Monthly Archives: April 2013

Radio: Small Businesses’ Friend

An article in the April 17th issue of USA Today said, “Most small businesses feel like they are wasting their time on social media, according to a new survey.”            The article went on to say that 61% of small businesses do not see any return on investment on their social-media activities, according to a survey from Manta, a social network for small businesses. Yet, almost 50% say they have increased their time spent on social media.

          Part of the problem is that small businesses by nature depend largely upon local sales. While national advertisers capture attention with campaigns that go viral, social media “followers” or “likes” that span the continent, if not the globe, are not prospects for local businesses.

          In the hectic world of multi-tasking business owners and managers, time has never been more valuable. Never under-estimate the value you bring to the table with your turnkey solutions.

          Small business owners are finding they have to spend 7 or more hours a week to keep their social media efforts fresh and up to date. Those same owners can spend half an hour a week with you and you will invest the time and resources necessary to drive more traffic to their online efforts, increase the reach and frequency of their message and increase their sales.

          When local businesses invest half an hour a week with you, you will keep their messages and budgets on target, write and produce the campaigns, schedule and air the campaigns, reach out to audiences which might not have been exposed to their social media and so much more.

          We never knock new media. It’s the bright shiny new thing everyone wants to talk about. But we certainly can gain a lot of ground with advertisers when we let them know how much we can do for them with so little of their precious time.  

 

 

The Story of Civilization

The Story of Civilization

 Will Durant, the American philosopher and historian wrote, “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.”  Think of all the civilizations from the Roman Empire to Hitler’s Germany, and you’ll understand that the most vulnerable civilizations are those which first decayed from within.  Every business, including broadcasting, is in itself a civilization with its own unique culture.

And the toughest selling job you will always have is within your organization, not externally.

Your sales people are beat up on the street every day with objections like “Your rates are too high” or “radio is dead, I’m using social media” or “Your competitor has a better audience.”

Over time, these objections can take their toll on their confidence levels. Your organization can slowly be undermined from within if you do not have an internal marketing plan; a plan to continually ‘sell the sellers’ on the merits of radio, your station and your company.  If your infra-structure, staff morale, training, mission statement, vision and all of the other components which comprise your ‘civilization’ or culture are strong and in tact, no external competitor or market condition can destroy you.  Stations which blame their competitors for their low rates or that blame new media, the economy, or any other external conditions for their shortfalls should look inwardly rather than pointing outwardly.  The other advantage of focusing on strengthening your civilization is that you control it. You have no control over what the marketplace or your competitors throw at you.  You do, however, control your internal beliefs, convictions, systems and culture. Those other civilizations can not bring about your demise if you do not destroy yourself from within.

 

The Secret to Sales Success

The Secret to Sales Success

          A friend of mine asked me “To what do you attribute your success?” First, I was flattered that he considered me a “success”, but more importantly, he caught me off guard, as did my answer.

I thought for a few seconds, and scanned all of the usual clichés in my mind…. “being customer focused, working hard, a unique selling proposition, delivering value, luck,” and so on.

But I blurted out a one-word answer that surprised even me…”Longevity” I said.

The conversation quickly moved on to other topics, but the next day I began to ponder how profound that answer was.

Does your sales culture and remuneration structure sustain longevity, or do you have an “eat what you kill” culture that starves your new recruits to death?

It was “longevity” that allowed me to build my business, and success certainly didn’t come over night. There were many years when I had to go into debt or dip into my savings just to stay in the game.

And there were times when I almost packed it in for other career opportunities.

I was fortunate enough to have a savings account, a wife who stood beside me, and good credit, to carry me through the “unsuccessful” days. Do you have a remuneration structure and support structure that allows new recruits to stay in the game?

Upon further reflection, here is what longevity did for me, and can do for you:

1.)  Experience. You can’t expect a rookie with 90 days experience to outsell a competitor with years of experience.

2.)  Confidence. Given time to get a few successes under your belt gives you the confidence to pursue more business.

3.)  Learning. With time, if you make an effort to learn something new every day, eventually your expertise will be second to none.

4.)  Awareness and familiarity. We all know that reach and frequency sell….and longevity simply builds more reach and more frequency for every sales person.

5.)  Trust. It takes time to build trust, and over time, your prospects and customers simply trust you more.

6.)  Referrals. Proving yourself over time, you will have enough referrals and build a strong enough reputation that you seldom need to prospect….referred prospects will be calling you!

7.)  Timing. Timing itself plays a role. I have contacts I made ten years ago who are just now becoming clients. They just didn’t have a need when we first met.

 

We have all seen eager new recruits who “failed” in our business, only to become successful in their next career. Creating a culture of longevity could help you keep some of those successes in your camp!