Does radio work? That’s a silly question, right? Sure radio works, but do your media reps believe it works?
If we’re being honest with ourselves, you know that your reps sometimes question its strength. After all, many people, like their clients, have told them repeatedly that radio doesn’t work. They’ve heard the infamous words, “I tried radio once and it didn’t work”.
Because you’re a subscriber to ENS on Sales and are reading this, I’m confident you are a believer and you know that radio does work, because we have seen it work hundreds, even thousands, of times.
It’s paramount that we continually teach and preach to our sales team about the strengths of radio and how to present it to their clients. Never take for granted that they 100% believe in the power of radio. Continue to sing its praises and give them ammunition to prove the point. Arm them with articles, statistics, and testimonials. Encourage them to read the radio trades, like Radio Sales Today, Inside Radio, Monday Morning Memo, and others.
Never stop teaching and never stop preaching the power of radio. It does work, and it works exceedingly well when executed correctly from beginning to end.
As managers, it’s our job to coach, teach, train, and motivate so that our reps do not only understand how to make it work but so that they believe that radio works. It’s a never-ending task.
When done correctly, radio creates MAGIC, it moves mountains, makes cash registers ring, makes business owners rich and gives radio media reps CONFIDENCE and BELIEF in our product and medium!
The majority of business owners, managers, and media buyers that deal with media reps have heard nearly every song and dance there is about why they should buy from you and your stations.
What a lot of them haven’t heard is… the TRUTH!
If you are not doing so now, here are some of the TRUTHS about radio that we should be sharing and using in our presentations with the decision-makers:
“Good advertising won’t make a bad business a good business.”
“We suggest fixing the inside of your business before you consider advertising.”
“No one listens to our radio stations for the ads.”
“When the jock stops talking or the song ends, and the ads come on, people actually lean back and subconsciously turn their ears off.”
“The radio station is not the most important element in determining whether your campaign will be successful or not.”
“When we air sports on a music station, our audience goes down, not up.”
“Nobody cares that you’ve been the ‘servicing dealer since 1969’.”
“No, we are not the most listened to station in town.”
“Yes, we play more ads than the stations across town, but there is a reason.”
“It’s true, radio is not listened to as often as it once was.”
…and the list can go on and on.
Most business owners are savvy people, and they can sniff out the “bull” pretty easily.
Answering objections abruptly and making exaggerated statements will deteriorate trust. Telling the truth and having a logical explanation for your “TRUE” statement will dramatically lead to a greater level of TRUST in you.
I am not suggesting that anyone is intentionally lying about radio or their stations. However, in an effort to defend our industry, sometimes the reality or truth gets stretched and important details get left out in order to make the sale.
In sales, TRUST and KNOWLEDGE are two extremely powerful traits.
The list of “honest” statements above, in nearly all situations, is true. Understanding how and when to use these statements and how to follow-up with them can be extremely powerful. We suggest in your next training session that you go over these statements and rehearse when and how to use them.
If you have questions as to when and how to use or follow-up on any of these statements or others, simply give me a call.
To use and rephrase the words of Alan Jackson’s popular 2001 song, “Where were you when the world stopped turning on that (March) day?”
For me, that was the day and time our world was turned upside down. At that moment, the NCAA announced that all events were canceled immediately. I was preparing to officiate my last tournament ever – the Division II National Wrestling Championships, and businesses of all types were advised to close their doors. THAT was when the “new normal” officially began.
So, do you remember where you were… on that March day?
365 days ago, how we operated as media reps drastically changed in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
As I was looking back to that moment, I reviewed the ENS on Sales articles we wrote from that moment on. The March 17th article, one week later, was titled “What You Say and Do Now will Determine Your Future”. Then, for the next 15 weeks, we wrote on topics that we hoped would help you, our readers, get through the difficult moments we were facing a little easier.
Other articles were titled, “Keep it as Normal as Possible”, “Now What”, “A Message of Value”, “To Advertise or Not to Advertise”, “Two Ears – One Mouth”, “Ideas and Plans = Courage”, and my favorite, “Halftime Adjustments”.
After reading through each of these, I wondered how many media reps and managers heeded the advice, and what effect it might have had. It also occurred to me that the advice given in the articles was worthy and useful whether we were facing a crisis or in normal times.
As we approach the first anniversary of the unforgettable start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I would encourage you to go back and re-read each of the ENS on Sales articles from March 17th through at least July 7th. Evaluate whether you or your sellers are doing these things yet today.
To see all past ENS on Sales articles, click here.
If you know of anyone that you think might find the weekly ENS on Sales articles helpful, they can sign up for the FREE by clicking here.
365 days ago was hopefully the day that we all stepped up to the plate and started taking care of our clients by doing things that maybe we should have been doing all along.
Where were you on that March Day? Are you better today?
One of the most iconic advertising slogans ever produced was for Fram Oil Filters, “You can pay me now, or pay me later”. The simple but powerful message was, proper maintenance of your vehicle will save you lots of money and headaches down the road.
So, how does that translate to media sales? Imagine for a minute that one of your biggest accounts just announced they intend to make some drastic cuts. They currently use several radio groups, outdoor, and TV in their traditional media portfolio. When this happens, sometimes we know they are simply fishing for a “better deal”.
However, if they are truly making cuts, more than likely the client was already forming hard-to-change perceptions on which media or media rep they should cut long before that cut-back announcement was made.
“Preventive maintenance” is always more effective, and less costly, than “damage control”. It will not only save you money, but also a ton of headaches and heartaches!
Do you have a preventive maintenance program or does all of your energy go into making the sale, looking for new business, and damage control?
A well-planned system of bringing “value” to your customers and being a resource to them rather than simply selling them and sending them invoices is key to keeping them, especially when it comes time to make cuts.
ENS Media’s SoundADvice Program is a proven system that will help media reps and stations build powerful relationships with their clients and prospects.
If you’re surprised by a cancellation or cutback, it’s probably because you didn’t have a preventive maintenance program. Here’s a recent testimonial that speaks directly to how SoundADvice can help keep YOU from the chopping block:
Good morning, Rick.
Thank you for the scripts. We record them every week featuring a different sales team member and they are being well received by clients.
We had a local body shop that had pulled his 15+ year consistent annual ($xx,000/year) at the start of all this COVID craziness. A few weeks ago, he called our team member to have him come back in to talk about getting back on because he said he AND his staff have been listening to the SoundADvice messages and they really speak to them.
Great stuff!
One of our most recent subscriber’s comments on the pricing of SoundADvice was… “Wow, why wouldn’t we do it!”
If you would like to implement a preventative maintenance program, click here to arrange a time to visit, or call Rick at (605) 310-2062 to learn more about our SoundADvice Program.
Show me a good prospector and I’ll show you a good media rep.
When working with and training media sales reps, we always suggest that there are two styles of prospecting… prospecting “hard” and prospecting “smart”.
The question is, which one is better and which type do you want on your team?
I suggest the answer is… both!
Prospect “hard” when you are new and trying to build a base or when billing is struggling and you need to rebuild fast. Prospect “smart” once you’re established and you can focus on finding clients with bigger and better potential. There are positives and negatives to each.
If I were to go into any radio station and ask this one question, “Which rep(s) prospects the hardest on your sales team?”, I would then be able to tell you several other things about them. First and foremost, I want them on my team! I like reps that work hard and aren’t afraid of rejection. It would also tell me who has the most “new clients” on the air at nearly any given time… but, at the same time, it would tell me who has the most cancellations. This is not always true, but most of the time it is.
On the other side of the prospecting coin, the sales rep that prospects the “smartest” usually has a much better closing ratio, larger contracts, more annuals, better relationships with their clients, and therefore fewer cancellations, and, they don’t have to work nearly as hard. But… more often than not, they have fewer prospects in the sales funnel and when they do get that dreaded cancellation, it can hurt.
Prospecting is a little bit like the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. They are both worthy of being in the race, but the one that is always moving and consciously makes prospecting a part of their weekly plan, and never lets up will usually win the race.
Understanding where the sales rep is in their career and their current level of business can most often determine what approach or tactic they should be using.
The moral of the story… ALWAYS be consciously Prospecting!
