Prepare your sales team to respond strategically to a clientıs attempt to cancel an advertising program, and both the publication and the client will win.

By Sean Soth

It happens to every sales representative and every publication. Your team has worked diligently to include an advertiser's program in your association publication, and just as the layout is about to begin, an advertiser cancels their ad program. You suddenly have the "perfect storm" for a deadline disaster. When an ad placement or entire campaign is cancelled, it knocks the wind out of you sales team. Helping your sales staff be prepared not only helps reduce the frequency of ad cancellations, but also trains them to create alternative sales opportunities. Terminating relationships is a part of any business, but how you manage and prepare for transactions can help save time, revenue, and you staff's mental health. Establish Sound Policy

Does your publication have a clearly defined cancellation policy? If not, scan the cancellation policies of other association publications you know and trust. Determine what terms and language would be most suitable for you magazine and its advertiser base, and if possible, consult a legal professional to be sure your proposed policy is sound. Developing the right cancellation policy is the first step to securing ad revenue. Some associations hold firmly to a non-cancellation policy, requiring clients and ad agencies to sign and agree to the terms provided. A clearly stated non-cancellation policy offers the most secure platform to handle the request for ad cancellations because the advertiser knows what to expect from the start. The best way to protect a non-cancellation policy is to train you sales team on how to manage the objections it can create. For example, you can occasionally trouble-shoot cancellation scenarios to build a comfort level with the policy. Some publications offer a short-rate policy. The short-rate policy allows ad agencies and advertising clients a bit more flexibility with their schedule and commitment. The short-rate applies to clients who may have booked a multiple-issue program, only to eventually back down to fewer insertions. The short-rate forces the advertiser to pay a higher ad rate because they have not met their contracted insertion schedule. While the short-rate will offer some short-term revenue protection, it can leave a gaping hole in your advertising projections. If a short-rate option is the best fit for your association magazine, make sure there is a significant difference between your one-time rate and your highest frequency rate. Sometimes it can cost the advertiser nearly as much to be short-rated as it would to simply run the last one or two scheduled insertions. What if you publication has no non-cancellation or short-rate policy and no prospects convincing your management to adopt one? Without a policy, you should still have a plan. A cancellation plan can be no more than simply understanding the direction to take should an advertiser want to cancel. The plan provides your sales team with basic tools to handle each cancellation call or inquiry. Further, it helps the sales team improve its chance of keeping the advertiser in the publication.

Ask the Right Questions

In the publishing business, it is inevitable that an advertiser will eventually call to pull an ad campaign. Taking the news of a cancellation at face-value will usually result in a cancelled ad program. Instead, ask the advertiser some clarifying questions to help dig deeper:

• Why do they need to pull their ad campaign?
• Which of their marketing goals has changed?
• Are they no loner working in your industry?

Asking questions not only helps you understand the client's position, but also it reinforces the publication's position on ad cancellation. Your sales team will be viewed as knowledgeable consultants in the process, and ultimately, will reinforce your cancellation policy by the way they react to the client's answers. No one likes to lose a sale, but even more detrimental are near-future sales lost as you waste time focusing on the cancellation. Condition you team members to ask why the ad program needs to be pulled, and make sure they understand that a cancellation attempt can actually become part of the overall selling process. In the best case, understanding the client's reasoning can help you find ways to avoid their cancellation attempt; in the worst case, understanding where they are coming from will help you hone your cancellation policy for the next time the situation arises.