Quit Qualifying Clients - Start Dis-Qualifying Them.

(Or, "No I don't want lots of accounts on my list - just one's with super-potential.) Sounds nuts, I know. Just the opposite of what we've been taught. In my system we get the following information on each account. If they can't answer "Yes" to all of them, they're dis-qualified from my list. Here they are:

1. Do they have the wherewithal to spend an ad budget (or the ability to create one if I showed them a stupendous idea.
2. If they have a budget - do they have enough to match my monthly billing average per account - my average account size?
3. Do they have a local decision maker? (Other than a media buyer.)
4. Do they have the first nickel of manufacturer or supplier money?
5. Are they in one of my format's P-1 advertiser categories? Or even one of Radio's P-1 advertiser categories?

If they don't have at least three of these - DIS-qualify them. Scratch them off the list. Trade the account. If they DO HAVE the above criteria - go after the account with vengeance. Ideas, post-cards, ideas, e-mails, presentations, ideas and more ideas. Lately I'm seeing more successful AE with shorter lists - not longer. Rather than 150 accounts that they skim, they might have 60-70 that they work super-hard. At any given time they might have 1/3 of them on the air - and constantly upgrading them.

Contact Taz

Phone: (480) 970-4200 | Fax: (480) 699-2112
E-mail: taz@tazmedia.com