Why You Need to Conduct a Needs Assessment with All Your Advertisers

The needs assessment is one of the most important parts of the sales process, and it’s also the one that is skipped the most often.

Your success with promotion sales depends on your willingness to take the time and have this conversation with all of your advertisers – both new and existing customers. After all, advertiser needs can and do change over time, and assuming that you know what they need without talking to them first can derail a sale.

A needs analysis conversation is what enables you to sell results.

According to Brandy Carter, the Division Sales Manager at SmartReach Digital, the best strategy is to “sell actionable ideas, not media.”

The goal of a needs analysis conversation is not to go in and sell a spot or an ad – the goal is to understand the challenges your advertisers are facing and how you can move the needle for them in your market by asking the right questions. While that might be a spot or a Sunday print ad, it could also be an email, or a contest sponsorship. Unless you take the time to understand their business on a deeper level, you won’t be able to give the advertiser what they really need – a solution.

	Generate Leads	Build Email Database	Collect Data	Branding	Grow Social Following
Quizzes	XXX	X	XXX	X	XX
Sweepstakes	X	XXX	X	XX	XX
Pick'ems & Brackets		X		XX	X
Photo, Video, MP3, Text Contests	XX	X	X	XXX	XXX
Ballots	X	XX	XXX		X
Surveys		X	XX
			KEY: X = good; XX = better; XXX = best

Plus, taking the time to do a needs analysis with the advertiser ensures that you will be bringing the most relevant results to your follow-up meeting.

Above all, remember the wise words of Marty Carry, the VP of Advertising at The Springfield State Journal-Register: