PR PROFESSIONALS NEED A "SALES MENTALITY!"

PR PROFESSIONALS NEED A "SALES MENTALITY!"

Clients must be taught – and so should PR people - that "pitching" to the media cannot be successful unless you have a "sales mentality."

What's a sales mentality? It's simple: Any good salesperson knows that you need to do your homework before “pitching” a prospect. You need to determine their needs, or their "areas of pain." You need to figure out how you can successfully address those needs. You need to figure out how to let the prospect know how you can address those needs. And you need to work out solutions that help both your company and the prospect - win/win solutions.

The same is true of pitching the media. You have to take into consideration their needs. You have to take into consideration their superiors - their Editors. You have to take into consideration their actual end-users...their readers. And you have to approach them with stories or ideas that address their needs as well as your own.

That type of approach generates true win/win situations...because it establishes the PR practitioner as a real professional in the eyes of the journalist. It establishes the practitioner as a "source," for genuine news...rather than just a shill for a client. And it establishes the type of relationship (after all, we are talking about public "relations") that results in ongoing coverage for the client, rather than just one-time coverage.

This has been a mantra of mine for as long as I've been in the public relations profession. And it bears repeating. Again and again and again...

Steve Winston
President, WINSTON COMMUNICATIONS
(954) 575-4089
steve@winstoncommunications.com
www.winstoncommunications.com