I began selling advertising when I was in my early 20’s. My employers gave me a lot of training on how to sell ads to the client, but no training at all on how to make those ads deliver what I was promising. I decided to figure it out for myself by running a series of experiments. Day after day, I would make contact with a small business owner, explain my idea, then ask if they would be willing to be my partner in an advertising experiment. More often than you might expect, the business owner would be intrigued with my idea and agree to fund the experiment. Looking back, I think the reason they decided to work with me is that they were tired of hearing the worn out hype and statistics being barked at them each day by the long lines of ad reps at their doors.
Although I didn’t really realize it at the time, I think what gave them confidence was the fact that I openly confessed that my ideas were untested and unproven. What I suggested made a lot of sense to them and they had never heard anything like it before, so I sold a lot of advertising. They bought from me because they were curious and hopeful that my ad strategies would work.
What I discovered during those early years was that successful ads are often counter-intuitive. I should probably add this very important detail. I worked for the number 23 radio station in a city of 23 radio stations, so I never had to worry about whether or not I was going to get credit for my success. My clients couldn’t afford to buy any other media. The money they gave me was their entire ad budget, the whole enchilada. I never had a media mix with whom I had to share the credit for success. Likewise, there was no one with whom I could share the blame when things didn’t go well. This caused me to focus all my energy on creating ads that would deliver customers through their doors. Within a couple of years, the people I was helping began telling their business friends and soon the selling of ads got really easy. That is when the wheels fell off.
The owner of a gym was only days away from having to close his doors forever, so he had no money to pay me up front. He needed $35,000 a month. In the previous month, he had brought in just $1200. I had a really fascinating idea for how we might revolutionize gym memberships. I agreed to do the work upfront and be paid only after my plan began delivering results. Within 30 days, my bizarre direct mail ad strategy was bringing him a recurrent $120,000 a month, 12 months a year. When I asked for my money, he refused to pay me. His argument was that he didn’t feel he should have to pay me the agreed upon $5000 a month for something that cost me only a few minutes of my time. I never received a penny from the bastard, but I did get some satisfaction out of watching from a distance as he over-spent, over-promised and foolishly over-expanded his business. Within 24 months, he was forced to file business and personal bankruptcy. He lost everything. I learned that a business owner can grow their business only to the length of their own shadow. I had given a little man a big business and he had made it small again.
Not long after that, about 1985, I began working with the owner of a fertilizer company. Within 6 months, the strategy, the ad copy and the radio schedule I had put together for him was so incredibly successful that he called me and growled through gritted teeth, “I’ve been trying to call my office for the past 2 hours and I can’t get an open line. The girls who answer my phones are ready to quit and I don’t have enough technicians to do the work. I told you my plan was to grow 15% a year. I never asked for this shit.” I suggested that perhaps he needed more than just 2 phone lines. “But then I’d have to hire another girl to answer the phones.” I pointed out that he currently had 3 times more money coming in each month than he had ever seen before, so perhaps he could afford another girl and maybe hire a few more technicians. “I said I wanted to go 15% a year. You’re fired.” A penetrating lesson was beginning to soak into my mind. I had given another little man a big business and he was determined to make it small again.
A business owner can grow their business only to the length of their own shadow. These days I measure the shadow of every client before I agree to become their ad guy. Life has never been better. Here are two things for you to consider. (1) Good advertising creates as many problems as it solves. It sounds insane I know, but the problems that come with rapid growth will completely destroy a marginally competent business owner. Good advertising doesn’t lengthen a person’s shadow. (2) The only business owner that deserves better advertising is the one who is capable of running a much bigger business than the one he or she currently owns. I have a track record of success because I cheat. I spend an entire day measuring the shadow of the business owner before I agree to touch their advertising. If they have any business deficiencies at all, I run like hell. The people I help would have succeeded without my help. I merely helped them grow a little higher, a little faster. Good advertising does not cure incompetence.
This may surprise you, but only about 2/3 of the people who come to Wizard Academy are business owners and managers. The other 1/3 are advertising professionals. My advice to you, if you own a business, is this. Be sure you’re not expecting good marketing to solve problems that aren’t marketing problems. My advice to marketing professionals is this. Be careful who you sell and may every business owner who is prepared to grow find exactly the right marketing pro to help them do it.
I’ll see you next week.