If the goal of a radio commercial is to get the targeted listener to go to a website, here’s the radio advertising rule:
Don’t give the website until you’ve made that listener want to know how to get what you’re offering.
This radio advertiser gets it right:
They didn’t need to give the URL more than once, because they’d been repeating the product name throughout the spot…and the product name also, conveniently, comprises the URL.
My instinct tells me, however, that they should have given the Web address a second time, spelling it out:
“T-A-X…A-C-T…DOT-COM.
Offhand, I can’t think of how people commonly would misspell “tax-act.” And perhaps they track their user logs for misspelled searches and have determined that very few people do spell it wrong.
Which would mean they should ignore my instinct and stick to their Web stats.
Continuing my first (of what would become several) visits to Singapore….
On Thursday afternoon I bravely set out to explore outside of the downtown Singapore area.
I walked the 300 yards or so to take the MRT (rapid transit) to Toa Payoh, three train stops outside of downtown and, I had been told, a community where tourists never find themselves.
As I approached the ticket counter, I passed a blind accordionist who was playing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
I got my ticket and walked through the turnstile on my way to the train. Or, at least, I tried to. But I couldn’t figure out how to insert the ticket to release the turnstile. Noticing my helpless confusion, a stranger kindly explained to me that I needed to insert the ticket at a different turnstile.
The MRT was crowded, well air-conditioned, clean, and completely free of graffiti. Mine was the only Anglo face to be seen on the train and the only one I was aware of in Toa Payoh upon my arrival there.
What I did see in Tao Payoh was lots of people walking around; foot traffic everywhere. And many of those people were talking on their cell phones as they ambulated. (In 1997, that made an impression on me. Cell phones hadn’t yet become part of everyday American life.)
I definitely noticed more litter in Tao Payoh.
What was the most popular American restaurant chain in Singapore? Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Your Response: “So are we. That’s why we only partner with other successful businesses. We partner with businesses that aren’t willing to settle for just ‘doing well.’ We actively seek out synergies that allow us to combine our successes so that we both end up being even more financially successful.”
Prospect’s Objection: “We’ve already met our goals for the year/quarter.”
Your Response: “What is the one area in which you’d like to do a lot better next year?” (If you can help them identify an area of need, you can smoothly and legitimately segue into helping them identify solutions.)
And for the particularly bold salesperson — after all, you’ve got nothing to lose:
Prospect’s Objection: “We’ve already met our goals for the year/quarter.”
Your Response: “And that’s ENOUGH for you??” (The implication is that smart business people aren’t satisfied simply to “meet” financial goals; they want to exceed them.)
Note: None of these is included in the RADIO SALES OBJECTIONS SCRIPTBOOK. But the book does contain 317 other responses to the most common objections radio salespeople hear every day “on the street.”
