Daily Deal Omaha Sales Training & Product Overview

What is Daily Deal Omaha?

Daily Deal Omaha is a deal-of-the-day program that guarantees customers with absolutely no upfront cost, unmatched local media exposure, immediate results and viral buzz about your business right now!

Who are you and what do you do?

You are a local Omaha World-Herald Multi-Media Sales Executive dedicated to promoting incredible discounted deals from local merchants around your city. You are an extremely quick learner, well versed in negotiating contracts and have an immense understanding of the workings and demographics of your local market.

Our Process for Promoting our Daily Deal Omaha…

With the combined power of The Omaha World-Herald and Omaha.com, we reach the audience that you want and that your business needs! It’s simple, you offer a great deal of 50% or more off regular prices and we get the word out utilizing a comprehensive $9k value digital and print component package with no upfront cost to you! This media blitz of your Daily Deal will create tremendous awareness of your business. This promotional value Includes:

•Print: An ad promoting Daily Deal Omaha will appear in the Living section of the Omaha World-Herald which reaches 309,900 readers daily and 443,900 on Sundays.

•Online: Ads promoting Daily Deal Omaha appear onOmaha.com, reaching over 250,000 viewers daily. DailyDealOmaha.com is a well established brand in the greater Omaha area.

•Email: An email is sent out to our Daily Deal Omaha subscribers each day promoting the current days deals.

•Social Media: We at the Omaha World-Herald promote our Daily Deals on our Facebook® & Twitter® pages.

•Viral: We give our consumers deal bucks for referrals andpromoting our deals via their personal email and social media pages.

How Does Daily Deal Omaha work?

When a consumer notices your client’s Daily Deal being promoted, they simply log into their Daily Deal Omaha account at dailydealomaha.com. Once logged in, consumers click on your client’s deal, enter their credit card information and receive a discounted coupon voucher only valid for use at that establishment or for their services.

So what’s next?

Your client will be given access to our software vendor’s (second street media) merchant data dashboard prior to their deal starting so that they can verify and account for each voucher that is purchased through Daily Deal Omaha. Their Daily Deal will only be available for purchase on dailydealomaha.com for a limited time only. Once their deal is over, consumers can no longer purchase coupon vouchers for their business.

Who is Second Street Media?

Second Street Media is a software vendor who is one of the leading providers of white-label software solutions. They enable companies to build audience, databases and generate revenue with solutions for sports, entertainment, user generated content, sweepstakes, deals, photo and video management and email integration.

One of Second Street's software products that we at the Omaha World-Herald utilize is their deadline deals program which is our Daily Deal Omaha program.

The Breakdown...50% or $100%?

After your clients deal has completed they can either utilize the net proceeds generated from the sales of their deal for digital and print advertising credits with the Omaha World-Herald or they can be reimbursed 50% of the net revenue. (Some processing fees applied – 3.5%).

50% of this:

Or 100% of this:

The Breakdown...continued (example)

Restaurant deal offer:

“Pay $10 & receive $20 worth of food & beverages at My Restaurant!”

•Gross Proceeds from 1,000 deals sold $10,000 100%

•Administrative cost & processing fees -$700 -7%

•Merchants share of the net proceeds 50% $4,650

•Merchant takes share of net proceeds 100% $9,300 in advertising credit

50% of this:

Or 100% of this:

Who is your competition and do you know them?

Motto – Know your enemies better than your clients do.

This is another important aspect of being an Omaha World-Herald Media Executive. Next to knowing your merchant, knowing your competition is also going to play a critical role in your sales pitch. Local business owners want to know the qualities and attributes that our deals program has to offer. Knowing how you “stack-up” against the competition is key because you’re going to have to explain the benefits of Daily Deal Omaha over others. There are so many deal sites in the world today and it’s hard to keep straight which sight offers what. Make sure that you learn to the best of your knowledge how other sites operate as far as splits, payouts, emails, customer demographics and promotions.

Note: If our benefits prevail over your competitors then promoting a Daily Deal with the Omaha World-Herald should be a “no-brainer”.

Where Daily Deal Omaha is VS. our Competition:

Daily Deal Omaha has all of the tools and resources to become a major contender for the total package deal program. Combined with abilities of Second Street, the Omaha World-Herald’s Daily Deal program has positioned itself to be an extremely strong marketing addition or alternative for many advertisers. Consider this, who else other than the news media has combined power of Groupon® and media promotions? Programs vary from market-to-market but our program offers advertisers the best quality and promotion. The publicity alone is excellent but Daily Deal Omaha imbeds attributes that over power major national competitors. If Groupon® or in some cases LivingSocial® is Coca-Cola® then there really is no reason that we cannot be Pepsi® in our market.

Why Deal Media is important…

According to a study conducted in 2012 by BIA/Kelsey (strategic local media and advertising firm) consumer spending on deals are poised to grow from $873 million from 2010 to $4.2 billion in 2015. This represents a 36.7% CAGR (compound annual growth rate). Because of this transitional shift of buying behavior by consumers it’s crucial for your clients to understand how important deal media can be to their overall growth if conducted properly. Deal media does serve a real business purpose and will have a place in media programs over the next few years. Because of the slander and abuse of certain deal platforms deal media has been forced to weather an unfair conceptual disadvantage in reference to the real benefits that they can have on your clients overall bottom line revenue. Be sure to understand that at all times your mission is to maintain the integrity of your deals program and assist your client in growing their business and aiding them in accomplishing their marketing needs.

The Daily Deals Privilege

Motto – Participating in Daily Deal Omaha is a privilege NOT a hassle.

With so many “deal” sites in the market today it can be extremely hard to distinguish yourself and the benefits of your program over others. Before you begin your sales process remember this one primary law about your Daily Deal Omaha program:

Your main objective is to promote amazing deals from local businesses as a fun way to encourage the community to shop and engage in their local market.

Before a merchant tells you any objective remember that you are reaching out to them in order to FEATURE their business in a great promotional opportunity that has NO up-front cost. This is a fun and intriguing program in which helps bring them new customers to their doorstep. Remember, Daily Deal Omaha provides local consumers with great offers around town that support their community.

Prospecting for the right type of deals:

There is no magic to prospecting and there truly is never a guarantee as to how a deal will perform even when you feel that it’s a “great deal”. This being said, there are a few techniques that will help improve your search in knowing what kind of deal may perform better with your Daily Deal Omaha.

1st. Remember that your program has to make money

2nd. Know the obvious Money Makers

3rd. Know who your subscribers are

4th. Know the deals that your competitors run

5th. Look up the deals!

Objections to overcome:

Motto - Find the problem and sell them the solution.

Dealing with objections is common law in sales. Theoretically, the more objections you hear and the better you are at overcoming them the better your close ratio will be. Daily Deal Omaha is no different. Clients have their own skeptics and concerns with this media just like they would with any other promotional platform. The Daily Deals model is still fairly new and the concept in some cases can be hard for advertisers to grasp. The more knowledgeable you are with your own market and program the better you will do. In many cases, advertisers will already have their pre-conceived doubts and skeptics about deals programs. It’s your job to be informed, honest and genuinely concerned for the well being of you client.

Before actually approaching an advertiser, it would be advantageous to do some research. Type in the name of your client into Google® and add in the phrase “deal” or lookup similar deals in surrounding markets that pertain to your client. Look at their Facebook®, see how many “Likes” and “Friends” they have. Check to see if they have a website already. This is usually a pre-note as too how “online” sensible your client is. The more up-front information you have the better you’ll be able to handle the objections.

Note: You may discover that your merchant has already participated in a “deal” program. If so you’ll get a few different responses and here are ways to handle them…

Objection 1:

-“I’ve done one of those “deal-groupon-living social” things before and I’ll never do another one!”

“I totally understand, sometimes deals just don’t go the way you plan them to. Do you mind if I ask exactly what happened to make you not want to do another one so that I make sure that we don’t repeat that incident? Our deals are usually structured so that they benefit both our clients and our program. It may interest you to know that we are learning more advantageous ways to setup our deals so that our clients get a better response and increase their yearly ROI. I have to meet with another client near you do you mind if I dropped off some information to you?”

Objection 2:

- “Is that like the “Groupon thing” where I have to give 75% of my money away because I’m not interested in that…”

“I understand your point but discounting your service is not the main objective of this program. Do you mind if I asked if you knew the value of each customer that walks through your door? I o only ask because our Daily Deal program is a rare promotion that our clients take advantage of to bring in new customers and more money to their establishments. The discount is simply a “one-time” offer that brings in new faces that could potentially turn into loyal customers. It may interest you to know that clients that have participated in our Daily Deal Omaha program see a retention rate (new loyal customers) of approximately 20%. This increased their yearly customer base and ultimately increased revenue for their business.”

Objection 3:

-“I just did a deal program last month and I’m already swamped.”

“I completely understand and the last thing I want is to do is occupy even more of your time. Do you mind if I followed up with you in about 2 months? We really do provide great promotional value included with our Deals program. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to schedule your deal closer to a slower time of the year for your business?”

Is this really a quality deal?

Motto – Don’t get dealt a bad hand.

Being a Omaha World-Herald Media Executive does entitle you to weed out deals that may not have much “face value”. If you aren’t sure of a deal or of how well it will sell then consult with a manager, peer or group first. Get insight and do research on processes, services, restaurants or products before agreeing to a price point with your client. Reassure yourself that your client isn’t already promoting a similar offer at the same price or are promoting the same deal with a different deals program. You want to encourage your clients to promote the very best deals that they can on Daily Deal Omaha. Researching a client and their services before-hand will insure that customers notice Daily Deal Omaha as being the best go-to-destination for their local deals.

Note: If you are still unsure about a deal after consulting with peers and management try looking up similar services or products that have been in deal programs in other markets. It’s encouraged to never turned down a deal. To turn away a deal is to turn away potential revenue. Not every deal is a “great deal” but you can still include them as a side deal. Your focus should be on heavily promoting your better deals that generate bigger returns. This being said, you can still include other deals that may not appeal as much to the masses in other parts of Daily Deal Omaha.

Making it easy for the merchant:

Motto – It’s hard to say no when they only have to say yes.

Doing the tedious work of setting up a Daily Deal for the merchant helps overcome objections and puts the advertiser at ease a lot sooner in the sales process. In most instances a merchant won’t fully understand the process until they actually see a preview of how their Daily Deal will look on your site. It’s also important to show them the voucher that customers will bring into their establishment. Doing little things like writing the description for them incorporating their logo into the deal and setting up the image prior to a face-to-face meeting really does go a long way. This helps the sales process goes smoothly. Merchants really will and do appreciate the time that you put in to making their businesses look and sound nicely. The better your sales presentation the quicker they will sign the contract.

Easy Contract Signing:

Motto – Fill out the obvious things for them.

YOU MADE THE SALE! Congratulations! The merchant is delighted to do business with you and has agreed to participate in Daily Deal Omaha. Now what? Now you have a contract that you have to get them to fill out and sign. Not extremely difficult but the truth is that some advertisers do get intimidated when putting ink to pad. Sometimes, just looking at the paper work to be filled out or at a wordy contract can overwhelm an advertiser. This can add a sour taste to your sell or even pro-long the signing of the contract. The simplest way to overcome this tiresome situation is to simply fill out most of the information for them. Why do they need to fill out their address and zip code when you already have their business card? You’ve already discussed the deal with the merchant all you have to do is right it on the paper for them. Advise your client on restrictions or important information they may want to include about themselves and write it for them. The only thing in the paper work that is vital for the business owner to sign is the contract itself. Everything after that is simple and only involves proof-reading and approval.

Note: Never leave a merchant without a copy of the contract. It’s re-assures that you have nothing to hide in regards to the contract that your client just signed. Also make sure to read over the contract at least once and be sure to vaguely cover a few valid points within the contract that you feel to be important.

Transitioning a Customer

Motto - Impress them now and they’ll pay it back later.

Transitioning a Daily Deal Omaha advertiser into an avid print and digital media client is by far one of the easiest and most beneficial things you can do as a Media Executive. Take into account that the Daily Deal Omaha program is a “gateway” for us to provide an advertising venue to clients who typically don’t or have never advertised with OWH. There is no “up-front” cost associated with Daily Deal Omaha so this gives you freedom to attract advertisers of different financial mediums. Keep in mind that after your merchant’s Deal is over that they have revenue being paid to them over a course of 60 days or so. This is money that can be turned into advertising dollars for the Omaha World-Herald. If you have done an outstanding job of taking care of your client, assuring that their deal was accurate and that they understood the process then transitioning will be simple. Sales is a relationship based business. Merchants will associate your hard work and care to the company that you work for.

Your Daily Deal Omaha Sales Deck & Contract:

Complete pages 3-4, have advertiser sign page 7, give to DPM for approval.

Questions?

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