4 Tips to Use a Media Monitoring Service Sales Rep to Your Advantage
Who doesn’t love 2 phone calls and 3 emails a day from a sales person? Chances are we’ve all had this experience at some point whether it’s the stereotypical used car salesman or a media monitoring sales rep. No matter what the scenario, it’s never fun. What makes it even worse is that it usually isn’t even necessary, but nevertheless there’s nothing you can do about it. If a sales rep wants to put on the hard-sell, most of us have to simply grin and bear it. While it’s impossible to put the brakes on aggressive sales reps, there are ways you can use their pressure tactics to your advantage.
Who Benefits?
Every sales situation is essentially a negotiation. The vendor obviously wants to sell their product or service for the most amount of money in the least amount of time possible and the purchaser wants to buy these widgets for the least amount of money and with the most amount of options and information available. Somewhere in the middle is fair for everyone, and this is where the aggressiveness of a sales rep can speak volumes to the things they don’t want you to know.
Is it the best price?
Knowing how much a product or service costs is one thing. Being pestered about spending that money is another. No matter how amazing a service or product is, the more aggressive the sales rep tries to close the deal, the more you can be assured that you can get a lower rate – either from your overeager sales rep or another company. If you feel the pressure coming, take it as a beneficial sign that you can probably get a better price.
Use sales reps to make a pro/con list for you
Salespeople definitely don’t want you to look at other services, and they know that you definitely don’t want to deal with any more sales reps than you absolutely have to. It draws out the process, but If you’re being presented with lengthy contract options shopping around is something a sales rep should expect. This helps explain why a salesperson can be so pushy, but you can also use this to your benefit by letting a rep know that you’re exploring other options and who the other organizations you’re looking at are. A rep may offer a lower rate just by knowing this, but they can also speak to how their product or service compares to their competitors. Do this for a few different vendors and you can have a pretty robust and informed pro/con list for every service you’re evaluating without having to spend a bunch of time researching it yourself.
Get an idea of what happens after the sale
We all know the saying “time is money” and this is true for sales reps too. The quicker a salesperson can close a deal, the more time they have to close other deals. But here too is an indication of what they may not want you to know. Some sales reps also act as a point of contact for training and service related questions. Other sales reps may have a whole other team that handles the account after the contracts are signed. If this is the case, it should raise some red flags. Who’s going to make sure all of those promises are delivered? Who can you reach out to for help?
While having a separate client relations team isn’t necessarily a bad thing, having a sales rep that is going to be included in the process after the sale can serve as assurance that what they present is going to be what you receive. They can also be an advocate on your behalf should there be any issues that need to be addressed after the account is activated.
Take a test drive
Many media monitoring services can be expensive as a car, but clients rarely take the chance to use a trial account to “kick the wheels” and see how it works. This is a little strange because most sales reps will happily welcome clients to use a trial if they think it will give them a better chance to make a sale. A trial will let the service itself do the talking and also allows users to engage with a client relations team to see how they’re going to be treated once the charming sales rep is out of the picture. No one buys a car without a test drive and you shouldn’t buy a media monitoring service without a test drive too.
If you would like to see a demonstration or would like to access a trial account for Metro Monitor’s services, contact us here and we’ll be sure to connect you to a media monitoring expert that isn’t going to blow up your phone and inbox.
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