Sell ~ Business Ads
Ad Sales Lesson Plan
Through this lesson, students will learn how to interact with business owners and will practice one-on-one
communication in order to sell advertisements to community members.
Preparation: < 10 minutes
Objectives:
Lesson Plan: 50 minutes
Students will create a poster about advertising.
Students will role-play various scenarios in relation to ad
sales.
Students will practice sales pitches to prospective ad buyers.
Materials Needed:
Computers*
Role-Play Cards
Sales Pitch Script
Props (if desired)
*Note: if a computer is not available, you can direct students to
read page 90 in the 123 curriculum student guide.
Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support
claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using
valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1b Develop claim(s) and
counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while
pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner
that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and
concerns.
Plan (Part I): 20 minutes
1. Explain to students that today they will be introduced to the ins and outs of selling business
advertisements to community members. Describe the importance of selling ads to students. The more
ads they sell, for example, the more unique things they can do with the yearbook. Having cool covers,
special foils, extra pages, or many other unique features costs money, therefore, they must raise extra
money to cover the cost of doing such things. Another point that you might mention is that if the
yearbook makes a profit, the staff can use some of that money to have fun parties throughout the year!
2. Organize students into groups of 3-4. It is important that you choose the groups for students early on
in the year, and then later let them choose their own. Doing this forces them to get to know EVERYONE
on staff, not just the people they are originally drawn to and/or those who are their friends.
3. Send each group to a computer. While there, they will need to do each of the following:
 Define the word “advertisement”.
 Find and note at least 4 interesting facts/statistics about advertising/marketing.
 Discover and note the percentage of people who view advertisements every day.
 In addition to in a yearbook, find at least 5 other ways one might encounter an
advertisement.
4. Students should be taking notes on each of the above bullet points. As two people are finding facts,
the other two can be recording the information on a large sheet of butcher paper/poster board. In
addition to the points above, they should also indicate:
 How advertising relates to yearbook (ex: ad sales/book sales)
 How many potential customers can be reached if someone buys an ad for your yearbook
5. After all students have finished their posters, have them present theirs to the rest of the staff.
After each has presented, you should ask the rest of the staff what they found most interesting/surprising
about the information that was presented to them.
Plan (Part II): 30 minutes
1. Now that they are a bit familiar with advertising, you’ll now introduce students to the “how-to”
part of advertisement sales. To get the most ads sold as possible, student will need to act both
professional and mature when dealing with community members. This boosts the image of the
yearbook/staff within the community and makes business owners want to support the yearbook.
2. Have students read page 91 in the 123 Student Yearbook Guide. This section explains how to make
a good first impression, contacting the business owner, persuading the prospective customer, giving the
information, responding to objections, and following up with a buyer.
3. Show students a copy of advertisements from last year’s book (or see your sales rep for an
example!). Explain to them that they can take these samples with them to help a prospective buyer
visualize what they are selling.
4. Now that they know the basics, they will now role-play a variety of situations they could run into
while selling ads. First, pass out the “sales pitch” script to students. Have them read it silently to
themselves, then read it aloud to them. As you are reading, be sure to use really emphatic voice
inflection. Now, have students turn to a partner. Each should read the script, aloud, to their partner while
the other one listens. This will give them a chance to practice the script several times.
5. Pass out the “buyer” and “seller” cards randomly to students. Explain to them that they will now
practice several scenarios to see how they would respond in each situation. Each should read the back
of their cards to know what role they should play. If you were able to scrounge up some props, allow the
buyers and sellers to look through the props box (such as ties, funny hats, sunglasses, scarves, boas,
old dresses, etc) to see which items would best serve their role. This will make things more fun for the
staff as you complete this activity. The sellers will have numbers on their cards. This means they are
paired up with someone who has the same number.
6. Ask for volunteers from the buyers to start the activity. The first buyer to complete the activity will go
to the front of the room and act as if they are busy with their work. Ask for volunteers from the buyers.
These people will approach the businessman/woman, deliver their sales pitch (using their own special
flair if able!), and wait for a response.
7. The businessman/woman should then respond using the scenario on the back of his/her card.
The sellers should then respond to what the buyer said. They will need to think critically and keep in
mind that their goal in this activity is to make a deal with the buyer, therefore they need to think about the
best way to professionally respond to the buyer’s situation. This should continue until a decision has
been made about the advertisement.
8. After each scenario has been played out, have each person on staff tell those at the front of the
room something they did well during the scenario and something they could have improved on.
In addition to what needs to be improved upon, they should each tell them HOW they could correct the
problem. You should be the last one to give them comments. Below are a few things that might need to
be commented on.
 Tone of voice/voice inflection
 Voice volume
 Original sales pitch
 Professionalism
 Interaction
 Problem Solving
9. Now that each scenario has been played out, send buyers back up to the front. There should be a
line of buyers across the front of the room. One after the other, have the sellers (who are sitting opposite
them), “call” the buyers for a follow-up conversation. If an ad had been sold already during the scenario,
the seller can explain how he/she would follow up with a billing statement/receipt or thank you card.
10. Remind students that professionalism is key when dealing with community members. Dressing
professionally, being respectful, and being persistent in a mature way will all aid staff members in selling
their ad requirement quickly and efficiently.
Grading:
If you’d like, you may give students a grade for participating in this activity.
An A grade….
Means the student
participated fully in creating
the poster. He/she did her
fair share of the work but
seemed to stand out as a
leader. Each question
indicated in part I of the
lesson plan is answered
and displayed on the
poster. The student fully
participated in role-playing
for ads sales and added
A B grade…
Demonstrates that the
student participated in
creating the poster, but
may not have taken on a
leadership role. He/she
helped answer each
question indicated in part
I of the lesson plan and
neatly displayed each on
the poster. The student
may not have fully
participated in role
A C grade…
Shows that the student
participated in creating
the poster, but was
sometimes off-task and/or
disturbing other groups.
He or she helped answer
only a few questions
indicated in part I of the
lesson plan. The student
may not have fully
participated in role
playing and/or did not
A D-F grade…
Means that the student
did not participate while
creating the poster and/or
was often disturbing other
groups. He or she may
not have been a part of
role-playing and/or
refused to participate.
This student may have
made a joke out of the
activity or has
demonstrated that he/she
his/her own unique flair to
each part of the activity.
playing and/or did not
think critically while
participating.
always act professionally
during the exercise.
cannot handle selling ads
to community members.
Yearbook Advertising Pitch
Hello, My name is ______________________ and this is my partner _______________. I am a student on the
yearbook staff at Windsor High School. We’re making personal visits today to businesses in Windsor to offer
you the opportunity to support us and help us continue to produce the best yearbook at Windsor High.
Do you have a few moments to discuss the benefits of purchasing an ad in this year’s all color
yearbook? Thank you.
First, as just mentioned our yearbook staff has decided to continue to produce ___________
in all color. This alone gives you the option of creating an ad in color or in black and white.
Furthermore, we’re also increasing the size of the book and will be adding more pages.
In addition, we’re working to improve design by adding more photos and a themed book to
bring it all together.
We’ll also include feature stories, polls, and surveys throughout the book to include students and
teachers. Our school also creates baby ads and friendship ads dispersed throughout the retail
advertising to increase interest in those pages of the yearbook.
Our goal for this year is to sell approximately 600 books to members of our community and student
body, which means about 200 more people will see your ads than usual. We are self-supporting, and
rely on help from the community to finance the production and printing of this book.
Do you think you can help us this year? (Pause and wait for reaction)
Great. You won’t regret it. Here are some samples of ads sizes and a price list. Do you see anything
here that interests you?
***If this business has a waiting area or an office, ask if they’d like to buy a copy of the yearbook to display.
Tell them students and parents enjoy looking at yearbooks as they are waiting for their appointment***
Buyer/Seller Scenario Cards (may be printed, cut out, and distributed to students and/or pasted to notecards)
Buyer
Scenario #1
Buyer
You are the secretary of a local bank. All
advertisement offers must go through the
supervisor. He/she is unavailable.
Scenario #2
You are the supervisor of a travel business. You
purchased an ad last year, but were not happy with
the ad and are not currently interested in buying
this year.
Buyer
Scenario #3
Buyer
You are the owner of a new business in town.
Explain to the sellers that you’ve not purchased an
ad before and wonder what else they can tell you.
Scenario #4
Buyer
You are a hairstylist in a busy salon. Explain to the
sellers that you are currently really busy and they
should come back later.
Scenario #5
Buyer
As a local sports store owner, you have already
purchased an ad for the football program.
Scenario #6
Seller
Imagine you are the owner of a local hardware
store owner (and a parent of a student at the
school). Tell the buyers that you don’t think many
people buy the yearbook, so you are worried it
won’t be worth your money.
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller