Monthly Archives: November 2016

Slow Down and Sell

A recent study by QSR magazine, the trade magazine serving the fast food industry, revealed the speed of service in drive-throughs has gotten 11.3 percent slower over the last couple of years, slowing from 203.3 seconds down to 226.3 seconds.

 

But it appears that slower service comes with a silver lining… that same study revealed that along with the slower service came a 3.2% improvement in order accuracy.

 

Have you ever considered that those same dynamics might impact your selling cycle? In your haste to capture an order, you may be missing some greater opportunities and not doing the best possible job for your clients.

 

Your clients can sense when you lack confidence or fear not making the sale. Trying to rush the sales cycle is one of the symptoms they link to fear.

 

The one-call-sale not only leaves money on the table, it often fails to correctly identify your client’s objectives, thereby missing their goal, and more importantly, missing the renewal.

 

The fast one-call-close might satisfy your need to make your budget. But slowing down to learn more about your client’s business, and their competitive situation, will inevitably result in helping your advertisers achieve their budgets.  Better pre-call preparation, questioning and more research, over a series of meetings to advance the sale will inevitably lead to better service, better results, and more solid annuals.

 

“It’s better to be slow and careful in the right direction than to be fast and careless on the wrong path. Be sure that you are on the right path before you begin to take your  steps!”

– Israelmore Ayivor– author and leadership coach.

Leveraging Your Biggest Assets

You have probably seen various event producers, from bridal fairs to home shows, make a good living in your market.

And you’ve seen your clients spend extraordinary budgets to participate in local trade shows, fairs and events that give them the opportunity to go face to face with new prospects. There is no question that event and/or experiential marketing works.

But you have huge assets that traditional event producers can only wish they had;

1.)  You have several sales people in the market. Most event producers cannot afford the numbers of ‘feet on the street’ that you have to attract sponsors and participants.

2.)  You have local contacts and relationships. Most event producers only see their sponsors once or twice a year as they try to sell and manage the event. You have relationships and credibility that makes it easier for you to sell event participants and sponsorships.

3.)  You have an audience…on-air and online. All event producers have to buy media to promote their event. In fact, promotion is usually their biggest expense. The ‘promotion budget’ for your event is yours to place as you see fit.

4.)  You understand your local clients’ branding and marketing objectives and how to dovetail those goals with an event. Most event producers are simply selling space and traffic, with no view towards making their event an integral part of the advertiser’s over-all marketing plans.

5.)  You have a 24/7 website that can have a sponsored theme page to give your event sponsors 52-week exposure.

Most of the traditional event opportunities are probably already scheduled annually in your market.

But you have the opportunity to create a unique proprietary event that fits your audience demographics, and becomes an annual profitable tradition for you. Events from ‘Toys for Big Boys’ to ‘Healthy Living Shows’ can attract countless sponsor categories over and above the obvious natural sponsors.

Generic sponsors from banks to insurance companies, and from car dealers to real estate agents can benefit from the traffic you generate for your themed event.

At ENS Media Inc, we have a motto; “Extraordinary revenues require extraordinary effort and extraordinary creativity.” If you want to generate extraordinary revenues in 2017 and beyond, consider creating your own annual event. Facilitating a successful event in your market will also validate the traffic your stations are capable of producing.

HUGE New Year’s Opportunities

Start 2017 now.

There is a huge New Year’s Resolution market that virtually every commercial sector can tap into.

Almost everyone makes some sort of New Year’s resolution;

  • Find a better career
  • Adult education
  • Loose weight
  • Get in shape
  • Start being more fashionable
  • Take more vacations
  • Drive a newer car
  • Open a savings account
  • Quit smoking
  • New hobby: biking/hiking/fishing etc.
  • Cooking classes
  • Quit drinking
  • Cosmetic surgery/laser treatments
  • New dental smiles
  • Marriage counselling

But here’s the key to you generating more revenue; approach those New Year resolution market advertisers now and help them start to build Top-of-Mind awareness BEFORE all of their competitors jump on that band wagon.

Some may suggest giving gift certificates for Christmas to facilitate a loved one’s resolution.

Others might begin seminars or open houses to generate leads and capture the markets.

Whatever strategies you present to any of your clients to help them capture that New Year’s resolution market, you need to present it now in order for them to;

a.)  Credit you for the idea

b.)  Pre-empt advertisers by trying to capture those markets with coupons, social media or other competitors.

c.) create Top-of-Mind awareness BEFORE the January rush.

The amount of revenue you generate is only limited by how creative you are in coming up with New Year’s resolution ideas.

Selling Radio’s ROI

Imagine you’re fresh out of college and your best friend sets you up on a blind date. You have a good time on the date, and after a few more dates she invites you to join her on a cruise.

During the cruise you have the time of your life, and you begin dating more seriously on a regular basis.

One nervous night, under a romantic full moon, you get up the nerve to ask her to marry you. She says, “Yes”, accepts your ring, and the sale is made.

Who gets credit for the sale? The best friend who introduced you? The cruise line? The months of dating and getting to know each other?  The ring? Or how about the full moon?

Human perceptions, attitudes, relationships and decisions are seldom based upon one singular event, but rather on a series of events, experiences and influences that form our opinions, biases, and prejudices over time.

For as long as I’ve been in this business, some advertisers have under-estimated the introductory role radio plays in making the sale, and they’ve given credit for the sale to the moon…that last touch-point in the conversion process.

In the old days, it was the newspaper. Some advertisers would proclaim their customers actually came to buy with a copy of the newspaper under their arm. Some even went so far as to say “No one ever came in with a radio under their arm.”  Hmm…imagine that.

Then came direct mail, coupon envelopes, flashing neon signs, huge pink gorillas, and a long list of ‘last-touch’ or last customer touch-points.

Google Analytics now flogs a ‘Last Interaction Attribution Model’ that gives 100% of the credit for a sale, which they call a ‘conversion,’ to the clicks that immediately precede the sale.

And advertisers hungry to measure the ROI (Return on Investment) of every expenditure, are eating it up.

The Google model would leave out the best friend who introduced you to your wife, the countless dates, good times and the cruise, and give all the credit for the marriage to the moon.

The problem is radio salespeople have not been trained to understand, articulate and sell radio’s role in the entire ‘conversion’ process, from introduction, to building a relationship and brand, to asking for the order.

Digital media and last-touch clicks are not radio’s problem, any more than a ‘last-touch-point’ car salesperson who takes credit for the sale or other last-touch-points, like coupons, Yellow Pages and pink gorillas on the roof.

All exposures play a role in what those in search of ROI call ‘conversion.’  In reality, there is no one ‘single source’ that can take credit for the sale and no single source that can make the sale without the influence of other touch points along the path to conversion.

Click here to inquire about facilitating our Radio Works workshop for your annual sales conference or broadcast association to train local radio account executives how to sell Radio’s ROI as the launch on the path to increased conversions and sales.

Where There’s a Will, There is a Way

There will always be some markets that don’t follow the trends of the national economy. They may be hit by a large factory closure, their economy might be affected negatively by low oil prices and some might be delivered a blow by Mother Nature.

But there is one thing that is for certain.  There is always opportunity for those who quit wishing for ‘the good old days’ and those who understand where the ‘new’ money lies.

For example, do you know that no matter what happens to your local economy next year, 60% of the jobs and paychecks in your market are totally bulletproof?

Everyone from police officers to pensioners, and from teachers to neurosurgeons are totally immune to cyclical economies and will receive their paychecks every month.

Do your salespeople know how to help their advertisers capture their unfair share of those paychecks?

And more than 80% of the businesses and institutions in your market have never seen a radio presentation, in part, because we keep trying to draw from the same old wells.

Our Winning In Tough Economies advertising sales workshops can help your sales team capture the new or uncultivated opportunities that exist in your market in 2017 and beyond.

Click here to arrange an appointment to discuss facilitating our Winning In Tough Economies workshop in your market in 2017.