Lou Ann Sornson and Tina Dentner describe tools their customers have used to augment their print and online initiatives.

New tools to serve your customer

More tools to serve your customer

More tools to help your customers

Lou Ann Sornson and Tina Dentner describe tools their customers have used to augment their print and online initiatives.

Barbara Perry and Doug Fabian are famous for "keeping their sales teams sharp." Today they talk about some techniques they use to keep their organizations focused.

Rushing Media in Houma, LA made a strategic decision to complement their traditional Weekly Want Ads product with a community magazine, POV. Publisher Brian Rushing and Editor Terry Trahan outline the challenges and opportunities they encountered.

An iPad in the hands of a well-trained sales operative changes the game for everyone. Customers are better served. Office workflows are enhanced. And that sales person discovers efficiencies that might otherwise never have been possible.

Website design capability makes you an even greater asset to your customers. But who has time to learn that game? This month's guest, Justin Gerena, describes the site-building tools that "the rest of us" can use

Reminder Publications and its sister company Access to Media have a unique understanding of their customer's needs. Dan Buendo outlines their customer-focused approach to online advertising and social media.

J.W. Owens returns to 20/20 with a list of handy apps your salespeople should have on their smart phones

Joe Mathes: Saying that auto dealers are skeptical of traditional print advertising, puts it mildly. Auto dealers are sophisticated, tech savvy business people. They are experts at tracking ROI, and they know what they want. How does print advertising compete for dollars in the digital world of Autotrader and cars.com? Joe Mathes, this month's 20/20 guest, quotes one of his dealers directly: "I'm looking for a smart phone and you're trying to sell me a pager." That conversation inspired the cutting edge print and digital solutions he shares this month's installment of 20/20.

Joe Nicastro is one of our industry's most prolific innovators. His most recent focus has been to increase efficiency in contacting sales clients through the use of email, social networking and a host of other digital enhancements that empower him to do the work of 2.3 conventional sales people...without leaving the office. His session on IFPA's 20/20 Industry Insights gives us an overview of how it's done.

Ken Ubert, a Community Publisher in suburban Milwaukee, WI, has expanded the traditional boundaries of print with new technologies. Ken first built texting and mobile capabilities into his local publications. It eventually became so effective that he developed a separate profit center that he market's nationally to the restaurant industry. He will show you how to bring this technology to your market...to help you take your publications and your customers to the next level. I know a number of you were intrigued with the innovations Joe Mathes described for his automotive customers in January...A lot of his mobile and text base solutions came directly from Ken Ubert's playbook.

In keeping with our theme that there is nothing more local than that smartphone in your pocket...Lee Little of Bar-Z Ad-Ventures will discuss building a dynamic local app for your marketplace. Earlier this year, Lee won one of IFPA's coveted Friends of the Industry presentation slots at the Publisher Summit and his ideas were very well received there.

When Jack Ratszch from Block Electronic News Network and I began planning this 20/20 segment we focused on a case study he developed for last year's Friends of the Industry segment at the Publisher Summit That was a story of how he helped a small group of weeklies make a $45,000 swing in the profitability of their websites through the money he was able to save them on hosting and maintenance as well as the national advertising he was able to place for them. And that story is probably what attracted most of the attendees. But there is more in here than that. Because Jack also introduces the concept of "Responsive Technology," which will play an increasing role in the ongoing question of whether or not your publication should create its own apps. We cover a lot of ground in a short period of time.

Ryan Dohrn: Ryan was a big hit at our recent conference in Washington D.C. and will be returning next September in Orlando. In the meantime, he addresses your questions about your sales teams.

Industry veteran J.W. Owens returns following his highly successful sessions on IPads for Sales Teams and Apps A Salesperson Will Love. This time his focus is on the opportunity and challenges involved in the implementation of CRM---Customer Relationship Management applications.

Credit Card payments are the smoothest path to a completed sale. And yet, they can still come back to bite you…if you are not prepared. Paul Huntley of MSG Payment Systems is our industry's expert in this complicated world. In this 20/20 Industry Insights Webinar, he outlines best practices that minimize your risk of loss from credit card fraud and chargebacks. Join us, and make sure you get your money!

What Do You Expect From Your Sales Team? What do they believe your sales culture values? If you listed three key expectations you hold for your sales team, could its members produce a list that matched yours? The topic for March 20/20 is Managing by Expectations. Industry veteran Bob Munn identifies Expectations that are useful and productive…and he’ll talk about others that get in the way. We’ll talk about compensation plans…and we’ll discuss ways to make those candid conversations less awkward and more productive.

Can community publishers make money online? Is there a strategy for web & digital marketing through a publication like yours? Dan Buendo and Reminder Publications have been writing that playbook since 2003. In this session of 20-20, Dan outlines his company’s digital growth. He’ll show you how you can offer a full suite of digital & marketing services such as: * Website Design* Search Engine Optimization* Text & Mobile Marketing* Mobile App Design* Google & Facebook advertising* And more! And here’s the best part…these strategies make your print products stronger and better able to deliver an audience for your advertisers. Get a leg up on your digital challenges by joining June’s 20/20 Industry Insights

What is Quick Pitch? Ask any sales person who ever had 45 seconds to win or lose a sales call. What do you say to capture a prospect’s curiosity? What’s your headline for your sales call? How do you respond when they ask, “Whaddaya got?” Here’s the guarantee…You’ll get a formula to create your own Quick Pitch. You’ll hear at least three examples…And we’ll give you one that you can take to the street and make money the next day.

Hal Marion, Managing Director of Times Shamrock Creative Services, discusses the options. He and his U.S. based team offer community publishers production options running from: • Becoming your Ad Production Department • Picking up overflow and special projects that exceed your team’s normal capacity • Or simply providing spec ads for your sales team. Get the full story, including community publishers like you who partner with Times Shamrock Creative Services in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Maximize the value of the audience data supplied by your Circulation Verification Council Audit to create opportunities for your advertisers. Featuring Tim Bingaman, David Crawford and Bob Munn.

Tim Brennan of Multi-Ad/ReCas joins Bob Munn for a long-awaited session on the fundamentals of Co-Op Advertising. This session also features a retrospective of past 20/20 sessions.

Tim Smith: Do you know your sales numbers? I mean, Really know your numbers • How many people do you need to speak with to get one ad? • What is your closing ratio? • How many spec ads do I need to send out per day? What do the "best of the best" Classified Salespeople do on a daily basis? How do they track their numbers and plan their days? We 'll answer those questions and more... Plus we will give you a bonus on the 10 most effective questions to ask to really understand what your customer is trying to sell. Uncover your customer's needs without sounding like an interrogation and stop doing the "show up and throw up" method of selling which is just telling what specials programs we have this month. Tim Smith of Tim Smith Consulting Returns to IFPA with a 20/20 session focused on Classified sales, but with a message for anyone engaged in selling.

At IFPA’s recent Conference in San Antonio, Ron Pilger made a presentation “Lessons I’ve Learned from 35 Years of Print Sales.” Most of us know the incredibly strong operation Ron and Blain Fowler have built with the Booster in Camrose, Alberta, Canada. I never leave a conversation with those two that I don’t feel that I’ve either learned something or been reminded of what the best practices in Community Publishing can be. In this recorded 20/20 Webinar, Ron shares a few of those ideas with this audience. I often have people ask me if a session is better suited for managers or the entire sales team. The answer is usually, it depends on the salesperson. But this time I can’t imagine anyone in this industry who couldn’t benefit from spending an hour with Ron Pilger. Really excited that he joined us for this edition of 20/20.

Bob McInnis: Start selling the only thing prospective advertisers actually care about…Response. In June’s 20/20 Webinar, Bob McInnis explains his philosophy of selling response and why it enables you to increase your sales dramatically.   McInnis, a featured speaker for IFPA’s September 2015 Back to Basics Conference in San Antonio, Texas, is a a thirty year veteran of the newspaper industry with tens of thousands of hours invested in the question,  “How do you sell the one thing that prospective advertisers really want—response?” Get a preview of what’s in store for September as Bob explains how your department can make that shift including:   • The philosophy of selling response • The differences between it and traditional approaches • Why local businesses want to be approached this way but will tell you otherwise • The architecture of a response oriented sales process • Examples of selling response in action Bob McInnis’ ad sales training site: http://www.ads-on-line.com

Joe Nicastro is one of our industry's most prolific innovators. His most recent focus has been to increase efficiency in contacting sales clients through the use of email, social networking and a host of other digital enhancements that empower him to do the work of 2.3 conventional sales people...without leaving the office. His session on IFPA's 20/20 Industry Insights gives us an overview of how it's done.

“e-Mail is 40 times more powerful at building relationships and generating revenue than Facebook and Twitter combined.” Michelle Novak, an 8 year veteran at Presslaff Interactive Revenue, opens with that quote from a study by the McKinsey group. Then she outlines the greatest single number of revenue generating promotion examples yet to be offered in a 20/20 webinar. Sadly those examples are for a communication channel that most of us haven’t begun to exploit. Those aforementioned social media juggernauts thrive on their databases of email addresses. Novak suggests that this is an oppportunity for you, as well. Begin building the definitive e-mail list for your market, and learn how to monetize it in IFPA’s first 20/20 Webinar of 2016.

The sequel to one of 20/20’s most popular sessions. Four years ago, J.W. Owens showed us how to take the iPad on sales calls and specific apps for mobile devices that make salespeople more productive. Much has changed since 2012. In this recording of IFPA 20/20 Industry Insights Webinar, the industry veteran will show you how to make those changes pay off.