscriptions are being pushed on customers at deeply discounted prices. Reps are not discovering the unique value each subscriber would find in the paper. If we ask the right questions to uncover a prospective subscriber's wants, interests and needs, and we then explain how the newspaper can add value to the prospective subscriber's unique situation, there would no need to sell it at a discount!

Selling a newspaper based on its value also makes it much easier to sell the subscription on a paid-in-advanced basis. We pay our phone and cable bills in advance, why not do the same with our newspaper subscription? The common practice of signing up customers with merely a promise to pay generates unnecessary expense. If subscription sales were made based on value, customers would pay in advance just as they do for other products and services they value.

A similar argument holds when considering subscriber retention. According to the NAA, subscriptions generated through telemarketing are the least retained order source. This may be due to the fact that telemarketers often push subscriptions by using attractive introductory offers. When the offer expires and the subscriber is asked to renew at the standard rate, the typical subscriber is unwilling to do so because he or she has never had a quality conversation centered on the value of a standard subscription.

Sell value in every channel

Many in the newspaper industry are wringing their hands over declining circulation. Yet circulation could grow again if newspapers started selling the value of the paper through each of their sales channels. Companies must also use industry best practices for each sales channel. For example, there are newspaper-owned crewing operations around the country that consistently turn in two sales per hour per rep while other newspaper companies have been unable to make crewing work. The same is true for kiosk sales.

Selling the newspaper needs to be part of every employee's job. Each of your employees should take it personally if they have a neighbor who does not get home delivery. The cable industry is having great success with annual "Meet Your Neighbors" campaigns. These campaigns are a company-wide contest among employees to sign-up as many of their neighbors as possible for cable service. I know of one newspaper whose publisher had the same idea, and in just one week, the campaign generated an average of three subscriptions per newspaper employee. Imagine what would happen if you got the same results from each of your employees once or twice per year!

Envision higher circulation

My vision is for every newspaper in the country to have a circulation sales operation that is world-class. This includes telemarketing, kiosk, and crew sales channels that are producing more than enough paid-in-advance sales to grow circulation numbers month after month. This circulation sales group should also use strategically placed single copy inserts and marketing that actually grow circulation.

How does a newspaper achieve this vision? By going back to basics and product a core competency of the organization!