Bringing ‘The Dirty Dozen’ to media sales: Lessons in authenticity, strategy, and success

Most sellers never talk success — how they and their media outlet sold goods or services for folks just like them. Success is a universal language which you and your client can translate easily.”

Jeff Sleete

June 15^th was the anniversary for the premier of the film “The Dirty Dozen” in 1967.

I was fortunate to see it at its debut in Detroit, a month before I turned 13, in its 70mm presentation and 6 track “stereophonic” sound.

In the 57 years since, I’ve probably watched the film at least another couple of dozen times, if not more.

Some tidbits about the movie and its making…

Several of the actors served in WWII and played characters in the film younger than their actual age:

• Lee Marvin, Robert Webber and Robert Ryan were Marines. Marvin was a scout sniper and was injured during the Battle of Saipan.
• Charles Bronson was in the U.S. Army Air Force. He flew 25 missions over Japan and its outer islands as a nose gunner in a B-29. Wounded on one mission, he refused to leave his post, firing at enemy fighters until the mission was complete.
• Ernest Borgnine was in the U.S. Navy.
• Telly Savalas and George Kennedy served in the U.S. Army. Kennedy, under the command of General George Patton, saw action during the Battle of the Bulge.
• Clint Walker and Richard Jaeckel were in the Merchant Marines. Walker quit school and enlisted when he was just 17.

When Jim Brown was picked to portray Robert T. Jefferson in the flick, he was still under contract with the Cleveland Browns.

Unfortunately, there were so many days of heavy rain that filming was delayed for several months at a time, so movie making and the training camp for the upcoming NFL season collided. Brown was threatened with a $1,500 fine each week and suspension if he missed camp. Not caring for the threat, Brown held a press conference and retired from the NFL.

The scene where Donald Sutherland’s character, “Pinkley,” impersonated a general to inspect an adversarial Colonel’s troops wasn’t intended to feature him.

It was initially written for Clint Walker’s “Posey” character, but Walker felt too uncomfortable with it. So, it was given to Sutherland. The scene was a main reason why Sutherland was chosen for the role of Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce in M*A*S*H, which catapulted his acting career.

Director Robert Aldrich didn't really care about getting an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

He was told if he cut a particular scene he could be up for Best Picture. Aldrich cared more about authenticity than an award nomination. The scene stayed in.

That said, the movie was nominated for Best Sound Mixing,  Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing (for which it won) and Best Supporting Actor (John Cassavetes). Upon its release, “The Dirty Dozen” was a commercial success, grossing over $45 million worldwide.

Here are a Dirty Dozen sales success moves to make you more “authentic and award winning:”                                                                           

Define your purpose
Craft one that you can place on your desk and look at daily. Something like…

“I must see the top people at important advertisers with proof that (insert your media outlet) can sell significant marketing targets better than other media.” 

Be a sponge
Read some business trades daily (Internet versions are fine.)
Some examples:

• The Wall Street Journal
• Bloomberg BusinessWeek
• Fortune
• Inc.
• Barron’s
• Financial Times
• The Economist

Find a rabbi
Get yourself a mentor — someone who “gets” sales and you can bounce ideas off of. It should be someone besides your manager — who isn’t focused more on specific job-related matters. What you want is someone who can help you focus on your professional sales career — someone who can challenge you and your methods of operation. 

Learn some accounting
…so you won’t make comments like, “Buying this will increase your bottom line.” A bottom line is more than sales; it’s investment and interest income, property fees, equipment costs, cost savings, etc. What you can contribute to a business with an ad campaign is an addition to their top line — a company’s revenue or gross sales.

Some terms you should know and understand:

• EBITDA
• Gross Margin (or Gross Profit)
• Gross Margin Percent
• GMROI
• Net Profit
• Accounts Payable
• Accruals
• Beginning and Ending Inventory
• Cash Flow
• Equity
• Initial Markup
• Inventory Turnover
• Pro Forma 

Merchant curiosity
Become a category killer. Every month, look ahead 90 days and pick one category for which that month is a sales peak. If it’s retail, go into a few stores and look around. Look at a months’ worth of ads. Scour trade publications and industry association websites. Pick up some vocabulary. Uncover who are their prime customers. Know enough about the category to start a conversation. You don’t need a degree in it. Just be able to at least engage them with a two-minute speech about what you have picked up. You can bank on it that you will know more about that category than 95% of the people with whom you compete, because they don’t invest time in this type of approach. Once you start calling on clients within the category you have chosen, they get a sense of interest from you and see that you’re slightly knowledgeable, they will share more about their special initiatives and pain points than you really want to know. You will be closing business that will run a few months from now, grabbing real money from the client’s ad table before your peers have even thought about calling on them.

Look up

• Sales managers at a business know where money comes from.
• A business manager or CFO know where all the money is and how to access it.
• An ad agency hands out a limited amount of money, with preestablished parameters set by others.
• The owner, CEO, COO or president controls the money. They have the power to say “Yes” to spending it — how much of it and how often.
• Media outlet sales teams lavish 90% of their sales efforts against people with less than 10% of the stroke.
• Learn how to make calls higher up the decision-making ladder.

Talk success
Most sellers never talk success — how they and their media outlet sold goods or services for folks just like them. Success is a universal language which you and your client can translate easily.

Go after high priced targets
High priced targets are businesses for which large ad budgets are not seen as being too costly. When they sell something, there is a big payback for them. Autos, boats, law offices, jewelry, real estate, elective surgery, furniture, optical, veterinarians, funeral homes, golf courses, etc. When these folks sell something or provide a service, it typically has more profit for each deal. Don’t waste a lot of time selling ads where, even if it works really well, it still doesn’t produce major returns for the client.  You’ll get more repeat business from higher margin prospects.

Set the bar
Let’s say a decision maker at a jewelry store does not renew with you because they assumed spending $3,000 with your media outlet would generate 100x new sales. They got one-third of that response at 33x new sales. The reality, however, is that they only needed 8x new sales to show a profit.

The average retail price for a unit sold in a jewelry store, excluding engagement rings and wedding bands, is around $800. The profit margin (what’s left over after the cost of the merchandise) is 50%. So 8x new sales would have generated on average $3,200. A $200 gain.

You delivered 33x new sales. The client didn’t think they got their money’s worth with new sales that totaled $13,200. That’s a 440% return on their advertising investment!

Ask your clients what their average sale and profit margin are and then compute realistic expectations.

Be grateful
Write thank you notes to all clients who place business with you. Let them know you will be working hard to make sure the quality of their campaign investment is the best possible. Especially do this with ad agency clients. Your peers won’t, and you will really stand out from the pack.

Take along a bodyguard
Especially for major deals, take your manager to go on your calls with you. They can contribute in a way that could win you an even larger deal. Getting to watch you in action “reeling in a big fish” can impress them enough that they assign you to other major “catches.” Also, customers appreciate your bringing in upper management. They believe that you must think that they’re important because you’re bringing more people out to see/meet them.

Know your math

• What is your closing ratio?
• What percentage of billing do you need each week/this month to make next month’s goal?
• How many asks do you need out there next month at your average sales amount to make your nut?
• They are your numbers. Own them!

Lee Marvin as Major John Reisman said, “ I never went in for embroidery, just results.”