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Do Good Applicants Sometimes Cause the “Flag Page” on the AHS StylesMatrix?

I just got off the phone with a client who had an applicant who produced a Flag Page on his StylesMatrix™.

A Flag Page, for those clients who’ve never seen one, is a big warning message. It says the applicant’s answers are impossible. Can’t happen. Are trying to be all things to all people.

Flag Page applicants are sending you a warning.Flag Page applicants can be trouble

Loud and Clear.

Ignore it at your peril.

“Is it possible, because he took the profile at his job, that he took too long to take it?” she asked.

Sure it’s possible that the Flag Page is undeserved. Maybe he could be your next Great White Hope…

But in 99 out of 100 cases, you should run from applicants who produced a Flag Page on the StylesMatrix™.

I can recall at least two instances where a client pursued an applicant despite the Flag Page warning. One turned out to be on the Sex Offenders list.

Another, when our client called the previous employer was told, “I know I am not supposed to say this, but this guy was the most disruptive basket case you can imagine.”

There are no 100%’s in sales hiring, that’s obvious, but what you can do is put the odds in your favor. Applicants who produce a Flag Page are high odds for trouble in the future.

If you insist on pursuing a Flag Page applicant don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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Why Are Some Newspapers So Empty While Others are Full of Ads?

I’ve spent May traveling the East Coast of the US from New York to Virginia. I have a lot of friends and relatives I hadn’t seen for years, so decided to take a month and visit.

I’ve had some very good meetings in NY that will result in some real opportunities to expand our AHS service to you, our valued clients, as well.  More to follow on that later…

My 32 year old daughter joined me for a full week of the trip. She and I have not had that kind of time together in more than 14 years.

Being on the road, I’ve been looking at the newspapers along the way. Some of the targeted ones – those that are specific to a group, are full of ads.

I am shocked at how empty most general newspapers are of ads. Most newspapers who are not clients of ours are totally sleeping. I turned page after page without one single ad!

My friend, Scott Wolf told me that newspapers spend 20x what it costs Google to deliver an impression. This is somehow supposed to be an explanation.

I think the sales departments are asleep all across the newspaper industry.

Google would think they’d died and gone to heaven if they could do what a newspaper does: drop a physical ad on a prospect’s doorstep.

Jeff Bezos is no dope. Many say it’s some sort of hobby to have bought the Washington Post. Ha. He can now put a physical ad on a doorstep and if you don’t realize the value that brings, you are missing the point.

In a virtual world, physicality is still preeminent. If you doubt that, imagine kissing your lover virtually compared to the real thing – lip to lip.

When I was in Franklin, Virginia my friend Jim Ellenson said Union Camp shut down the paper mill which killed the town. He said, “no one uses paper anymore.”

Ha. Maybe the little kiddies in college have something against paper but paper production is at 80% of what it was and that is still a huge number. (And don’t worry about the trees — they grow back.).

So what is the problem in the Newspaper business? In radio, we had a rate card based on demand. As more advertisers buy ads the price goes up due to increased volume.

Newspapers need to do the same thing. Drop the price until advertisers buy.

I would love to make a sales call on the local Italian Restaurant in any city saying “we see how over the past few years Subway has been ‘eating your lunch’ so we want you to put a printed ad in our newspaper that says “Bring this coupon in Wednesday from 1:30-3:30 for a business lunch special 79 cents with the purchase of a drink. If it works we want an over the top testimonial.”

Or go to a bar and offer a coupon “Bring your wife in for a Free Drink on Thursday night. Buy one get one free for the less expensive drink. When you pack your bar, I need a testimonial.”

You get the idea. Unless newspaper closes their doors this week, their sales team needs to get some ads in the paper – and newspaper better than any other media delivers a physical ad to the doorstep.

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