Selling Your Small Company

In A Competitive World

by William Barrett

The most important thing you do is SALES. Without sales---though you have the best equipment and technical skills on earth---you're broke, and outta business.

Being good at marketing and sales is an indispensable skill. And understanding the difference between them is the beginning.

Marketing is strategic. Marketing is the war. Selling is tactical. Selling is the individual battle. You can afford to lose a few sales. Especially if you lose them for the right reasons. (Like some jerk super-low-balled a bid. Fine. He knows what his work's worth.) You can't afford to lose in your overall marketing plan. That's the whole damn war.

Some of what follows is strategic, some tactical. As you peruse, think about how you can adapt these ideas and build on them.

Getting Your Name Out There.

Whatever you do to get your name out there--pro bono, free PSA production, giving seminars at the ITVA, advertising of the usual kind, press releases, joining groups like your local chamber of commerce, hosting periodic pizza parties at your facility--whatever-- is MARKETING. It creates personal referrals---probably the richest source of Quality Sales.

Most referrals are indirect, and often multi-staged. This is one argument for always treating people honestly and politely. Mud sticks---no matter who slings it, and no matter how undeserved it may be. People say, "consider the source"; but in reality they usually don't. So, even if you discover you're dealing with an abusive, cheapskate idiot, always maintain a calm, factual, and professional approach. (As you respectfully withdraw from the project, and leave him to his well-deserved fate.)

Quality Sales.

This may seem semi-obvious, but as you consider this over the next few days and weeks, you will re-discover just how vital it is to success. Always conduct QUALITY SALES. A quality sale is a sale which:

1. Is a good product. Maybe not the extreme of super high-end quality, but certainly not low in quality.)
2. Is sold at the "right" price. (Not a high price, not a low price, but a fair price to both parties)
3. Is a product understood by the buyer as much for what it is, as for what it is not.

Number three is, perhaps, the most often overlooked consideration. When your brilliant salesmanship has won the job, and the thrilled client expects the moon and the stars, and you can only deliver the moon and a few of the stars in reality, he will be disappointed, and he will feel screwed. Inform and educate as necessary so clients who may have little knowledge of TV always understand the choices, and why you're doing what you are, the way you are.

Sometimes you really hesitate to do this. You remember the wisdom about sleeping dogs and canned worms. But that usually means you're trying to get by with something less than excellence for whatever reason. Don't do it! It'll almost always backfire---later, if not now. Let your client in on the thrill of whatever crumbly edge of disaster you're solo rock-climbing on. If he's up to speed, and has confidence in you, he'll enjoy the thrill right along with you. And succeed or fail, he'll still be on your side.

If any of these three principles is missing in a sale, a very good chance of somebody feeling resentment now or later exists. It might be you--- if you low-ball something, and begin to hate the client as a pest, and drag your heels the eighth time he calls for that super-cheap quickie dub, for example. He'll feel your growing hostility, and he'll tell people you're bad-tempered. No positive referrals.

Almost every time we've ever accidentally violated one of these principles, we've created a bad situation. I assure you, we feel so strongly about them that we never violate them knowingly. They work. They are absolutely necessary to getting good referrals.

Examine every sale on those three points. Apply remedies where necessary.

Be a Scout. Be Prepared.

Always be prepared to do pre-business. Have cards in your pocket--always. It may sound extreme, but I even have one or two at the beach. With me on the towel. Talk to everybody. Even the garbage man. Even the waitress in the diner on the interstate. Don't be a pushy blowhard, but talk to everybody---no matter who. They think you're in a very glamorous business. Be cool. Make humor----tell 'em about getting up at four a.m. and driving six hours to work sometimes. They'll laugh, but they'll remember you--and they'll be able to tell somebody else about you. Give 'em a card. Business cards are incredibly cheap---even nice ones---and they don't serve you on the shelf. Get 'em in circulation. You have a computer. Get a good laser printer and some card stock from Papers Direct. Make your own. Change 'em often as your business develops and evolves. Nobody cares about raised ink on fancy expensive card stock anymore. The data is all that matters.

Learn To Give Good "Country Club".

Practice being reasonably charming on the people you don't think can possibly do you any good, because they don't matter; and you'll rapidly discover two things. 1. Everybody matters. 2. Everybody knows a lot of somebodies---and the connections are often surprising.

For example, my nephew, Scott, knows Newt Gingrich on a first-name basis, and sees him to talk with him nearly every single day. Scott's a house page, and works in the well.... He's a kid. He's nobody.... My partner's daughter's fiancee's best friend works in the White House. Knew that FBI file abuse creep, Livingstone. Saw him every day.... She's a kid. She's nobody....

Always Carry Demo Tapes And Lit-Paks.

I always carry a VHS demo tape for giveaway and a "literature pack" in my car. Always. I'm never far from my car, so if a particular conversation seems to rate it, I go get the materials for the person I'm talking to. Yeah, Beta is better. But most civilians and their friends have VHS. And big shots have Beta and 3/4" in their conference rooms---but they also always have The Standard Medium Of Video Exchange, VHS. I hate it, but it's a fact.

Don't ask for tapes back. They're little Permanent Ambassadors. Let them work. (If you really "get it", you'll perceive that you now have an excuse to periodically call people and arrange to "update" your demo reel for them.)

Create Your Own Newsletter.

One item in my "lit-pack" is a periodic newsletter we write. We try to make it truly useful and informative, telling people things they didn't know about special effects; but what such newsletters really are is multi-page interesting ads.

You're an expert. Write a newsletter. Keep it short. Mail it out to people you can identify that are in need of your services---whatever they are. Be sure to put "Newsletter" somewhere in the short title. When mailed, don't put it in an envelope. Fold it title side out. It won't get pre-emptorily tossed. It'll get read. (What mental process do you go through when you sort your mail?) And if it isn't too very self-congratulatory, it will be saved for a little while. And maybe even passed on. No plain ad lasts more than a few seconds.

You're not an expert? Bull-roar. If that's really true, then go get a job at Mickey-D's, and get out of our business. Everybody's got unique expertise. Focus on, and sell that. Nobody else's got it, for one thing... Are you an avid scuba diver as well as a DP and editor? Hang glider pilot? CPA?

Rejection. The Poison to Enthusiasm.

Learn to deal with rejection. (My own hardest lesson.) Don't over-analyze when you lose one. Don't feel too over-confident when you win one. One of my mentors said you never really know why you get 'em or lose 'em most of the time. Never mind. It ain't personal. The fit wasn't perfect. To hell with it. Soldier on.

To this day, I don't "accept" rejection. I reject it. I pity the poor fool who couldn't perceive the Great Deal I was about to deliver to Make His Life Perfect. Maybe he'll be back.

And you know what? Often they do come back after other people have taught them painful and expensive lessons. Lincoln was right.

Now you get to skim the cream, all prepared for you. Now you get to make a Quality Sale, and a loyal client who respects your expertise and class. (And who will now be a rich source of referrals.)

That, my friends, is a sweet drink....

Postcards

We keep people aware that we exist by periodic postcard mailings. Why postcards? Think about how you sort your own incoming mail each day. In the act of classifying a postcard as junk before tossing it out---GOTCHA!---YOU HAD TO READ IT! (If it was brief and punchy.) Message delivered. People are very forgetful. You gotta give 'em a swift kick in the pants periodically. They'll literally forget you're alive. Nothing personal. They're just people. Everybody's busy...

Everybody knows about Coke. They still advertise constantly. Like Coke does, change your message periodically. We've never sent the same postcard to the same person twice. We rotate them constantly. Humor is best. People will look forward to your next one if the last one gave 'em a chuckle.

Feature some new service or feature. (Or create one.) Shine the spotlight on an old reliable capability from a new angle. If you can't think of fresh ideas, start bringing your resume up to date and go get an honest job in CorporateWorld. YOUR BUSINESS IS MAKING UP FRESH IDEAS!

Look at the stuff that tickles you. Find a derivative fresh idea all your own. People are bored by the usual pompous "digitalstateoftheartcomputerizednonlinearmultimedia" babble. Everybody's Digital. Everybody's State-of-the-Art. (For another week, anyway.) Everybody's got a Big Fast Computer. But nobody's got a YOU!

No matter what is said or done, no matter what "boxes" anybody owns, the only real product is your skill and creativity----and to a slightly lesser extent, your special knowledge and interests and style. Highlight those in your postcards. Take risks. Not crazy risks, but push the edge a little. We all remember such people. They're fun.

"Papers Direct" is a company that supplies a wide range of artsy pre-decorated paper stock for laser printers for letterhead (which we don't use), for business card stock (which we do use), and postcards---to name but a few.

Get their catalog 1-800-A-PAPERS (800-272-7377). This will stimulate your "creative juice" production. It may sound silly, but you'll be amazed at the bang you get for the buck. Nobody needs a print shop anymore except for very special items.

Buy a good laser printer. Color printers are still kinda slow; but plain old black ink on the colorful paper stocks will have a lot of impact. We've had a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4L for a couple of years now. It's always worked perfectly without incident. Don't scrimp on this. A crummy printer is its own punishment. Like Nike, a good one will, "Just do it."

Postcards work.

Object Mailings and Promotions

A closely related mail-based promotional is an "object mailing". An object mailing is a thing. A keeper. A calendar. A credit-card sized calculator with your logo on it. Baseball caps, coffee mugs---the list is endless. Obviously, this can get expensive if you send everybody Cross pens. So we make them highly selective. And we apply far more creativity than just sending calendars or some other crappy stupid little ugly trinket.

Recently, we sent out maybe 300 child's alphabet blocks---one to a name---in a small cardboard box. Each recipient was a writer or a "prime creative" type. There was no packing material. It rattled wonderfully, delightfully. Each one was painstakingly selected to be the recipient's last name initial. (Some even noticed, and got some extra value to the joke.)

Inside was a short funny note that said in part, "This is no ordinary child's block you hold. This block has been treated here, at our Studio One Secret Mountain Laboratory, with an intense beam of special ionizing radiation, to grant this block the ability to absorb the dreaded "Sub-Atomic Block-A-Trons", which everybody knows are the actual source of writer's block. Keep it in your creative workspace, and it will recharge itself from exposure to light. DO NOT PUT IT IN A DRAWER OR OTHER DARK PLACE!"

Over a year later, nearly everybody still has our block prominently placed on their desk. It is their initial, after all. Would you throw it out? Our logo is not on the item. They have memories. They know where it came from. Be classy.

People really got into it. I got more than a few fanciful replies---including one very complex corporate mail-room, x-ray, bomb squad, police department, nightmare, "so-I-got-fired" satire one. Great Stuff!! Great Energy! Great Referrals!

Soon, we'll be sending out some nice little doll-house furniture tables. The pitch will be about table-top photography.... The tables will cost us about a buck-fifty each. Are your hundred best clients worth a buck-fifty?

Does anybody know where I can buy about a hundred small Alladin's Lamps at a reasonable price? No kidding. E-Mail me, please...

Dog And Pony Shows.

We seek and accept chances to give "dog and pony shows" whenever we can. For any kind of group that will have us, we'll put on an especially tailored and adjusted short presentation. The audience will view you immediately as an acknowledged expert in your field. Somebody "hired" you for this gig. Right?

I believe the most effective presentations start with showing the group some short tape, with almost no intro, and then making a very few highly relevant comments before asking for questions from the floor. Involving your audience actively immediately galvanizes them. Keeps them alert and paying attention. Have the nerve to do this. It works.

Let them guide the rest of the presentation by their questions. They will guide the discussion towards what they want to know. There is no better way to keep their interest than by telling them what they want to know---and not necessarily what you came planning to say. Plan on staying long after the meeting, seemingly puttering slowly while wrapping your gear. Be casual and approachable while you wrap. No rush. No intrusion. PUT DOWN your junk if somebody comes up to you. That will signal him that he's more important than your efforts at wrapping. You're in no rush....

Remember, the giving of the presentation in the first place was "the presentation of the bait", The question time was "playing the lure" to make it live in the fish's mind, and the guy who buttonholes you after the meeting with his special question is the very reason you came! One deft, small, snappy jerk on your fishing line and you "boat" him. Set up a meeting at his place or yours tomorrow---don't let much time pass---and you'll get a contract. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, his specific question is unimportant. He just wants to meet you. Forget wrapping your junk. Meet him.

Part of the value of short presentations is that they leave plenty of time for questions, and plenty of time to meet the people. Almost everybody who gives such D & P shows talks much too long about things that interest only themselves. Be different. The very best advice ever given about knowing when you're losing your audience is in the movie "Mass Appeal", starring Jack Lemon. Go rent it. You'll never forget the lesson.

Some Tips On Giving a Presentation.

Don't give one. Deny it's a "presentation". Insist it's just a few informal remarks about your field, that you hope the audience will find useful. People hate pomposity, and the very term, "presentation" starts to induce yawns.

I always admit to a group at the very beginning that I don't speak to groups very often, and to please bear with me if I seem a bit nervous. Then I remind myself to breathe regularly. This takes the pressure off me to be The Great Professor Harold Hill. I can just be plain old imperfect awkward me. I work from very brief 3x5 card shirt-pocket notes. Never more than one card. You didn't come to read aloud a paper to them..... Ask them leading questions from the very beginning. Involve them. Call on a specific person with a softball question that they can hit out of the park. Everybody will sit up a little straighter. You might call on them!

I move around the room as I speak. Never allow yourself to get planted behind a lectern. Let the other stiffs use it. You are the communications expert. You get personally in touch with your audience. Get close. Watch Phil Donahue or Bill Clinton do this. It's such a transparent gimmick. But it works.

If you need a mike, the group is too big. Speak up, and you'll be all right ---except in the very biggest of rooms. Me, I've never been called on to do a really big room. I'd probably turn it down. With a too-big group you'll get mobbed at the end, and nobody will get quality time to schmooze.

We've given lots of these things over the years. I don't remember one ever where a client didn't result---not just a job, a client. Many jobs over time. They never happened immediately. But at some point, every single dog and pony show has paid off handsomely.

Teach A Seminar.

Teach a small, semi-private seminar. I never learn so much about a subject as when I prepare to teach something about it to others. Something like, "Developing Effective Use Of Advanced Video Production Methods In Improving High Technology Product Sales".

Position it to inform National Sales Managers as to how they can flog the hell out of their existing video supplier to do better work. It just might occur to them that maybe they should give you a shot at bidding on their next one----right along with that existing supplier. Or, better still, it may spontaneously occur to him that maybe you should help them develop the show's script. The seminar must have plenty of "insider" real, and usable, content. It must be truly valuable. It may cause your friendly competitors some small distress. Sorry. Nothing personal. Just solid, truthful content. Be open. Suggest a seminar title they might teach.....

Name, Rank, And Serial Number --Only.

DON'T MARKET OR SELL TO YOUR COMPETITION! This is an easy trap to fall into. Chances are you belong to a professional group. Good. By all means support your local professional group. It can do some very, very useful things for you. By all means take small "institutional" ads in your local group's newsletters. This benefits everybody. And it won't hurt referrals.

But as far as your specific business activities are concerned, stay at periscope depth, rigged for silent running, as far as telling all your competitors what you're up to. Let 'em find out when they lose a bid to you. Skip submitting to the "NewsyTidBits" column in that pro group newsletter. Often, your arch-competition will show up suddenly in your most prized client's outer office. Although this should never be a real problem. You're taking such good care of that client (see: "Quality Sales") that there is literally no crack wide enough for them to get through except by super cut rates. Right?

Don't be paranoid; but do be discrete.

Client Retention. A Foundation Stone.

Retain your clients. It has been truly observed that American firms in general are not good at this. Ours is. We contact old clients to see if that show we did a year ago is still current and useful. Yes? Good. We always want to be sure our work is still serving your needs over the long haul. No? Need an update? Product now obsolete? Need a new program? Excellent! Will Tuesday be OK for a preliminary meeting to discuss your needs?

We call this "program maintenance". Stay in touch. This is yet another good reason to give a client your best work and a square count the first time around.... Virtually all our clients are repeat clients. Again, and again, and again....

Welcome complaints. They are a gold mine of feedback on how you can do better. Engage and respond to the criticism. Don't "handle" it. Show the client that what he wants is what you do. He just might be right, and you just might be wrong. Crazy, I know; but it's just possible.

Client Development.

We also pro-actively "develop" clients. I love it when first-timer conversations begin with a sheepish, "I don't have much of a budget, but...". We try like hell to find a way to do their job decently for their stated budget. Over time, we develop their tastes and budgets step by step. We educate them, and bring them along as far as they want to go. They may have an affair from time to time for one reason or another; but if you're delivering true value, and have made repeated Quality Sales, they'll be back.

Client Development, and Client Retention are super-critical foundation stones.

Trade Shows.

Do trade shows as an exhibitor, even if the trade show is about a different field from video production--especially if the trade show is about something else. You'll be the only one. Think of all the other exhibitors as the potential new clients. The show's "public" attendees are a bonus. Small shows are best. They're friendlier and more informal.

Not every trade show will tolerate "unrelated" businesses. I suggest you point out to the show's management that, "of course we belong here. Look. This TV program we did is exactly in this field. And this one, and this one.... We are important support suppliers to this entire special marketplace!" Don't take "no" for an answer. Appeal. Squeak till they grease your bearing. Sign up early. Show managements are less picky about the exclusion rule when the list first opens. As the show fills up, they get careful. If they refused you, try them again right before opening day. Maybe they didn't sell out booth space, and they'll be glad for the fee---related or not.

Set up early, and stay late. (Pop quiz: Why?)

We do a nice, low key, very professional booth. Two different endless tapes of maybe three minutes on monitors perched atop four-foot Greek columns (from the set shop). Sound is not too important. Play it low. A nice booth backdrop made from blow-ups of program still frames, and some "behind the scenes in Hollywood" production candid stills blow-ups. A side literature table with maybe some "tricks of the trade" display items. At stage center, a low, small coffee table with four bright red director's chairs. Some literature. No big messy piles. Open and walk-through. No "them-and-us" counter top barrier. Come in. Rest your show-weary feet for a minute. We won't bite..... Maybe we'll have coffee and fig newtons if the show would allow it....

Keep some VHS reels and special extra informative Lit-Paks out of sight to present by your own personal hand to the Truly Interested. That way they'll feel Truly Special.

That's A Wrap.

OK, troops. That's the story. I'd like to hear what works for you for a possible sequel article. I'd also like to hear what you hated about this article. ( Don't bother your Esteemed Site Supervisor with this. She's too busy keeping the site organized and current for all of you. Spam me directly at MoovyMagic@aol.com. ) Remember what I said about complaints? They're gold, man... Solid gold....

He started out as a grip over eighteen years ago; and OJT'd into video engineering at a major corporation, and finally into special effects. He now specializes in complex Ultimatte, Computerized Motion Control, Engineered Action Props, and other "classic Hollywood method" special effects.

His friend of 23 years, and equal partner in Studio One, is Eda Sherman who also lives quietly in a nearby town, with her equally patient husband of even longer years, near the old abandoned insane asylum. She only has two cats.