Are the guys who come into your market to run “client seminars” better salespeople than you? Probably not.
          I have sold literally millions of dollars in new business through my Competitive Immunity, TOMA Research and various other seminars and in most cases my host-media partner has had sales people every bit as effective as me.
          So why then do these seminars generate so much new or increased business?
1.       The prospects are virtually pre-qualified by their virtue of their attendance. Those who take valuable time away from their business to learn how to grow their business are looking for alternative new business ideas that you can provide.
2.       The guy from out of town is perceived to be an “expert” rather than a biased “spot seller”. Credibility and trust are important in any selling relationship, and good seminar presenters build that instantly.
3.       If the attendees heard about the seminar on your station they already believe in your station. They watch or listen to it, and they have responded to your advertising themselves. They know it works!
4.       As the host station, you become branded as a business partner rather than just another commodity supplier.
5.       In a seminar environment you have more time to tell a compelling story than you do in a sales situation. 

BONUS REASON: The Training Element. When your sales people see how your prospects react to some of the seminar principals, these same principals become part their culture and presentations for life!
         There are many other reasons selling by seminar is so effective, and many proven techniques to improve the results of your seminars. But in a nutshell, seminars attract a pre-qualified audience that is looking for change and you can be the credible business partner who becomes the conduit to that change.

Caution:  Never let your “seminar” degenerate into a sales pitch. The attendee will invite you to make a “sales pitch” if your seminar has been truly educational and enlightening.  

          As summer ends and we refocus on maximizing our revenues, one of the most productive things you can do is to facilitate a major account re-alignment to keep everyone “productive” rather than just “busy”.
          Very often I hear account executives talk about being “too busy” to pursue corporate initiatives or special projects introduced by management.
If this is the case at your station, you are only skimming the cream in your market.
          Account executives who are too busy to capitalize on new revenue-generating projects are also too busy to drill deeper or to super-serve your key accounts.
          The solution?  A strict but fair account list management policy that prevents your best sales people from acquiring account lists that keep them too busy to sell.
          The lack of a strategic account list management policy poses a number of problems which all restrict your revenue potential:
1. Your most senior people really are “too busy” to stretch themselves or their accounts. They inadvertently find themselves relegated to making re- active submissions rather than pro-active presentations.  Can you say… “comfort zone?”
2.) Your entry-level staff turn-over rate is high because these new career hopefuls do not have the opportunity to work with high-potential accounts or enjoy the taste of success.
3.) You, and your sales people, can fall into the trap of thinking your top “biller” is your top seller.
4.) The people who would be the best at closing new business for you end up filling their day servicing “entitlement accounts”…..accounts your station is entitled to regardless who serves them.
5.) The account executives best-suited to take a leadership role in new initiatives and revenue development are not setting the example for the pack.
Strategic account list management is never an easy task. But if you have a written account management policy and quarterly account review that is applied equally and fairly to everyone, it can be one of the most productive management tools you have. 
To learn how your organization can install the ENS Media account list management system as part of our Total Sales Fitness program, Call Wayne Ens at 705-484-9993

           A funny thing about breaking records……while we might beat our chests about doing so, it’s what has to be done to win!
          Sales people who break an all time record should be congratulated for the moment. On the flip side, however, we MUST always be breaking revenue records because we are also breaking expense records. As our electricity bills, taxes, salaries and other expenses continue to rise, our revenues must rise to meet the challenge.
          But where does it all end? Is there not some point at which we just can’t do any better? I think not. Just when we think we’ve achieved the impossible, there is always room for more.
          Consider this. In less than a hundred years, the men’s 100-meter freestyle record has been cut nearly in half. 
          1896    Alfred Hajos, Hungary                        82.2 seconds
          1906    Charles Daniels, USA                        73.4 seconds
          1920    Duke Kahanamoku, USA                  60.2 seconds
          1972    Mark Spitz, USA                                 51.2 seconds
          2004    Pieter Van den Hoogenband, Nthrlnds.    48.2 seconds
          All that is required is you jump in the water and swim as fast as you can. 
          Clearly, to win the Olympic Gold Metal it is not enough just to swim faster than this year’s competitors. You must beat the all time record.
          Also clearly, no matter where that record stands, it can always be beaten.    

Your account executives can dramatically reduce their client attrition rates by asking themselves four simple questions once a month.|
1.  What is the last good thing I did to help the client grow her business?
2.  When?
3.  What is the next good thing I am planning to help the client grow his business?
4.  When?
The things we do to help our clients to grow their business can be anything the client did not negotiate nor expect, including everything from proactive creative suggestions to providing leads.
The “when?” must be within the last thirty days or strategically-planned for the next thirty days for all of your key accounts.
P.S.These questions can also serve as the litmus test for whether an account executive has earned the right to continue managing each of your key accounts.   

         Today, virtually every business is under increased competitive pressure from large national corporations and market fragmentation. In this environment, it is increasingly important for media sales executives to help their clients to establish realistic goals and to measure their advertising results by those carefully-chosen yardsticks.
          I recently met with a small-market furniture client who was disappointed with the results of our 2006 TOMA, Top of Mind Awareness, survey and was about to cancel his broadcast advertising schedules. The client had been to a TOMA presentation nearly three years ago and as a result had decided to increase his awareness and sales with a consistent high-frequency broadcast campaign.
          The 2003 TOMA survey for that market had revealed this particular furniture retailer had a 24% awareness level. In anticipation of increasing competition this entrepreneur committed to increase his advertising investment by more than $50,000 per year, scheduling 20 announcements per week every week on three stations.
        Nearly three years later, having increased his advertising investment substantially, the client met with me to discuss what went wrong when our most recent survey indicated his share of mind had slipped from 24% to 23%.
          Oops! What was his original goal? He had increased his advertising to combat new competitors coming to the market. In the last three years the number of furniture retailers in the market had doubled, and there was nearly 200,000 more square feet of retail furniture space vying for the attention of consumers in this market.
          For this advertiser to virtually maintain his share of mind amidst that kind of increased competition was, in my mind, a huge coup! Once we reviewed his original goals, his competitive situation and his advertising results he decided to hold the course with his campaign.
          Your clients often become disenchanted with their advertising by using the wrong objectives and tools to measure their success. It is up to you, the professional account executive, to help your clients establish the right goals and to measure their results with the proper tools rather than measuring by ego or emotion.

TOMA Surveys are just one of the proven monthly revenue tools an ENS Media  consultant will bring to your stations when you participate in our Sales Fitness training and consulting program. Looking to dramatically increase your sales every year?
Contact Wayne to discuss including our Sales Fitness program in your marketing plan next year.