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Refusing to Participate Feels Great

Refusing to Participate Feels Great.  

          Last fall the American portion of my business began to shrink.  I let myself fall into a downward spiral of excuses about the economy, like water circling to go down the drain.
          While in this frame of mind, I found myself on a plane beside a building contractor. “I guess things are a little slow for your business right now”, I said.
          “No”, he said, “this economy has created all kinds of new opportunities.”
          I’m on my way to a plant in Arkansas that is doubling its staff and building a huge addition.”
          He went on to explain that the booming business made frozen waffles, pancakes and pastries. He said that people with large families were going to restaurants less often and opting to prepare convenient low cost meals at home. The frozen waffle factory couldn’t keep up with demand!
          After speaking to that contractor, I reflected upon the immortal words of Henry Ford; “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you are right.”
          I immediately chose to discontinue participating in the recession.
          That decision alone actually made me feel better! I chose to utilize the extra time I had as a result of a downturn to develop new and innovative services which are now producing amazing results for the stations we work with.
          My business, like the frozen waffle business, is back on track for growth.
          Sir Winston Churchill said, “Sometimes it is not enough to do our best. Sometimes we must do what is required.”
          Just “doing our best” can cause us to blame the economy or other uncontrollable external factors for our failures.
          I invite you to join me. Choose not to participate in the recession. Seek new opportunities to capture your long-term vision. Doing so will re-ignite the passion that makes your job exciting and your company successful.   

Vision vs Panic

Vision versus Panic

“You always have two choices; your commitment versus your fear.”
-Sammy Davis, Jr.-
 
          Experiments on hypothermia at the University of Winnipeg have proven that the choices we make out of fear are often fatal.
          In controlled experiments at the university, two groups of students were immersed in freezing cold tanks of water to study what choices they would make to save their lives.
          Most people believe it only takes two to three minutes for hypothermia to set in. The first group of students was thrown into the freezing water with that belief.
          In reality, it takes 35 to 40 minutes for hypothermia to take its toll. The second group of students was thrown into the freezing water with that knowledge.
          Invariably, the first group made choices out of fear and panic….choices which, under real life scenarios would have cost them their lives.
          The students who understood they had time to think ahead, consistently made better choices than their panicked counterparts.     
          The absence of vision, commitment and long-term goals for your stations can also result in panic choices which can be fatal.
           Are you committed to a long–term plan for your business survival? Or are you making panic decisions under pressure?
          Your advertisers are reading newsletters and blogs which suggest they should “take advantage of this downturn and put the heat on media suppliers”.
        That “heat”has caused some broadcasters to sell at rates below break-even. We’ve all heard the joke about the widget manufacturer who was losing five dollars per widget but planned to “make it up on volume”.
          Even in good times, far too many sales managers let the bottom right hand corner of a broadcast order influence them to sell at a loss. You cannotsell at a loss and “make it up on volume”!
          Selling at a loss not only hurts your stations, but in the long run,hurts advertisers.
          Cutting your rates will inevitably cause cuts in service to your advertisers and to your audiences. As those cuts impact audiences negatively, advertisers will find it increasingly difficult to find a media that has enough reach and influence to achieve their goals.
          Our biggest selling job has always been internal, not external. We need to sell ourselves and our staffs on the value of advertising before they can have the confidence to sell our services to advertisers at a profitable rate.

Make Mantra

Make Mantra

          Albert Einstein said, “Genius is making the complicated look simple.”
I attended the Radio Ink Convergence Conference in San Jose, California last week,and by Einstein’s definition, the conference key note, Guy Kawasaki, is a genius.
          Throughout my career I’ve been telling media sales people that if you focus on getting results for your clients, the money will magically follow you.  I called it “putting on your ad manager’s hat” and presenting a campaign that will work for the client.
          I’ve gone through gyrations to prove that focusing on selling tactics and this month’s budget won’t be as successful as learning how to create results for your clients and building strong customer relationships.
          But Guy Kawasaki made it simple when he said, “Make mantra, not money.”
Guy, the author of nine successful business books including Reality Check and The MacIntosh Way, led the Apple charge against domination by IBM.
          He astutely observed that the companies which had the most growth in the last ten years are those that set out to ‘make the world a better place’, not those that had a business plan focused on making money.
          From creating more user-friendly computers to creating Facebook-style chat lines for friends to keep in touch, the money does follow those who help others.
This isn’t new.  Motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, always said, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
          But Guy’s genius made it simpler. “Make mantra, not money.”
He also suggests that we get rid of complicated mission statements with all of the business buzzwords and that we make simple mantra with just three words. Can you explain why you exist in just three words?
          While companies like Wendy’s and FedEx might have trendy or lengthy mission statements in their board rooms, their mantra is simple.
          Wendy’s mantra is, ‘healthy food fast’ and FedEx creates ‘peace of mind’ allowing you to track your parcels 24/7.
          Try it!  Say what you do in three words, then use that mantra as your beacon for every plan and decision you make.  After hearing Guy, I’ve finally created mine…… ‘Make advertising work!’
          It’s what I’ve always done, and the money has followed.  There’s not a lot of ‘selling’ to do when your clients realize the ideas you are presenting will make their advertising work.
 

United We Stand

United We Stand

          This is urgent and requires your attention today!
          It’s time to quit thinking of your fellow broadcasters as competitors and to band together in a united front to serve your best clients and prospects in the best possible manner during this economic decline.
          We scan more than 40 trade newsletters and journals every day to keep abreast of marketing trends and to write our SoundADvice e-marketing system for our clients.
          The ‘experts’ in these newsletters and magazines are encouraging advertisers to, “take advantage of this downturn and put the heat on their media suppliers.”
          And advertisers are doing it.
          This is part of an actual email many of you received recently. We’ve withheld the advertiser’s name.
As any other business in the rest of the world, (Name Client) has been affected by the current economic recession to the point of going back and reassess their current media strategy for 2009. They want to make sure their money is being invested in the right medium where they can both, reach their marketing objectives and receive the most value for their investment.
          Right now “Print” is the only medium that has provided (Name Client) added value translated not only in discounted rates, but also in form of marketing efforts such as PR, advertorials, free full pages, amongst other.
          Our client is concerned that although they have consistently made Radio an important player in their marketing strategy, they are not getting the most return for their investments. In this regard, they need the radio industry to really step up and show that (Name) business is important, appreciated and that they want to keep doing business with (Name Client).
          We need to know what added value (Name) would receive if they decide to continue with radio for 2009. A couple of examples: more bonusing, remotes, mobile/email advertising or any other creative added value that could be provided.
          I think this situation should be taken as the opportunity to prove (Name) that radio is still an important player in their marketing plans, and that it acknowledges and appreciates their business.
         This is in your hands at this point.
 
Most of you have received emails or requests similar to this, and you will be receiving many more. Ironically, this particular client happens to spend ten times as much in print as on radio.  I don’t know why they claim “radio is an important player”.
          As this note points out clearly, it is other media, (in this case print), not your radio brothers and sisters, who you are competing with.
          But in a frenzy created by thinking of other stations as your competitors, we can all end up hurting our businesses’ short-term and long-term viability. Cutting into our margins will inevitably lead to cutting the service we can provide to our advertisers and our audiences, making us irrelevant to both in the long haul.
          This economic cycle may be the tipping point to the long term viability of our industry.
          I implore you to call all of your market stations together to establish a united approach to these requests.
          I’m not talking about price fixing. I’m talking about a unified approach to maintaining fair prices and offering uniform value-added, directly proportionate to the advertiser’s investment.
        Your approach should;
1.) Position radio as empathetic to advertisers’ plights and willing to go the extra mile to help them through this economy.
2.) Ensure that ‘extra mile’ does not become a bidding war with some stations offering an extra ten miles!
3.) Be proactive and recognize your best advertisers. Offer your new, united value proposition to them BEFORE they ask.
4.) Never let a small squeaky wheel get more grease than your most radio-friendly clients.
5.) Preserve the long-term integrity and value of your products.
6.) Be frank and honest when explaining to heavy users of other media that they don’t carry as big of a hammer with you as they would if they invested a larger share with you.
7.) Clearly position the intrusive power of broadcast in the media mix.
          Make the call. Call all of those sales managers you don’t trust, and give them the benefit of the doubt. Let’s show advertisers we are there to help them through this economy, but that we won’t cut each other’s throats, or rates.
          And as self-serving as this may sound, consider working together to split the costs of presenting our ‘Winning in the Silver Lining Economy’ seminar to your clients and prospects. The last market we conducted this seminar in attracted 18 new accounts and saved or increased several existing accounts.
          This advertiser seminar for local-direct accounts might be all the ‘value-added’ you need to deliver in this economy! 
Contact [email protected] to lock in your seminar dates.

Job Security

Job Security in 2009 and Beyond

            Now more than ever, ‘typical’ media salespeople’s jobs may be in jeopardy.
            According to an article in Advertising Age, media-related jobs have been declining for seven years in a row, declining by 3.1% in 2008.
            The report goes on to say, “In contrast, advertising and marketing-related jobs have enjoyed some boom times. In fact, marketing consulting jobs are now at a record high.”
            For several years now, our ENS on Sales tips and our Guided Discovery Selling Process have been telling you to get out of the media or spot sales business and get into the business of creating marketing campaigns that work for your advertisers.
            We always knew this strategy resulted in more long term sales and renewals than selling media packages or hustling spots.
            Perhaps letting your Account Executives know that there is increasing demand for the skill sets of marketing consultants versus media people will encourage them to learn their craft. The best media reps ARE marketing consultants and advertising practitioners first and media people second. 
 
Cost of Sale?
 
            I’m often told, “We can’t find good commissioned sales people anymore.”
It’s much like someone who tells me they have their house on the market but it won’t sell.     
            It WILL sell, but not at the price they’re asking. Everything has a right price.
            Finding good commissioned sales people comes with a right price as well.
Our concern over ‘cost of sale’ has led us to forget about the cost of no sale!
            In market after market, when I look at local salary surveys, the average top performer in other sales fields, like mutual funds or car sales, earns considerably more than the top performer at the local radio or TV station.
            Income isn’t the only reason we have difficulty attracting top sales talent, but it’s certainly one of the hurdles we have to overcome.
 
For more on attracting great sales people, see the article on our website, ‘Are You Destroying Your Future Top Sellers?’ www.wensmedia.com/content/articles.html