Merry Christmas! There. I said it. I get so tired of the politically-correct. Maybe it’s because I’m not offended when a friend wishes me Happy Hanukah, or because I feel honored when another friend invites me to his faith’s New Year’s celebration in November.

          In any case, no one seems to object to getting a day off on December 25^th, even though we all know how the holiday originated, so Merry Christmas everyone!

This is your last SOUNDManagement for 2005, as I take a break over the holiday season to plan and strategize for the success of my clients in 2006.

           As you take time over the holidays, I invite you to reflect upon how fortunate we are to be in this business.

          We get paid for helping other people, it doesn’t get any better than that!

Whether we’re helping the victims of Katrina with a fund-raising campaign, or helping a business to grow and provide more employment with our advertising campaigns, we’re helping people!

          Others envy our careers in media. When we’re introduced to someone at a party as being in radio or TV, they immediately find us interesting and ask us all kinds of questions…some even offer their critiques. I don’t think a life insurance person, an undertaker or a clerk or laborer get the same response.

          Those people who punch a clock or work on an assembly line can only fantasize about having the opportunity to work with the diverse and creative group of peers we see every day. Some of us are wacky, some disciplined and some adventurous and others are focused…..together we produce a product and service like no other!

          And we have a purpose bigger than ourselves! We transform lives. We help people, raising millions for tsunami relief or promoting Christmas toy drives.

          We entertain people, adding laughter, music and insight to their other-wise boring lives. We keep people informed, make them think, and even show them how to decorate their homes!

          We help them avoid traffic jams and to make enlightened decisions at election time.

          For the most part, our jobs are not hazardous, we don’t brave the elements on a daily basis, and I don’t see a lot of calluses or sore backs in our business.

          And we’re certainly not a dieing industry! New technologies and new licenses provide new career opportunities daily!

          I saw an interview with country singer Kenny Rogers once where he said “Find a way to get paid for doing something you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” I think that’s where all of us in broadcasting are.

          So merry ….happy……greetings……season’s…… wishes….. how ever you say it, I wish you all the best in 2006 and beyond. And watch for your weekly  SOUNDManagement every Wednesday in the new year to help make your professional lives even more successful.  

In this day of multi-tasking and electronic communications, your sales people do not always have the opportunity to make the number offace-to-face presentations we would like them to. Often our communication is limited to emails and voice mails.
          To check the email and communications skills of potential recruits, I recommend you give each prospective sales person whom you interview, an email assignment.
          Ask them to send you a short, one page summary, outlining why they would be the best choice to add to your sales staff.
          The result can be quite revealing….both positively and negatively.
          It never ceases to amaze me how many errors and typos appear in these “pitches!”
            Even though the candidates have lots of time, emails have spelling and grammar check and the candidates recognize this is an important test, the results are often very disappointing.
          If their selling points are not well made in this important document, then you’ll know what to expect as the new recruit goes about his or her day to day business for you.
          This exercise will help you understand how clear and compelling the candidate’s communications skills really are, how prompt they are with their follow-up, and what their attention to detail is like.
          Remember, no one is as good as they look on their resume, and the ability to think on your feet isn’t enough to build strong client relationships today.

I’ve made a practice of NEVER knocking our media competitors…..my stations have always sold on their strengths, not on their competitors’ weaknesses.
          My exception to this rule has been the yellow pages directory, so much so that in 2001 I copyrighted the phrase, “The Directory of Ineffective Marketers”, as one of my media sales training modules.  
          Before we get into why the yellow pages are a Directory of Ineffective Marketers, let’s discuss why they are the exception to my, “don’t knock the competition” rule.
            First, I have yet to meet a marketer who had positive feelings about their yellow pages expense. You won’t risk offending any sensitivities when you point out yellow pages short-comings. In fact most business people will tell you they are only in the yellow pages “because I have to be”.
            They hate the high-pressure “blackmail sell” employed by yellow pages sales people, and the multiple geographic and category headings they create to force more ad sales.
            Secondly, the yellow pages directory really is not intrusive advertising, but rather it is merely a directory consumers will go to for two reasons and two reasons only: One, because no one has been an effective marketer in the category so shoppers have to go to the directory to find someone to do business with, or:  Two, to look up the phone number of an effective marketer they already have in mind…..in which case, a listing will do, not an ad.  
          When TOMA Research ask, “when you go to the yellow pages, are you more likely to call on a large ad for someone you’ve never heard of or, the small ad for someone you have heard of”, the majority consistently answers they have a propensity to call the small ad for some one they have heard of before they would call the large ad of someone they have not heard of.
          One final point….How do I justify calling the yellow pages, “The Directory of Ineffective Marketers”? It’s easy. You won’t find a business with high mind-share that spends a significant portion of their budget in the directory.
          Try this test. Invite your prospects to tell you who they think the most effective fast-food burger marketer is, then challenge them to find that company’s ad in the yellow directory (they’ll usually say “McDonalds” and McDonalds only has a listing in the directory….NOT an ad)
            Then ask them to name an effective marketer in the home improvement or building supplies category. They’ll usually name Home Depot or Lowes, and again these effective marketers will have no large yellow pages ad. 
            You have my permission to use my “Directory of Ineffective Marketers” brand to help you switch dollars from the yellow directory into a broadcast campaign which can make a business the one people have heard of when they go to the directory of all of their competitors.

“If you get something for nothing, that’s what it’s worth”. I’m not sure who said this, but you can believe it is the perception of your clients.
          So when you offer “value-added” in the form of a “free promotion”, it is imperative that you assign a value to every element in the promotion to prevent it from being perceived as being of little or no value.
 Here are some examples:
          Contest Administration   Your clients know the man-hours and production costs that go into printing posters, ballots or other promotional materials.  However, the man-hours involved in contacting winners, fending off losers, and coordinating prizes also have a value. Always put a rate on contest administration in the “Promotional Value” page of your presentation. 
           Promos or Liners  First of all, don’t diminish their value by using industry jargon. A promo is a “pre-produced promotional message” promoting the event, contest or promotion and a liner is a “live,on-air mention”. Because promos and liners are not “hard-sell” there is a huge tune-in and awareness factor attached to them.
          Live Prime-Time Winner Announcements  Your live on-air winner phone call is definitely foreground programming, capturing the attention and the hearts of your listeners. While you can’t “buy” that kind of promotion, it definitely is worth a great deal more than a typical paid commercial.
          Visuals  Estimate how many eye-balls are going to see your promotional material and assigna value to the exposure, even if it’s only five cents per exposure. How much is the value per exposure plus the production hard cost of those materials?
          Exclusivity  If you offer the client  promotional or category exclusivity assign a value to that benefit.
          Partnering  Place an actual value on partnering with your listener’s favorite radio station. It’s definitely theclosest thing to a personal endorsement and worthy of an endorsement fee.
You can always get a client to agree to the values you place on the various promotional elements when they know they are not actually carving a check for those features.
          By placing and publishing a value for each element of your “value added” and getting the client to agree to the value of each element, you can avoid the perception that what they just received for nothing was not really worth nothing.
          In fact, you should make it clear that it’s not really “free” but rather that it is contingent upon the terms and conditions of their cash buy.

I was shocked the other day when I was reading an article comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the various media when the author suggested “Radio rates are the most flexible of all media because their sales people are perceived to be poorly trained in negotiating skills”.

           While it’s not my intent to give a course on negotiating skills in this short memo, I would like to dispel the myth that it is the buyer who holds all of the cards, or power, in a negotiation.

1. The Power of Attitude. You and your people must develop the attitude that “We’re expensive, proud of it, and worth every penny!”

2. The Power of Preparation. You need to anticipate, up front, what the client might ask for, how far you are willing to negotiate and under what terms. For every concession you plan, plan a concession that you will ask of the buyer in return.

3. The Power of Expertise. Know your product, your market and your client. James Schlinkert, the former CEO of Olivetti Corp, was famous for his assertion that, “You need to establish yourself, not the buyer, as the expert to make a major sale”.

4. The Power of Filling a Customer Need. When you understand the customer’s needs and, your unique ability at filling those needs, the negotiation quickly turns to BOTH parties actively seeking a win-win solution.

5. Last, but certainly not least, the Power of the word “No”. Know when to say “no” and, when to walk. You will not only gain the client’s respect, but you will be able to move on to make more efficient use of your time. Know when to leave transactional clients behind.