Your winning numbers - ad readership studies contain a wealth of information and can work to your advantage

Stop! Don't toss out those ad readership studies. They contain a wealth of information that can be used to your advantage-if you know how.

Ad readership studies are an extremely common, basic tool of selling space. Starch INRA Hooper, which did the first study in 1923, has been providing them largely for consumer magazines. Harvey Research, Readex and others do them primarily for trade magazines. Cahners, Chilton and Maclean Hunter do them in-house. Even The Wall Street Journal sponsors its own service. if you have never used an ad readership study to assist you on a sales call, you are neglecting a valuable resource.

Take 15 minutes to prepare a presentation using the next ad readership study your publisher hands you, and you'll see your effort pay off-big. The real magic of these studies is not the numbers-which bore just about everyone-but the ads themselves and the strategies they represent. You can use an ad readership study to get into a more involved dialogue with your clients about their advertising and the planning behind it. The main benefit of ad readership studies is that they open the door to so many other selling opportunities.

You might begin the discussion by taking a look at how your client's ad scored.

1. Use a high score as reinforcement of the value of advertising

When the client does very well on an ad readership study, it's basically a "feel good" call. You can use this as reinforcement as to how effective advertising in your magazine is for the account.

If the research company gives out an award certificate, spend $25 of your expense account and get the award laminated and mounted. Often your client will hang up the plaque where it will glare down on all the visiting space reps you compete with. You can present the award to your client over a special lunch where both client and agency are present. The agency that created the ad will feel especially good.

2. Use a low score as a selling opportunity

Many space reps view a low scoring ad with horror and toss the incriminating ad study into the trash. But I've always viewed a low score as a gift. When you show up with a negative study, for a short time the traditional buyer/seller relationship is suspended. Psychologically, your client-not you-is the one easily put on the defensive. (My goodness! What if my boss sees this!) It is a rare selling opportunity, one where you have the complete attention of the client. This gives you a tremendous opportunity to build personal credibility.

Since this is a delicate issue, approach is all-important. You may want to present the study results to the agency first, to show respect. But most often, the agency is not at fault. Typically, the problem with low-scoring ads is an advertiser who is using the ad space to talk to himself or his competition, not to address the needs or interests of his customers. While it is dangerous to sound like you know more about a client's business than he does, it is always appropriate for you to know a lot about your client's customers your readers). Pursue a problem-solving relationship where your client knows his marketing goals and products, but you know the thinking and feelings of his customers. This is an opportunity to sell like a real consultant.

3. Point out the relationship of ad size and color to readership

Got a half-page, black-and-white advertiser you want to upgrade? Tear out all the other black-and-white, half-page ads that were studied and spread them out on his desk. Then pull out the full-page, four-color ads. When you put them side by side, the visual impact alone makes the emotional point-setting the stage for you to lobby for an upgrade using the readership scores.

4. Prove that ad readership is not affected by ad position

Compare the readership scores of ads that appear in the first 10 pages with ads that appear farther back. Over the years, I've noticed that higher readership scores often occur in the second quarter of a magazine, after the initial page flipping has subsided. Show the data to that advertiser who must be in the first 10 pages, and you will see enlightenment dawn.

5. Compare the highest-scoring ads

What made the winners winners? Find the similarities in the top ads' appeal or the information in them, and you will be able to create a powerful presentation. Possibilities - * For an engineering book: "As you can see, our readers like the ads that have a lot of detailed technical information."

* For a management book: "Our readers prefer ads that address the bottom line in some way."

* For a fashion book: "Our readers like ads with a European appeal."

Your advertisers may. already know all this intellectually. But showing them the actual ads they are competing with, and those ads' scores, is going to have an impact-and you will be right there to take advantage of it. Even if you sell nothing during the presentation, this is a great way to deepen the sales dialogue you have with a client.

6. Study anything unusual about the data

I recall a half-page, black-and-white ad that was so well crafted it consistently scored above full-page, four-color ads. Why? What was the appeal? The answers can reveal a lot about the psychology and behavior of your readers-and give you an opportunity to talk about your readers as they relate to your client's ad.

7. Demenstrate-again-the effectiveness of advertising

Isn't it amazing how some advertisers need constant reassurance and reinforcement that advertising works? If your client's ad, or their direct competitor's ads, scored well, you've got the proof of advertising's effectiveness in your hands.

8. Compare your client's ad to their competitors', ads

By providing an independent readership measurement, you move the discussion out the realm of "I don't think they know what they are doing, and isn't our ad terrific" and into the more relevant question of whose ad was more effective-and why. This is especially useful if your client did something unusual, regardless of how high or low the ad scored, because you can measure the result.

This is also an essential "preemptive strike" presentation if your client's ad bombs. Sometimes the agency, put on the defensive, will claim that your audience is just not right for the product. You can respond, "No, it's not my book's problem. You can see these ads for similar products did very well." And so on.

If you get confused about research, ask for help from your publisher or the people who produced the report. It's hard to really prove advertising's effectiveness without it. And presenting an ad readership study gives you a chance to sell accountability like a consultant-and still make the selling points you want to make.

Josh Gordon is President of Gordon & Associates, a publishers' rep firm located in Brooklyn, N.Y. He had been associate publisher and ad director of CableVision, and is the author of the book Competitive Selling.

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