Ryan Dohrn advises Peter on a stalled ad sale: the problem isn't the follow-ups, it's that he didn't pre-qualify the prospect on budget, competitors, and goals. He recommends sending spec ads, using video, sharing testimonials, and creating urgency by mentioning other advertisers to move the prospect from interest to purchase.
Questions this video answers
Ryan explains that the lack of response is usually due to timing and insufficient pre‑qualification, not a sales error. He recommends qualifying the prospect (budget, competitors, market goals), creating urgency with FOMO, providing spec ads or creative examples, using video in follow‑ups, sharing testimonials, and probing for other influences. These steps elevate the sales process from an 8 to a 10/12, moving the prospect toward a purchase.
Chapters
Hey friends and fans, Ryan Dohrn here answering your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. Whether you're watching the video or listening to this on the podcast, be sure to subscribe so you never miss when we add a new episode. All right, next listener question comes from Peter, and Peter, thanks for your question. All right, uh, hi Ryan, I do sometimes wonder if we as salespeople might be crazy. Point in case, a client approached me to purchase an ad. I followed up in person, uh, visit with an in-person and visit, taking the required time, requested the ad material. I had to leave it as she was really busy. I followed up a couple of days later with a phone call. She wasn't available. Another follow-up by email, no response. Further follow-up by Facebook, again, no response. And so, Peter, this is a good question. It happens on a pretty regular basis. A lot of times it's just about timing. So you didn't do anything wrong in this process. But one of the prequalifications could have been to make sure that they're understanding that they're not the only person that's requesting information. A lot of times in giving people information, you have to drive FOMO, that fear of missing out, helping them realize that others are advertising and that it's important for them to advertise. Using video in your follow-ups to help explain things. If all you gave them was pricing without an understanding that maybe you'll do their ad for free, If you did not do a spec ad for them, they might have been stymied or stopped by, oh my gosh, what am I going to put in my ad? There's all kinds of different things in play. I don't necessarily know that you did anything wrong. You were responding to the client's needs. What I would suggest to you is you're taking your game— let's just say that you feel your sales game is at an 8. Okay, well, let's up it. Let's take it to a 10. So when someone asks me for information, I don't just give them information. I need to qualify that person a little bit. You know, who are some of your competitors? You know, what's your budget? What are you trying to do in the market? I need to send you the right information. If you could answer just these few questions for me, I could get you the information, you know, that you need. Now, one of the things I just mentioned that I think is important, especially for those of you that are friends and fans in the media businesses, spec ads really will drive the conversation forward faster. And that's coming up with ad design ideas, whether it's print, it's digital, it's social. A lot of times people don't buy an ad because they are like, oh gosh, I, I don't have the time to deal with the creative side of things. So having examples, showing examples, those type of things will typically move the conversation forward. The last thing I'll share with you, Peter, and everybody is there's a lot of reasons that people don't buy from us. One of the reasons is if it feels like it's too expensive because we didn't drive FOMO and we didn't give them examples of other businesses that have already spent money with us, that's one of the things. The second thing is creative. Sometimes creative just really stops people. And then the third thing is that are there other influences out there? Are there people that are also pitching them radio if you're doing magazines or people that are pitching them one software versus another software or one tool versus another tool? That's why you really need a lot of testimonials. People need to feel comfortable about spending their money with you. So, Peter, I don't think you're doing anything wrong. I just think you might be looking at ways, looking for ways, and thanks for asking me, to kind of take your game from an 8 to a 10, or from a 10 to a 12. And I think those type of things can potentially be helpful as well. Keep those listener questions coming, ryan@ryandohrn.com. Don't forget, friends, if sales was easy, everybody would be doing it. And they're not. We're not crazy. This is a great job. It will feed your family for a lifetime. All right, stick around, stay close. More tips straight ahead.
