Building Strong Negation Skills

Hello Everyone,

For this assignment, I sat down with a close friend and my mentor Lynn Brown. Lynn is a well-recognized business woman in the media fields of TV and Radio Broadcast. Lynn built her reputation based on her great knowledge in the TV and Radio industry and broke barriers when becoming one of the first women to break off from the boundaries of men being the traditional handlers of media adjustments. Lynn is known for building a powerful media agency, in a time where women in the workplace was still a very questionable thing.

Sitting down with Lynn on a daily basis I learn a lot about traditional media and the ways of the marketing world back in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s & 90’s. In return, I take the time to sit down with her and talk to her about the advancements of digital media marketing and design. Together we create a powerful team of both new & Traditional media means.  I sat down with Lynn to learn more about her strengths in negation.

1.     When working on major deals, how do you go about separating people from the problem?

Lynn’s Response: I first started my company in a man's world. Literally I got looked at weird because I was a woman in the media industry trying to build my own policies and agency. They told me I would never make it and that I would fail within the first few months. This time, that I started also made it really hard to work with men. When going to talk to them about buying media or commercials, it was absolutely terrible trying to negotiate with a person who believed a women’s place was unseen and in the house.  I met with a guy one time that was a multi-millionaire. He did not believe in my abilities and was questioning my competence from the moment I walked in the room to sit down with him.  I started giving my pitch and explaining his needs. He glared at me and asked, why I should believe you and why would I trust that you could handle such a major company as his. I was shocked when he said this to me, I proceeded to ask him, why do you think I would not be able to perform these tasks I have set for you, and of course, he went on to talk about how that I was a women etc. This was my first time learning to separate people from the problem. I told him sir with all due respect I have more experience in this field than half the men in this state. The last company I worked for ranked me the highest producing rep in the state, I have worked with hundreds of people who have all benefited well off the product I am offering. This is not a matter of myself rather than a matter of what my product can do for your business and its continued success in this changing world. I told the man that he needed to focus more on the company he was trying to keep floating above water than worry what gender of person was presenting the contract to him. After really laying into him about this he finally came to an agreement to let me do his advertising. But that was my first time ever talking to someone with that much worry about the gender of the person producing his marketing. In this instance, I was the problem that had to be separated from the solution for the business. 

2.     When you were brought a contract from third party vendors, what dirty tricks did you see when they were trying to present to you?

Lynn’s Response: This entire industry is nothing but a huge game of dirty tricks. I work with a lot of third party vendors in this industry, but the dirtiest player I ever came across was a guy who was trying to take my agency away from me. He thought he would be able to outsmart me in the industry and take some of my biggest clients. The story goes when I was at my peak I had to start sourcing out some work. I was growing too fast for my own self to keep up and I was giving out extra work left and right. This company came to my office one-day looking to take on some of the extra workflows I had gone out. When it first came time to meet with them, they had brought along a contract stating that they would be willing to work with me and TAKE some of my clients with profiles bigger than a million dollars off my hands for the transfer of the accounts. Now this lingo was not in plain site in the contract. They had it spread out in the contract trying to mask, what they were trying to do. In all reality, if I would not have caught on this-this account, this company would have legally stolen some major clients of mine. I learned first hand that when negotiating contracts, make sure you read them 100% thoroughly because people can be pretty crafty with words and can steal from you without you ever know it.

3.     What experiences have you had in the means of bargaining with clients?

Lynn’s Response: This is an industry of cost effective marketing, and ROI. Clients want to see results and have security when dumping piles of money into a marketing campaign. Have I had campaigns that have failed? Yes. Of course. It happens, not everything works for everyone. Have I lost clients because of it? Yes. When working with a client you need to be confident and reassuring that what you have been the best of the best and that it's going to do exactly what you say it's going to do. Is it always 100%, no, but you need to be able to reassure your clients when you are bargaining with them that their money will be well placed? When you talk with clients bargaining can be the best part. Because if you are at the point of bargaining, you kind of already have them in your claws. They are interested, because they would not be taking the time to go that far if they were not. Never give it all away, but when writing up your contract, there’s always room for extra. Remember you can always go down, but you can never go back up in price.

Talking with Lynn regarding these topics was very insightful. She is very informative about the industry of Traditional Media Marketing and knows a lot of the best and worst ways to produce it.