David Eduardo wrote:

The main reason advertisers do not target 55+ customers is that the return
on investment is low; it takes so much more advertising to convince older
consumers that the cost of the sale is less than the profit on the sale.




You think that may have something to do with the way the sale is
presented?

Those of us who've been around the block once or twice, don't fall
prey to the marketing pap that younger demographics seem to swallow so
readily. Maybe if you sold the steak instead of the sizzle, you may find
that we're a lot more amenable to the message.

There's a story circulating around Radio Shacks in the Chicago area
(and some areas of Louisiana, as well), about the guy who comes in, and
when a saleshole asks if he can help, the guy says, "Yes, see that open
space over by the Sprint display? Go stand there until my car has left
the parking lot."

I can quote that accurately, because I'm the one who said it. And
I've said it at Best Buy, Circuit City, Audio Consultants...or wherever
someone with more attitude than knowledge tries to sell me something I
don't want.

Truth is, I"m the easiest sell in the world. But don't come to me
with more mouth than brains and expect me to turn loose of a dollar.
I'll abandon a purchase I've already decided to make before I encourage
that kind of crap by paying a commission for it. I'll buy somewhere else.

It's real simple. Tell the truth. Stop the hype, and just tell the
truth. You'll find that there are a lot of us out there who will respond
to that...and selling to us is easier than getting a morning erection.

If it's costing you more to make the sale than you can make on the
sale, then change your pitch. It's not like we don't have the money. And
it's not like we don't spend it. It's that we don't spend with people
who open their mouths with hype, deception and misdirection.

Or as I also say to clerks who lead off with the wrong tack..."Don't
come to me with a mouth full of bull**** and expect me to love your
breath."

This principle has applications in our own conversations, David. I've
been around the business as long as you have. I've heard all the noise.
I've heard all the facts. I've been there. I've watched the industry
grow from an exciting frontier to a mature product, to a commodity sold
like tomatoes at Jerry's in Niles. I hear your statistics. I've seen
them myself. I"ve even used them in my own career. But, and I've said
this to every sales mangler, general mangler, OM, PD and corporate suit
I've ever worked with, "You know what they say about statistics and
liars." If you want to convince me, make an argument that doesn't rely
on tautologically derived statistics. Talk to me like we're both human
beings. With similar experiences, interests, passions and professional
histories. Like the guy at Best Buy, you come to me with a lot of noise,
but very little actual address of my questions and concerns.

You're more dismissive than conversational. You're better than that.
And I don't deserve it.

Just like making a sale to 55+, you need to stop the hype, and just
tell the truth. One on one. Person to person. Not suit to suit.

I had one professor at University who didn't for the first semester
use one mathematical formula in my Physics class. He had a very
compelling reason for that. He told us that Mathematics is a shorthand
for English. It's a language. And that a formula is a sentence. And that
there is nothing you can say mathematically that you can't say in
English. But Mathematics is shorthand. You don't have to really know
what you're doing to use it. So to ensure that he knew that we
understood what we were exposed to, he forbade mathematics in class for
the first semester. Even on tests. We had to say it in English. And
still come up with the correct answers. But we had to write it, say it,
express it without mathematical formulas.

If you want to convince us, here...and we're all passionate about
Radio... say it in English. Talk to us like we're really here, really
involved and really listeners. Sell us, without the hype. Without the
statistics. Just tell the truth in plain English, as though you were
speaking to a group of your friends at a Shakeys around two pitchers and
an 18" Sweep-the-Kitchen.

You may find, like sales people all over the country, that we respond
to that.

Put more simply: If you want to convince us to buy, don't sell like
Herb Tarlek.

You don't impress me as a '75 Cordoba kind of guy, anyway.


Try taking this thinking to your advertisers. If you can convince
them to monetize this demographic, with all it's disposable
income....you'll be a hero. Retire wealthy beyond words, and leave a
legacy with radio and it's listeners that's tacit goal of every
broadcaster who ever sits behind a mic.

You'll also be responsible for reinvigorating Radio at a time when
it's running off its listeners to alternatives who don't treat us like
dog **** on the sole of their boots.