After I left Advertising… I Learned How To Ask For The Order.
I left advertising for the first time in 1995 to start one of my two Internet / digital companies. You can catch up by reading How I Discovered the Internet After Saatchi. It is a decent read about my asking for a new career and about how to ask for the order.
When I founded and ran New Jersey Online, a very hot and popular first-of-its-kind online news website, my owners, the Newhouse family (think Conde Nast, mucho magazines, mucho newspapers, and Random House) handed me Jim Hageman as my sales director. Jim had been very a serious sales director at the Miami Herald.
As Saatchi & Saatchi’s USA and European business development director – I thought that I knew how sales worked. That was until I went on sales calls with Jim (we were inventing and selling first-gen Internet advertising.) One of the key things he taught me was to never leave a sales meeting without doing for the ‘ask for the order’ dance. If the prospect said yes, great. If, no, we tried to craft a program that fit their needs – and gave some stuff away to soften them up. i.e. we’d sweeten the pot. It worked a lot. And, it became of of my atomic habits.
Today I See A Lot OF Advertising Agencies That Are Way Too Shy – They Do Not Ask For The Order.
Below is a quick example of a smart guy that knows how to perform the ASK. In this case, Jim Clear (a New York Times Best Selling author of “Atomic Habits”) is asking me to share his newsletter with my friends. A clear ASK (yes a clear ask from James Clear). My point, see how he does it… Nicely plus an offer for you.
Learn from this to grow your company’s newsletter and even your advertising agency client Referral Program (you have one, right?)
___________________
Hi there! It’s James Clear.
You’ve been receiving my emails and 3-2-1 newsletter for a few weeks now. (If you’ve missed any 3-2-1s, you can see the full archive here.) Thank you!
Time is precious, and I appreciate you sharing some of your day with me by reading my work. I will do my very best to continue sending useful and valuable ideas your way.
Now, I have a quick favor to ask of you (it will only take 60 seconds of your time)…
The favor
If you’ve been enjoying my newsletter, please consider sharing it with a friend.
My newsletters are free and I don’t use ads, so I really depend on word-of-mouth from readers like you to make my work sustainable.
A useful bonus PDF for you
As a thank you, I put together a really valuable bonus for readers who share the newsletter with 3 or more friends.
Let me explain…
I get a lot of mail. Books to review, product samples, gifts (usually with a partnership request attached).
One time, however, someone really blew me away.
They sent a binder with transcripts from speeches by Charlie Munger, Peter Kaufman, and other insightful people that aren’t usually in the public eye. Hidden gems. I could tell after two minutes it was special. I still think it is the best piece of business mail I’ve ever received.
Here’s the good news: I’ve decided to share it with you. I created transcripts for 10 of my favorite speeches and compiled them into a single document titled, “Great Talks Most People Have Never Heard.” Each one is filled with useful ideas for life and work.
Here’s how to get access to it…
How to share the newsletter and get the PDF
STEP 1
Use the sharing links below or copy and paste your referral link in an email, on social media, or however else you’d like to share it.
- Share via email
- Share via WhatsApp
- Share via Facebook Messenger
Click to ShareOr, copy and paste your unique referral link and share it however you’d like:
Leave a Reply