Today is my youngest daughter’s, as she put it, “Last First-Day of School”. She is a Senior in college and will finish her undergrad in May.
As I have done for nearly 25 years on the first day of school with all three of our kids, I told her to have fun, study hard and learn lots! I then asked her, “What’s the family rule?” and she replied, “Be nice to everyone”. That’s my girl!
After reflecting on this, it reminded me of how we as media reps and managers approach what we do in the world of sales. This isn’t just a good rule of thumb for raising kids, (we’ve been blessed, and it’s worked out very well for our family, as it did for the teams I managed) but it’s also a GREAT practice to follow for sales and management.
If you are in sales, or you are managing people, are you Having Fun, Training Hard, and Learning Lots? And, most importantly, are you Nice to Everyone? It’s a good recipe for success!
P.S. If you would ever like to visit about how we consult and help train sales teams to generate more revenue and become better marketing professionals, click here and we can arrange a time. We guarantee it will be a “Nice” conversation!
The skills required for selling and building customer relationships in the business-to-business world continue to dramatically change. Today, they’re changing faster than ever.
In a survey by MarketingSherpa, buyers and salespeople were asked, “Why do buyers leave?”
Not surprisingly, the top answer with salespeople was “Price”. The top answer with buyers, however, was “service”.
But multi-tasking, tighter deadlines, and technology have redefined the world of selling and how buyers define service.
Service was once measured by the amount of face-to-face time you dedicated to your prospects. Today, in our fast-paced world, it can be just the opposite and measured by how much of their time you don’t occupy.
In the book,The Platinum Rule by Ph.D.’s Tony Alessandra and Michael O’Connor, they suggest the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, be replaced with the Platinum Rule, “Do unto others as THEY want done unto themselves”. In other words, treat ME, like I want to be treated, not how YOU would like to be treated.
Reading your customers’ personality styles and adapting to their communication style is more important today than ever. Just because I like to communicate face-to-face and by telephone, doesn’t mean my client or prospect wouldn’t rather communicate via one of the many digital options.
And simply because someone is a Millennial, or a Gen X, Y or Z, doesn’t automatically mean they prefer to communicate 100% in the digital space. I know plenty of Baby Boomers that prefer to communicate digitally.
Today, we even suggest you ask your prospects and clients how they would like to communicate. They will tell you, because they want YOU to treat THEM the way THEY want to be treated!
Our Customer-Focused Communications workshops can help you understand what’s behind the emails you receive, and how to reach and influence your prospects with new technologies and the written word. Click here if you would like to discuss.
What is the best length for ads? The correct answer is… whatever it takes – to make it a GREAT ad! The only wrong answer to this question would have been had you suggested just one of these options.
We need to first understand, believe, and realize that no one listens to your radio station for the ads. It’s our job to get them to listen with creative, compelling, well written, and well produced ads that are strategically on target. The length of the ad has very little to do with how effective it is.
If you are a proponent of 60 second ads, you can probably put up a great debate as to why 60’s are better than 30’s, and vice versa. What I can tell you is that bad 60 second ads are simply a bigger waste of money than bad 30’s.
What about 10’s or 15’s? One of the very best ad campaigns I’ve ever heard is the QUIKRETE campaign titled “Long Story Short”, created by Fitzgerald and Company. They are 10 second ads with a brilliant strategy and were executed perfectly! To hear these ads, click here. They’re great entertainment and can be used as examples when discussing length of ads with clients and in training your team to either ask better questions and/or write better ads. Yes, asking better questions always leads to better ads.
The reason for this article isn’t to debate the best length of ad. The fact remains, regardless of the length, the “better” the ad, the “better” the results. Our point is… what are you doing on a daily or weekly basis to help train your team; sellers, writers and production departments on how to write and produce better ads?
Better ads will lead to better results for your clients, AND, your station will sound better, allowing you to create more revenue with bigger and longer-term contracts.
If you would like to discuss this topic, or if you would like help in training your team on creating and writing better ads, contact us and let’s discuss how doing this can help you generate more revenue. The pay-offs can be huge!
In just a few weeks, back to school shopping will be over. Department stores will be re-imaged and restocked, and as quickly as you can blink an eye, you’ll see the Fall and Winter merchandise occupy the shelves. Yes, when it comes to retail, thoughts of ghosts, goblins, turkeys, snowflakes and sugarplums are already dancing in their heads.
If you have annual contracts with your clients, you are in good shape. But, we all have clients and prospects that buy advertising on an “as needed” basis. In these cases, the old analogy, “the early bird gets the worm” couldn’t be more true. Is now too early? Not at all. In fact, if you’re thinking Halloween, you had better hurry.
We all know that one of the worst feelings in the world is having to come back to the station and tell your manager your client placed the buy with your competition. Retailers are planning earlier, so it only makes sense for us to start to plan earlier as well. While your salespeople are still enjoying the summer, as Sales Managers, it’s our job to give them the tools and the gentle reminders that there is no time like the present!
We suggest presenting your seasonal packages earlier. Make them fun, make them special, make them early! If you haven’t done this before, it’ll be a refreshing surprise. Go BIG, dress up in a Halloween Costume (I understand the T’Challa Black Panther costume is expected to be a hit along with Wonder Woman and Michael Myers) or have Santa Claus come to the meeting bearing gifts.
You might get some push back from the reps saying it’s too early, but really, wouldn’t you rather be a bit early than too late?
If you would like to see ENS Media’s 12 Tips and Tactics For a Successful Early Christmas Sales Meeting, click here.
One last gentle reminder, January and February are typically your worst two months of the year. When you present your holiday proposals, you may find it easier and more successful to plan, present, and sell the post-season sales and events as part of your package NOW! Even if they are an “as needed based” advertiser. It’s worth a shot!
Also, if you want to increase your local-direct revenues in 2019 and beyond, email [email protected], or make an appointment to see him in the Consultant’s Corner at the RAB Radio Show in Orlando in September.
If you’re a regular reader of our ENS on Sales, you know that one of the topics we continually write about is the importance of learning, training, and “GETTING BETTER” every day!
One of the best opportunities to learn and “GET BETTER” each year is only eight weeks away. It’s Radio Show 2018, presented by RAB/NAB. This year’s Radio Show is being held in Orlando, Florida, September 25th-28th. Not only is it a great place to learn, but a great place to mingle with our peers. If you are the outgoing type, I suspect you can learn as much in the hallways as you will in the meeting rooms.
ENS Media is excited to announce that Rick Fink has been extended an invitation to speak at the Sales Consultants Series. This session will be held on Wednesday morning, September 26th at 8:00 a.m. Rick, along with four other trainers and consultants, will offer sales and management tips that you can take back to the office and implement immediately.
We always welcome any opportunity to meet our ENS on Sales readers, so if you are planning on attending Radio Show, let us know!!! We would love to arrange a time to visit and say hello!
Hope to see you in Orlando – and in the meantime – Never STOP Learning!