I don’t mean to be rude, but, if you subscribe to Nielsen ratings service, DUMP them now!
I’m not saying this because of their recent decision to go to a “subscribers first” policy. In fact, I agree with their decision and frankly, I am not sure why this hasn’t always been their policy. It never made sense to me that stations not paying for the service had access to it, even if it was in a roundabout way.
Here are the main reasons I have always been a staunch opponent of Nielsen or any other ratings service. Simply put, they make your sales efforts weaker and have caused far more campaigns to fail than they have ever helped.
In nearly every study conducted about how and what makes advertising campaigns successful, research shows that Creative is the most important element in determining whether a campaign is successful or not. Even Nielsen’s own study suggests that Creative, at 47%, is the most important element attributed to the success of a campaign. That study also stated that Creative is more important than Reach at 22%, Brand Strength 15%, Targeting 9%, Recency 5%, and Context 2%. Of these, only Reach and Targeting ( 31% combined) have anything to do with the success of an ad campaign. (I apologize for using Nielsen’s information for which I did not pay.)
Just imagine how strong radio would be today if instead of spending money on “ratings”, station owners invested the money on training their media reps and on-air talent how to sell and use radio correctly, and how to create, write, and produce great ads and ad campaigns.
Let’s be clear, the reason we have heard this statement, “I’ve tried radio once and it didn’t work”, far too often is not because of the number of listeners the station had or didn’t have, or whether or not they were reaching the “right” demographic. In most cases, it didn’t work because the ad or Creative SUCKED and/or they didn’t have enough frequency or consistency to give it a chance to work. It had nothing to do with ratings or rankings!
Continually spending money, year after year, on information that is reliable for only a matter of months or one year seems silly. Dump Nielsen NOW and invest that money into training your sellers and on-air team to sell radio correctly, and create, write, and produce GREAT radio ads.
We can help, and I can assure you that our fees are far, far, less than paying for ratings, and, we will deliver a much higher ROI than Nielsen or any other ratings service.
And… the knowledge you and your team will learn will certainly last longer than a year!
If you would like to visit about our approach, our fees, and our results, click here or give me a call.
…and if you’re from the US, I know you did too, regardless of which way or for whom you voted, even if it was different than I.
I ran across this Facebook post that a preacher friend of mine shared with me and I thought it was worth sharing with our readers. Several messages can be taken from this story, but for me, it was about being kind to everyone.
“Today was a hard day. A cow I call Rosie (brindle – red cow) had been in labor for too long and was in trouble. I left for the cow pasture before dawn to check on her and the whole way there I prayed. I asked God to give her a live calf. A few hours and a trailer ride later, God said no to my prayer. Even though his answer was no, he taught me a lot today. Loss is something that is inevitably going to happen if you own livestock. Our grief teaches us to appreciate the good. When I returned to the pasture with Rosie, something really extraordinary happened. I opened the trailer doors and she just stood there, head hung low and defeated. She was mourning. The other cows came to us and as many as would fit quietly loaded themselves in the trailer and stood there with her. Mind you, these are not tame pets, this was very unusual. They stood there silently with her on that trailer until she was ready to get off. She walked to the shade under a big oak, and every cow took turns laying their heads over her back, her neck, touching her nose with theirs. They grieved with her. I witnessed compassion between the animals I have come to know and love. Animals that some would say are not smart enough to know what happened. But they knew. So today God’s answer was no, but I have faith that his plan is good.”
Regardless of what part of the world you are from, this message is a lesson we all should embrace. It doesn’t matter what color skin we have, what economic background we grew up in or are in now, that we may have different beliefs and ideologies, whether I believe in the same God as you, and certainly not whether I have the same political preference as you. Kindness should be something that has no boundaries or prejudice.
When I was younger, I use to herd cows and more than once I would say, “come on you dumb cows”. Was I ever wrong!
I hope however the election ends up, that we ALL are as kind to one another as the cows were in this story!
Continuing from last week where we discussed “when” to start the renewal process, today we are discussing the process on “how” to prepare for an upsell at renewal time.
Let me first say that upselling should not only be limited to renewal time. At any point when you uncover a need or the client has given you buying signs, you should prepare and present your plan that includes the upsell.
As we suggested last week, the renewal process should begin two to three months before your current agreement ends.
First, ask your client to set up a time to discuss “their” coming year. When requesting this meeting, choose your words so that the meeting is about them and their business, not about you and your advertising proposal. Say something like, “Mr./Mrs. Client, before we talk about your advertising plans for next year, I would like to set up a time to visit with you about what you think your business will look like in the next 12 months, what your plans are, what your goals are, and look more closely than ever on how to achieve those goals.”
After you have conducted this meeting, and any subsequent planning meetings, you then need to come up with a plan, including the “ideas” that will make your client consider investing more dollars with you and your station(s). Simply asking for an additional investment with no reasoning other than that you’re a rock-star media rep, and radio is a great medium, will generally fall on deaf ears and get you a NO to your proposed upsell.
I said generally. This doesn’t mean that if your client is receiving tremendous success from their current plan that they might not consider adding to their current program. They might! We’re only suggesting that if you have “ideas” it will make it far more enticing to say YES!
Here’s the icing on the cake that will impress nearly every business owner. Create an “Annual Re-cap” of their advertising agreement with you and your stations. This should be done just as you would with a formal multi-page proposal to include a cover page, their prior-year agreement/contract, the total number of ads they received, any promotional support and the value, copies of any photos or media coverage from events or promotions they held, and every script they ran throughout the year.
When you finally get to sit down with your client and make the renewal presentation, start with the annual re-cap. Then, under a separate proposal, move on to your recommendations with the upsell for the new year.
Showing your clients that you are interested in their success by preparing and presenting in a professional manner, and going the distance that most other media reps are not willing to go, will greatly increase your chances of getting your client to say YES to your upsell!
I recently had a conversation with a media rep who has been successfully selling radio for a little over two years. She indicated that she was renewing nearly 100% of her annual contracts, however, she was not having any luck at all in upselling her clients.
After probing with a few more questions, I asked her the ultimate question, “When and how are you starting the renewal process?” In this week’s topic, we will focus on the “when”. Like many reps, she explained that she makes her renewal presentations two to three weeks prior to the contract “end date”.
I then asked her why she had decided on this two to three-week time frame. Her answer, which matches many other reps that I’ve had this same conversation with, was “I don’t want to come across as being too pushy”.
I can understand her stance on this. I too will go to extra lengths to not come across as being pushy. However, I really cannot think of a situation where the timing of making a presentation will come across as being too pushy.
So, when should the renewal and upsell process begin? I would suggest that you “start” the process a maximum of 3 months out and a minimum of 2 months out. Why so far out? Let’s be honest, how many times have you approached your client saying you’d like to present next year’s plan and the first thing they say is, “I’m too busy. Let’s look at it in a few weeks”. They’ll say this or provide some other objection whether it’s three weeks or three months prior to the end of the contract.
When you started the process only weeks in advance of the contract date, how many times did the client ultimately end up saying, “Let’s just do what we did last year.”?
The fact is, if approached correctly, starting 2 to 3 months out will allow you to be less pushy than if you start only weeks in advance.
There is much more to the proper process of getting renewals signed on time, especially when asking for an upsell. We will save that for next week.
Until then, as you approach renewals of your current contracts, keep in mind, the early bird has a much better chance of catching the worm!
While interviewing prospective media sales reps and visiting with seasoned sales reps, every once in a while I meet people who proudly proclaim their strength to be, “I’ve got the gift of gab.” They say this as it’s a strength instead of a potential weakness.
In sales, the “gift of gab” can oftentimes be more aptly described as “the curse of chatter”, or more to the point as someone that “doesn’t know when to shut up”!
Successful sales professionals know that sales is really more about listening than it is about talking.
Those with the curse more often engage in product-feature speak than they do in providing customer-focused solutions or opportunities.
Customers don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care….and caring is demonstrated by listening.
Listening is by far the most important skill a sales professional can learn and practice. The salespeople who annoy and alienate prospects the most are those who claim to be good listeners but follow every customer objection with a “yah, but…..“
There is no room for the word “but” in a good listener’s vocabulary. To be a professional listener you need to:
1.) Be Prepared. Earn the right to ask questions by learning something about the prospect’s business before you make a call.
2.) Ask open-ended questions that encourage the prospect to express their views and feelings.
3.) Demonstrate you are listening by taking notes. (Always ask permission to take notes, i.e. “Your input is important to me; do you mind if I take a few notes?”)
4.) Paraphrase and summarize what you hear. Don’t start a debate.
5.) Use the language and needs you hear the customer express when you make your presentation.
6.) Make certain that every benefit you present relates to a need you heard the prospect express.
There is a lot more money to be made being interested than there is in being interesting.
So, instead of proving that you have the “gift of gab”, shut up and… Just Listen!
