Kevin Gephart's guest appearances

Kevin Gephart

The Billboard Insider Podcast

OOH Insider

OwlTail

On today's Billboard Insider podcast, out of some sales expert Kevin Gephart answers reader questions on cold calls, sales compensation, finding a job after a layoff and how best to coach out of home sales reps.Some of the highlights.Is cold calling dead?No. If you want to sell sales training in books and seminars, advertise that cold calling is dead and you'll get tons of people that sign up and want to hear what you have to say because we all want cold calling to be dead.  Cold calling isn't dead. I don't have any business purpose for calling you is dead...My boss is making me make this call is dead...I don't have any thoughts about your business is dead.   So intelligent cold calling is alive and well and it's one of the tools in the toolbox....You've got referrals you've got networking you've got e-mail marketing social media you've got affinity group marketing. Those are all tools but cold calling is the one that really relies on your initiative...My father used to say do something even if it's wrong. So pick up the phone call somebody. Make an intelligent call and have a well-planned, well-targeted message to that person and you'll cut through.What's a good compensation plan for out of home sales reps?Companies want to use straight Commission.  Straight Commission is also permission to not sell. You want to create a salary plus bonus based on activity. You want to create a a salary that is 80% of the livable wage in your market area. You need to know what the livable wage is in your market area and you also need to know what are the average incomes of the media people within your marketplace. When you know that then you can develop a compensation plan. Now the other 20% of the compensation plan should be based on achieving KPI's and they're very important: the number of self-generated cold calls, the number of meetings weekly that you have with a qualified client...the number of qualified proposals and then your sales numbers... 20% is bonus based on achieving those KPI's... Should a sales manager call with sales reps. Absolutely, but when you're on a call with a sales Rep do not salvage the call yourself as the sales manager. I've been on sales calls which are going south fast so I dive in and save the call. No sales call is worth the price of sacrificing your sales person's experience and education. They're going to leave that call knowing that they failed.  You can coach them on why they failed...They're never again going to make that mistake.Another thing that a sales manager brings is importance.  If I own a I own five hardware stores in town and all of a sudden a sales rep is coming out to call on me and they bringing their manager if conveys that I am important. You convey an importance and a just an overall importance that is hard to get any other way so you should absolutely go on sales calls. The best sales managers I know of do it on a regular basis they have a regular rotation and the sales reps know they're going to be taking the manager.  It's just a part of the culture.Why it's important to ask out of home sales reps "what's the biggest objection you hear?"Ask your sales reps individually what is the biggest objection they hear.  They're going to tell you something that may not be what they hear most often.  They will tell you the objection that they have the hardest time dealing with. Give them training and strategies to answer that objection and then you're preparing them for their next sales call.An OOH sales training program for $74.95 per rep! Leading OOH sales organizations have adopted “The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide” as a 35+ segment sales training regime:Comprehensive, sequential sales training chapters 	Designed for regular sales training/meetings in 30+ minutes each 	Proven, actionable sales strategies and ideas; providing a huge return on training investment 	No travel cost/minimal sales time lost

On today's Billboard Insider podcast, out of some sales expert Kevin Gephart answers reader questions on cold calls, sales compensation, finding a job after a layoff and how best to coach out of home sales reps. Some of the highlights. Is cold calling dead? No. If you want to sell sales training in books and seminars, advertise that cold calling is dead and you'll get tons of people that sign up and want to hear what you have to say because we all want cold calling to be dead.  Cold calling isn't dead. I don't have any business purpose for calling you is dead...My boss is making me make this call is dead...I don't have any thoughts about your business is dead.   So intelligent cold calling is alive and well and it's one of the tools in the toolbox....You've got referrals you've got networking you've got e-mail marketing social media you've got affinity group marketing. Those are all tools but cold calling is the one that really relies on your initiative...My father used to say do something even if it's wrong. So pick up the phone call somebody. Make an intelligent call and have a well-planned, well-targeted message to that person and you'll cut through. What's a good compensation plan for out of home sales reps? Companies want to use straight Commission.  Straight Commission is also permission to not sell. You want to create a salary plus bonus based on activity. You want to create a a salary that is 80% of the livable wage in your market area. You need to know what the livable wage is in your market area and you also need to know what are the average incomes of the media people within your marketplace. When you know that then you can develop a compensation plan. Now the other 20% of the compensation plan should be based on achieving KPI's and they're very important: the number of self-generated cold calls, the number of meetings weekly that you have with a qualified client...the number of qualified proposals and then your sales numbers... 20% is bonus based on achieving those KPI's...  Should a sales manager call with sales reps. Absolutely, but when you're on a call with a sales Rep do not salvage the call yourself as the sales manager. I've been on sales calls which are going south fast so I dive in and save the call. No sales call is worth the price of sacrificing your sales person's experience and education. They're going to leave that call knowing that they failed.  You can coach them on why they failed...They're never again going to make that mistake. Another thing that a sales manager brings is importance.  If I own a I own five hardware stores in town and all of a sudden a sales rep is coming out to call on me and they bringing their manager if conveys that I am important. You convey an importance and a just an overall importance that is hard to get any other way so you should absolutely go on sales calls. The best sales managers I know of do it on a regular basis they have a regular rotation and the sales reps know they're going to be taking the manager.  It's just a part of the culture. Why it's important to ask out of home sales reps "what's the biggest objection you hear?" Ask your sales reps individually what is the biggest objection they hear.  They're going to tell you something that may not be what they hear most often.  They will tell you the objection that they have the hardest time dealing with. Give them training and strategies to answer that objection and then you're preparing them for their next sales call. An OOH sales training program for $74.95 per rep! Leading OOH sales organizations have adopted “The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide” as a 35+ segment sales training regime: Comprehensive, sequential sales training chapters 	Designed for regular sales training/meetings in 30+ minutes each 	Proven, actionable sales strategies and ideas; providing a huge return on training investment 	No travel cost/minimal sales time lost

Kevin Gephart says Out of Home cold calling isn’t dead.

On this episode of OOH Insider, Kevin Gephart, Co-Author of The Ultimate OOH Sales Guide: Your Competitive Advantage To Selling OOH, shares his 38+ years of ad sales knowledge. Learn about best practices during a recession, idea generation, entrepreneurship, and more.The Ultimate OOH Sales Guide: Your Competitive Advantage To Selling OOH is a culmination of the out-of-home selling experience Gephart has gathered in the past 12 years. Within these 38 chapters are everything he wished he would have known when he started selling.Takeaways We are not in the business of selling billboards; we are in the business of selling ideas. Your strength is your weakness and your weakness is your strength. For every business that is suffering during the recession there is one that is thriving. Do not pull back your advertising during a recession.Consumers tend to fall into four different categories during a recession: 1. Slam on the Breaks - people who stop spending and buying altogether.2. Pained but Patient - people who are annoyed buy the price increases but are tolerant. 3. Comfortably Well Off - people who are not effected by any of it. 4. Live For Today - people who carry on as usual.There is no replacement for canvassing. It is a powerful and direct way to sell. There is a client for every billboard. You have to find out who that client is and make use of that audience.When you are in high commission or straight commission sales you are an intrapreneur; you are operating your own business within the context of a larger business. Plan to spend 3-5% of your gross income on growing your business through books, new technology, etc.LinksLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-gephart-5829198/Website: https://oohsalesfaster.comEmail: kevinjgephart@gmail.comThe Ultimate OOH Sales Guide book: https://www.billboardinsider.com/the-ultimate-out-of-home-sales-guide/A Technique for Producing Ideas book: https://www.amazon.com/technique-producing-ideas-simple-formula/Ogilvy on Advertising book: https://www.amazon.com/Ogilvy-Advertising-David/dp/039472903X5 Step Framework For Idea Generation: https://www.billboardinsider.com/what-are-we-really-selling/47 Thriving Ad Categories During A Recession (request via email): kevinjgephart@gmail.comThe 4 Categories of Messaging For Each Consumer Buying In The Recession (request via email): kevinjgephart@gmail.comPowered by OneScreen.aiOneScreen.ai is the first free, public-access directory for all things Out of Home.Want to work together? Take advantage of fintech solutions JUST for marketers and the ultimate Authority Growth Engine for B2B/Founder-led growth at: https://www.troweco.com/

On this episode of OOH Insider, Kevin Gephart, Co-Author of The Ultimate OOH Sales Guide: Your Competitive Advantage To Selling OOH, shares his 38+ years of ad sales knowledge. Learn about best practices during a recession, idea generation, entrepreneurship, and more.The Ultimate OOH Sales Guide: Your Competitive Advantage To Selling OOH is a culmination of the out-of-home selling experience Gephart has gathered in the past 12 years. Within these 38 chapters are everything he wished he would have known when he started selling.Takeaways <ul><li>We are not in the business of selling billboards; we are in the business of selling ideas. </li><li>Your strength is your weakness and your weakness is your strength. For every business that is suffering during the recession there is one that is thriving. Do not pull back your advertising during a recession.</li><li>Consumers tend to fall into four different categories during a recession:</li></ul> 1. Slam on the Breaks - people who stop spending and buying altogether.2. Pained but Patient - people who are annoyed buy the price increases but are tolerant. 3. Comfortably Well Off - people who are not effected by any of it. 4. Live For Today - people who carry on as usual.<ul><li>There is no replacement for canvassing. It is a powerful and direct way to sell. </li><li>There is a client for every billboard. You have to find out who that client is and make use of that audience.</li><li>When you are in high commission or straight commission sales you are an intrapreneur; you are operating your own business within the context of a larger business. Plan to spend 3-5% of your gross income on growing your business through books, new technology, etc.</li></ul>Links<ul><li>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-gephart-5829198/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-gephart-5829198/</a></li><li>Website: <a href="https://oohsalesfaster.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://oohsalesfaster.com</a></li><li>Email: <a href="mailto:kevinjgephart@gmail.com">kevinjgephart@gmail.com</a></li><li>The Ultimate OOH Sales Guide book: <a href="https://www.billboardinsider.com/the-ultimate-out-of-home-sales-guide/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.billboardinsider.com/the-ultimate-out-of-home-sales-guide/</a></li><li>A Technique for Producing Ideas book: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/technique-producing-ideas-simple-formula/dp/1515307972/ref=asc_df_1515307972/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=312243616995&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=17573836095186795968&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9002239&amp;hvtargid=pla-572089153675&amp;psc=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/technique-producing-ideas-simple-formula/</a></li><li>Ogilvy on Advertising book: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ogilvy-Advertising-David/dp/039472903X" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Ogilvy-Advertising-David/dp/039472903X</a></li><li>5 Step Framework For Idea Generation: <a href="https://www.billboardinsider.com/what-are-we-really-selling/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.billboardinsider.com/what-are-we-really-selling/</a></li><li>47 Thriving Ad Categories During A Recession (request via email): <a href="mailto:kevinjgephart@gmail.com">kevinjgephart@gmail.com</a></li><li>The 4 Categories of Messaging For Each Consumer Buying In The Recession (request via email): <a href="mailto:kevinjgephart@gmail.com">kevinjgephart@gmail.com</a></li></ul><a href="https://www.onescreen.ai/learning-center" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Powered by OneScreen.ai</a> <a href="http://OneScreen.ai" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">OneScreen.ai</a> is the first free, public-access directory for all things Out of Home.Want to work together? Take advantage of fintech solutions JUST for marketers and the ultimate Authority Growth Engine for B2B/Founder-led growth at: <a href="https://www.troweco.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.troweco.com/</a>

The Ultimate OOH Sales Guide w/ Kevin Gephart, OOHSalesFaster.com

On today's Billboard Insider podcast we talk with out of home sales expert Kevin Gephart.  Kevin has 37 years experience selling advertising including 12 years selling our of home advertising.  He co-published The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide together with Billboard Insider.Some highlights of our interview.On the importance of qualifying prospectsWe had a phenomenal rep in our sales department.  She was fearless.  She would get on the phone with anybody.  I heard her back in the corner saying these incredibly brilliant things to these prospects on the phone and she was getting very frustrated and I had to tell her she's saying all the right things to all the wrong people.Figuring out who your ideal customer profile is seems very basic but I will tell you that when you work in a large company in a larger market they are going to say go after 3M, they're based here, you got Best Buy, go after those people.  Those companies are very encumbered with ad agencies and with multiple levels of marketing people.  You won't crack those companies in your lifetime.  Similarly, the one and two poster for 4 week customer is not going to pay the bills...Somewhere between the one at a time and the Fortune 500 companies is the sweet spot.  For me it was multiple locations retail and it was also regional brands.  There are a lot of regional brands.  Regional coffee companies, candy companies, snack food companies, beer companies, liquor companies.  These regional brands will really be excited about what we can do for them...The other thing you want to do when you qualifying is be sure that you find a company who's big enough to matter but also small enough or accessible enough for you to get to the business decision-maker.  If the business decision-maker is in Schenectady and you're in Baton Rouge it's not going to work.  Make sure you know who you're ideal customer is and have access to them.The myth that sales stops with the sale.You renew an annual contract 52 weeks a year...Sell 52 weeks a year.  We all face cancellations.  I have a chapter in the book about what to do when you get the dreaded cancellation phone call.  But we should know if we're adequately checking in with the customer we should never be blind-sided by cancellations.  It happens but it should be a rarity...You can purchase a hard copy of the Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide for $69.95 by emailing info@billboardinsider.com.[wpforms id="9787"]Paid Advertisement

On today's Billboard Insider podcast we talk with out of home sales expert Kevin Gephart.  Kevin has 37 years experience selling advertising including 12 years selling our of home advertising.  He co-published The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide together with Billboard Insider. Some highlights of our interview. On the importance of qualifying prospects We had a phenomenal rep in our sales department.  She was fearless.  She would get on the phone with anybody.  I heard her back in the corner saying these incredibly brilliant things to these prospects on the phone and she was getting very frustrated and I had to tell her she's saying all the right things to all the wrong people. Figuring out who your ideal customer profile is seems very basic but I will tell you that when you work in a large company in a larger market they are going to say go after 3M, they're based here, you got Best Buy, go after those people.  Those companies are very encumbered with ad agencies and with multiple levels of marketing people.  You won't crack those companies in your lifetime.  Similarly, the one and two poster for 4 week customer is not going to pay the bills... Somewhere between the one at a time and the Fortune 500 companies is the sweet spot.  For me it was multiple locations retail and it was also regional brands.  There are a lot of regional brands.  Regional coffee companies, candy companies, snack food companies, beer companies, liquor companies.  These regional brands will really be excited about what we can do for them... The other thing you want to do when you qualifying is be sure that you find a company who's big enough to matter but also small enough or accessible enough for you to get to the business decision-maker.  If the business decision-maker is in Schenectady and you're in Baton Rouge it's not going to work.  Make sure you know who you're ideal customer is and have access to them. The myth that sales stops with the sale. You renew an annual contract 52 weeks a year...Sell 52 weeks a year.  We all face cancellations.  I have a chapter in the book about what to do when you get the dreaded cancellation phone call.  But we should know if we're adequately checking in with the customer we should never be blind-sided by cancellations.  It happens but it should be a rarity... You can purchase a hard copy of the Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide for $69.95 by emailing info@billboardinsider.com. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement