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Welcome to the Billboard Mastery Podcast, where you will learn the correct way to identify, evaluate, negotiate, perform diligence on, select the construction type, build, rent the ad space and operate billboard signs. And now here is your host – the guy that built from scratch the largest privately-owned billboard company in Dallas/Ft. Worth – Frank Rolfe.
Billboards are a volume business, there's a lot of rejection, there's a lot of getting being told No, and when you're trying to build billboards, you have to forge a ground lease with the property owner and to get that ground lease they have to say yes, they have to agree to the terms that you are offering, but what do you do when they say no. This is Frank Rolfe of the billboard Mastery podcast. You know, property owners have the right to freedom to say whatever they want, you give them your best deal, you're trying to pin them down whether they will accept it or not, and they have every right to say no, but the first thing you wanna determine when they say no is, why is it no? And can I change that?
Let's say the property owner says, No, I don't wanna do it. Well, then press them. Just out of curiosity, why don't you wanna do it. And let's say they say, well, it's just not enough money. Okay, well, now you have a rebuttal because you then say, well, how much money would it take for you to do this deal. Let's see, we're offering $1000 a year, and they come back and say, I would need $3000 a year. Well, you might be able to pay that. So if you don't ask the follow-up question is, Why is it a no? Then you'll never know if you didn't have a chance to try again.
I've had people tell me, No, I don't wanna do it. Well, but why... Well, because your billboard is gonna block the entrance to my auto shop. No, it's not. I can put the poll anywhere I want on that property, I can make it a full flag, I can make it a full flag off, so I could put that poll right in the corner of your property where the drains ditches. Oh, really? Yeah. Well, I thought it was gonna look like those other billboards I see. Oh, you mean the ones that... With all those multi polls, now, those are old wooden telephone pole signs, you see I would build a mono poll, it's a whole another thing.
So if I can get it where I'm not blocking the interest to your garage, would you agree? Oh yeah, I would. So that's what often happens when someone says no, is you gotta push up using the phrase, what would it take to often helps things out because it cuts out all the negotiation, all the nonsense, all the BS, and just brings them to a head and say, So what would I have to do to get you to do this?
The next thing I remember when someone says No, it's typically not in finality because people change their minds radically over time, one guy may say, No, I don't wanna do it, because he's on a roll right now, his business is doing well, and then suddenly his business goes down the drain, and he's trying to get every dollar he can, and so you go back to that guy later and say, Hey, you know, I was still here. Would you entertain it? Well, I sure would. Things have dramatically changed for me.
So don't ever think of a No, is the end of a movie. On top of that, land often changes hands, and even if it doesn't change hands as far as a third party by that, it often changes hands internally as people die, and land moves from one member of the family to another. I've had deals where I pitched the old guy on the property with putting up the billboard and, No, I don't wanna do it. I don't like it.
Followed along with the deal. Next thing I know, that guy has died and his son says, Oh yeah, I totally wanna do it, totally wanna get that extra income, so don't let people really throw a road block out to you, and another thing you need to do is to educate people even on what you're talking about, I've had so many deals where they just need to tell you No, 'cause they don't even really know what you're talking about, when you say things like, Oh, I wanna ground lease some land space on your property to build a billboard they have no idea what that means.
So I find if you wanna get away from nos, it's a whole lot better if you do it visually, people seem to be so much better comprehending things when they can see it than when they can hear it, so give them a formal presentation, draw where their property is where the building is the driveway, the roads, and then put a circle around where your sign would be the poll and then highlight that so they can't possibly miss it, show them a picture of what a similar sign looks like.
Those are the kinds of things that can take that no and make it into a Yes, if you only give a little more effort to it, how you handle nos as a billboard operator will really be a good predictor of your success or failure, many of the people who do the best in the industry or people who don't take no as a last word, they see, no, is the beginning of a conversation. This is Frank Rolfe the billboard Mastery podcast. I hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.