Dealing with sales people is one of the less enjoyable aspects of my job. This morning was a prime example as a guy phoned up to try to sell me some advertorial space in his publication.
While the conversation started with him being very amiable and ready to ‘do me a deal’, it didn’t end so well as he suggested that the price he was offering me space at was less that someone would spend on a good night out. At that I pointed out that I worked as a volunteer without a salary and that I dream of spending that kind of money on a night out! I think he understood that it was the end of the conversation.
Now the truth is the deal he was offering was superb, but it wouldn’t have produced any meaningful results for us so I didn’t see the point of advertising. Especially as he was asking for an item on language education which is a specialised market. Maybe if he was offering the space for a general piece about Wycliffe Bible Translators it would have been more tempting.
Truth is, I feel pretty sorry for people tasked with selling space in local papers. When I have the choice to do something generic to a wide audience, or targeted at people who are likely to be interested in what we have to offer I’m going to take the second option almost 100% of the time. Unfortunately, the local press just can’t offer that.