What is bigger than a bread box, made out of wood, and creates cash flow? The answer is a wooden outdoor billboard sign. No other pile of wood can create up to a 100% return on investment annually.

So how does it work? Here’s the basic steps to building a wooden billboard.

Find a legal billboard location

What makes one location legal and another illegal to build a billboard? The answer is the Highway Beautification Act, originating from Ladybird Johnson in the 1970s. Prior to the establishment of this act, you could put a billboard anywhere you want in the U.S. without any permits.

The Beautification Act regulates the spacing between signs, as well as the maximum height, size and other features. It also requires signs to be in certain zonings. And on top of that, most cities have their own ordinances on signs that give it even more specification. The first job is to learn all these rules and how to work around them.

Sign a ground lease with the landowner

Once you have found a legal location, it’s time to contact the person that owns the land and see if you can enter into a lease to build the billboard and pay them rent. Typically, the amount you pay is around 20% of the gross revenue of the sign.

You’ll need a standard billboard ground lease document, and be able to identify where to put the sign and how you’ll access it through the property.

Get the permit

When you have the fully executed ground lease in hand, you’ll need to get the construction permits. In some areas you have to get both a state and city permit, and in some areas just a state or city permit. It’s the scarcity of the permits that creates the value.

Build the sign

A 10′ x 24′ wooden billboard costs about $4,000 to $6,000 to build, depending on who does the work. These signs are traditionally non-lighted, so there really is no cost except the sign itself.

Rent the advertising space

The final step is to rent the advertising space. Wooden signs such as these normally rent for about $2,000 per year per side. Advertisers are normally local in nature, and would include restaurants, gas stations, stores, tourist attractions, lawyers, doctors and car dealers.

How the numbers work

The numbers on a wooden billboard are pretty easy to calculate. In most markets, these type of signs rent for $2,000 per year per advertising face. The expenses are very slight. There is the ground rent to the land owner – the biggest of the line items – at 25% of the revenue – although this is normally in the form of a fixed annual amount of, say, $500 per year. There are no lights so there is no electricity charge. Repairs are slight or non-existent. You have to install the vinyl copy on the sign at a cost of around $200.

So here’s how it looks in most markets. The revenue is $4,000 per year ($2,000 per side with two sides) and the expenses are $1,000 – so the net income is $3,000. If you built the sign for $4,000, then your return on investment is 75% per year. Rent it for a little more, or build it for a little less, and your return is 100% per year.

The key is volume

So if that is how wooden billboards work, then let’s say you build more than one. Then what? Well, if you built ten billboards, you would have invested $40,000 and earn $30,000 per year on your investment. If you invested in CDs at 2%, that same $40,000 would earn you $800 per year.

And the upside unlimited

There are individuals in the U.S. that own hundreds of these units. I know one individual in Illinois that has 100 of them. That’s a $300,000 per year income. Sure, it took him years to build it up, but it takes decades to build up your IRA or savings, and they don’t provide even 1/10^th of that amount.

Conclusion

There’s lot of use for lumber. You can build a tree house. You can build a doghouse. But nothing you can do with that lumber is more profitable than building a billboard. Shouldn’t you investigate that as an alternative investment?

In my 20 years of advertising sales and consulting, it becomes very clear as to why clients do not buy from sales people. In order to get to the root of the “solution” you must first and foremost place yourself in the prospect’s shoes.

Why sales people and their presentations fall short of the order.

Let’s face it, I have been back and forth on both sides of the desk for years and years, and it almost becomes comical to see how some of these advertising sales people even survive.

The first key to a great sales call is to very quickly and precisely tell and show (via word pictures) how your media is going to help him earn more money, make more bank deposits and most importantly – how you, yes YOU the star media consultant – are going to get more people to walk thru his front door and buy, thanks to your efforts.

Think about it, how many times have you yourself been privy to a blundering sales call where all you see and hear is “Wanna buy a watch?” Stuff, including advertising does not sell itself.

Here is a million dollar secret for you – ready?

The main reason a client has not signed on with you is because no one smart enough has come along and shown him WHY doing business with you, and using your advertising media will actually get results in a way that the prospect will understand and grasp instantly!

Your prospect is like a man sitting on the proverbial fence not sure which side to leap off – what is required is an informed media expert that will push him off by a well executed presentation.

What makes up a presentation that will get REAL RESULTS?

If I walk into Bob’s Discount Bathtubs, and do what 99% of the sales people do ………………

“Hello Bob, my name is Thomas Pilotti from Victory Media Services, we are the local billboard company and would like to know if you would like to run with us?

As “Bob” is quickly figuring how to (sometimes) politely get rid of me, I have lost all credibility, and any opportunity to actually explain how I could actually hit a home run and HELP THIS CLIENT!

Prospects are so tired of this that it is no wonder that they are rude to the “uninformed”.

Let’s look at an approach that I have developed and used in my career, and is by far the most productive way to sell advertising and frankly, the way to have the most fun doing it!

First – your people must consider themselves to be “Media/Advertising EXPERTS”. They need to begin to be familiar with all the competitive rate structures and be able to have a consultative conversation with a prospect about how they, not so much your media, can be of service.

Think about it, If I worked for you and I walked into Bob’s Discount bathtubs – here is what the approach should look like:

“Hi Bob, you have got some really good deals going on in here, how’s business been? I see that you don’t do very much local advertising, but in my opinion with what you’ve got to offer – I think I could make a big difference in helping you get new customers. Think about it, if I were to create a VERY sharp and creative ad that would go (insert your company’s media form here), I could really get a bunch of new people in here. I see from your sales floor that your prices are unbelievable. How about if we created a campaign that would appeal to the regular non handy man, LIKE ME! What if we offered a discount bathtub and also offered a FREE INSTALLATION for a limited time as a special promotion – just to “move the needle” for you? If you were advertising with me, I would continue, with your assistance, to bring you creative ideas and campaigns that would bring in business all year round. You would be able to think of me as your own IN HOUSE AD AGENCY- WITH OUT THE FEES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Million dollar sales idea …………… # 2!

The job of your people is to move from selling “space” to the new and improved status of being in the business of selling IDEAS!

Think about it. Wouldn’t you stop what you were doing to talk to someone who consistently brought you ideas on how to make more money and to create more sales? I know I would.

Our sales team must become advertising consultants in the true sense of the word. We must be talking to prospects about big picture advertising. Isn’t it just so ideal that the ideas that we bring out into the marketplace fit PERFECTLY into the advertising vehicle we sell everyday?! This is what I call backing into the sale. -Thinking about the customer instead of thinking about your commission.

How do we begin to make this shift and change the
salesperson’s approach ?

The ability to become creative is an ability that develops with practice. Lawyers practice law. We as advertising people must PRACTICE developing creative ideas that sell!!!!

In my on site sales seminars we do role play exercises designed to put sales people on the spot (just like real selling conditions) and train them to develop their creative skills in real time. The simple resources for any sales person who wants to know the secrets of super star success … are literally all around you.

Think about it, every direct mail ad you get, every daily and weekly newspaper, every TV and Radio commercial has been designed to be “creative” and has a core idea to sell product.
In order to appeal to the real needs of the prospect, I always talk about RESULTS. In order to get results from advertising, we must look at the incentive or offer.

This is a great rule of thumb to use when developing or recommending a creative execution:

What would it take to get me , or another average person, to get off the couch, drive down here and BUY?!
If you are not thinking like this from the get go – you will fail more times than not.

Look at the idea we gave to Bob’s Discount Bathtubs, the average person has no desire or clue how to put in a gosh darn bath tub, and if we offer it free and someone else does not, I would say hands down we would get the call !

The ability to develop this “creative thinking” is a pretty simple process to develop once taught. In fact the most entertaining part of my live, on site seminars, is when we have your reps bring in their problem client files and we create actual campaigns they can go out and close with the very next day!

One time I had a rep that was trying to close a lumber yard for 3 years and was getting no where. We did our brainstorming and came up with a campaign called

“WE’RE LUMBER ONE!”

It was used on billboards, Radio and TV! In fact the rep went so far as to help them acquire the phone number
1-800-lumber1.
Needless to say, that rep is now VERY firmly planted with that client.

If your people start selling using creative ideas they will be on there way to doubling their monthly sales in very short order.

If you have any doubts that CREATIVE drives the sale (for the top producers) think about this:

When Taco Bell was doing an ad agency review back in the day, and the agencies all presented their “pitch”… the agency that got to place and get the commission from over 120 million dollars of ad spending, was the group that brought the
“Yo quiero Taco Bell” idea with the cute little talking Chihuahua to the party.
PEOPLE WILL SPEND MONEY ON GREAT IDEAS!!!!!!!!! It happens every minute of every day!

You can begin to separate your company in your market, and set your reps on fire by installing this new selling mindset. It places the sales rep in an authoritative position to sell and clients begin to respect and make time for your reps.

Think about it, put your self in the client’s shoes – How dare a rep call on me and not be prepared and have something way outside of the box to offer me! We all think that way, and wish that our media reps would present that way.

Brainstorming sessions are the most productive way to start your people working together to solve creative problems and to start thinking along the lines of an ad agency. We teach this in our live sales meetings and it is very easy to replicate on a weekly meeting. The ability to start connecting the dots, and using all kinds of unrelated ideas will always open creative mental doorways that will produce phenomenal RESULTS in your people.

The “polish” your people develop will be from practicing these methods each and every time they step foot into a presentation. It is the only intelligent way to be a top producer and to become an EXPERT in the community.

Ad sales reps need to become sponges, look for and absorb every type of coupon, car dealer special event, & newspaper sale – and then start presenting these ideas back to all different categories of clients. If “Buy 1- Get 1 FREE” works for Subway, why wouldn’t it work for a health club?
(Note: One of my clients, Fitness Forum, here in Gainesville Georgia started this campaign with me 2 weeks ago and has doubled their weekly new membership sales. Needless to say they are delighted.)

Back in the day, I sold a glass and mirror company on the idea of offering an 8′x8′ mirrored wall special for $299.00 complete. We ran this in a little shopper type publication. He was getting an average of 8 new calls a week! It worked so well, we placed the sale ad on a billboard and the results were even better!
No one had ever thought to present this business owner with an creative way to offer a sales incentive on a product he sells every day!!!!!!!!!!

Special offers are the back bone of the coupon business. If you did nothing else but study coupons, within a week you would have a college education in advertising mechanics. Your reps should be telling every flooring customer in your market to be offering “3 rooms of carpeting $399 Installed”. I promise you, that any client would respect a rep that was willing to challenge a client to push the envelope with a sales offer AND be smart enough to up sell the leads he generated from your ads.

So we can now see that the way that “everyone” including your local competitors is selling advertising is straight from the Stone Age, you are now able to see how you can take your company to new heights by changing the way your reps present your product. I cannot even begin to tell you how appreciative reps are after my training programs because we are able to take YEARS off of their learning curve. This seems especially important during slow market conditions, wouldn’t you agree?

My system works. It is easy to learn. It will make your life much easier once your people have the ammunition they need to start tearing up your market in a whole new way. It’s funny, but one of the services we offer once we train your people is that they each get 1 year of free phone consulting with me to solve creative problems anytime they get stumped, and believe it or not they call A LOT !

I hope this report has shed some new light on the answer to getting your people to make more effective and dynamic presentations that are designed to get orders quickly.

Lastly, if you are serious about raising the level of performance of your sales team, please do not hesitate to give me a call to discuss it. My ¾ days sales training seminar is a real nuts and bolts program that delivers REAL RESULTS. In fact, I am so confident in our program, that we offer a 100% money back guarantee – that if you feel my program did not offer the best set of tools for advertising sales people to double their sales – You Owe Nothing.Not sure if I’ve ever seen another sales trainer with an offer like that.

Our desire is to truly help those who want to excel to the top of the food chain. Investing in your people is a very wise choice.

If you would like to talk about our on site sales meetings or even our exclusive field training programs, please feel free to give me a call directly at 1-877-348-4489, or after hours on my cell 678-989-4133.

Thomas Pilotti
President / CEO
The Outdoor Advertising Sales Academy
Victory Media Services
3725 River North Drive, Suite 100
Gainesville, GA 30506

It Assumes That You Definitely Want The Product

He didn’t ask what I thought of the car. He assumed that I liked it and that made me assume that I liked it, too (which I really did). His confidence in the product made me feel more confident that it was a smart idea. Studies have shown that most buying decisions are done on impulse, and then the consumer tries to rationalize it later. He was helping me in this process.

It Puts Your Focus On Closing The Deal

Your response to the question lays out the next steps to closing. If you respond,” I’d have to buy it for $10,000″ or “I’d need a 80% loan and I’ve got bad credit”, you have set in stone the next steps to closing. If he solves those factors, then the momentum is there to close – you laid out the conditions, not him.

It Puts A Timetable On The Deal

The word “today” makes it urgent. You’re talking about the conditions to get it done today, not next month or next year. You are immediately thinking “right now”, and it creates a sort of consumer excitement, like the deal may not be available later.

Let’s Overlay This On To Renting A Billboard

Most every advertiser would take a billboard for free. Why wouldn’t they. Nobody questions their effectiveness. Not one business in America would turn down a free billboard. So you can skip over that “what do you think” part. Billboards have been around forever, and everybody knows what they are and how they benefit business.

The “what do I have to do” relates to price, or term. Those are the only two variables to block the sale. And the advertiser’s response to this question can often amaze you. I once had a potential customer reply that they would rent the sign for $450 per month, but not the $500 I had been asking. Of course, I already had assumed a much bigger discount than that. Or I have had them respond that they won’t sign more than a one year lease (as if I would be asking for more anyway).

And “today” means I want to sell it right now. And the advertiser normally understands that urgency, that sense that you are really willing to cut a good deal to get it sold right now.

Conclusion

If you use the sales pitch “what have I got to do to get you to rent this billboard today?”, you will find that you rent more faces than you ever have before. Give it a try, and see how it impacts your sales. I did, and it improved mine enormously.

And just in case you were wondering, I never bought that car. I couldn’t possibly afford it as I was just starting my billboard company and paying myself a salary of $1,000 per month. And the guy I met with died a couple of years later, and the car lot was abandoned. But somewhere in Heaven, there is a guy selling the heck out of old Mercedes convertibles!