Here’s the scenario. You have an appointment that you set up a week ago and it’s a healthy distance away from your office. Do you call them to confirm the appointment prior to leaving or do you not call and take a chance?
Knowing how busy business owners and managers can be, there is no question that if you choose to call to confirm there is a decent chance that they will reschedule. That’s the chance you take.
An aggressive sales trainer would tell you to take the chance, show up and work your way in. Their logic is that it’s much harder to tell someone “no” in person than it is over the phone and you may not get another chance.
The professional media rep that not only respects the time of others, but their own, would call to confirm. Especially in this circumstance where travel time is an issue, we suggest that when you initially set the appointment inform them that you will call the morning of or the day before to confirm.
There are five primary reasons why confirming appointments make sense:
1) Time management – Don’t waste your time.
2) It helps establish you as a professional.
3) It shows that you respect their time.
4) It helps prepare the client and puts them in the right frame of mind, ready for your appointment.
5) If in fact they do cancel, they will be more obligated to reschedule.
Professional media sales are built on long term relationships and being respectful of your client’s time is a good way to ensure they will say “yes” to future appointments.
This little point may seem obvious, but I can assure you it happens on a regular basis. Before it happens to you or one of your reps, do the right thing and make the call to confirm the appointment.
“Procrastination on your part doesn’t necessarily constitute
an emergency on my part”
This quote hangs on the walls at many repair and service centers and it would be very appropriate hanging in most radio station Production Departments.
Every radio station has deadlines or cut-offs for turning in production. The question is, are the deadlines being enforced?
Pushing deadlines on a regular basis or ignoring them altogether can have serious effects on an operation. Tempers flare! When the deadline is breached, who’s to blame and how do you fix it?
Regardless of whether it was the media rep or the business owner, the onus falls on the media rep. When the business owner procrastinates, it then becomes the media rep’s job to either make sure the client is timelier, or it’s their job to inform them that they cannot get the ads on as planned. If it’s poor planning on the media rep, then shame on them! Worse yet, if it’s a manager or owner, double shame on them!!! You MUST lead by example!
As a manager, when someone abuses the policy, the fix is easy. Simply tell the rep that their client will not be getting on the air as planned. One time will do the trick.
To ensure it doesn’t become a problem with new clients and new media reps, train them in advance. Missing or abusing production deadlines are self-created when we don’t educate the client about the necessity of our deadlines. Having this conversation with the client at the time of the sale will go a long way.
Having a written production deadline policy that is firm and fair and is adhered to is a must. Not only will it produce better internal relationships, which in turn produces better campaigns and better results, but it will also create happier weeknights, weekends, and holidays for everyone… especially our Production Departments!
Internet guru, Seth Godin, says, “The last click someone clicks on before they buy something isn’t the moment they made up their mind”.
With most purchases, the mind has been compressing logical information and the heart has been building an emotional connection with the business or product long before the purchase was about to be made.
So, who gets credit for creating the relationship between your listeners and your clients, and who gets credit for the sale?
Broadcast INSPIRES and the internet INFORMS. In today’s new media world, the way we shop has changed. Businesses and products that are marketed and advertised correctly use both mediums in tandem to make sure they have the best chance of being considered by the consumer.
Our TOMA research of over 160 markets and nearly 30,000 people suggests that 72.5% will click on a business name that they are familiar with. Only 4% will click on the name at the top of the page and 23.5% will click on both. An article in Search Engine Journal confirms this by stating that “nearly 70% of U.S consumers said they look for a ‘known retailer’ when deciding what search result to click on”. They go on to say, “Branding is our only hope for conducting better SEO”.
The conclusion is, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) does very little unless they have GREAT SOM (Share of Mind) or TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness).
While the digital mediums are used closer to the actual purchases to gather information, they may get most of the credit, but it’s the traditional media (radio/TV) that inspires the consumer and creates the emotional relationship.
Does your sales staff know how to position radio’s powerful role in the marketing or buying funnel?
The secret to creating more revenue for your stations is to train your team how to position the strategic role of intrusive radio advertising to create a pre-need pre-search preference for your advertisers in the minds of your listeners.
To learn how our ENS Media TOMA Surveys and Seminars can help train your sales team and educate your clients and prospects, click here and I’ll gladly give you more information.
Allow me to stand on my soapbox for a minute and speak to something I am very passionate about, or should I say, very passionate against!
Regardless of what size market we drive through, while listening to the radio we still hear the dreaded seven-digit, or worse yet, ten-digit phone numbers.
Yes, it is still happening! Is it happening on your stations?
The ONLY thing that could possibly be an even bigger waste of breath is when they do the unthinkable and repeat the ten-digit phone number.
In recent weeks while driving to see clients, I went through small, medium and even a major market. I would guess that approximately 15-20% of the ads I heard included unmemorable seven and ten-digit phone numbers. Why?
I realize that the business owner is usually the one that says, “I need my phone number in the ad, that’s how people reach out to me”. As media reps, it’s our job to explain to them how our medium is used and instead show them a better way to use those, seven, ten, or twenty words.
The listeners of your stations do not stand by, pen in hand, waiting to write down a phone number from an ad they previously heard that may or may not air again in the next commercial break. It’s simply not how people listen to the radio.
If the message is strong enough and creates enough desire, the interested consumer will find them. Nine times out of ten they will google the business name or speak into their phone and simply say, “Call Joe’s Pizza”.
There are only 5 times we should use phone numbers in radio or TV ads:
1) When the number is very easy to recall –
Example (prefix) – 1-2-3-4 or (prefix) – 20-20 (I’m still skeptical)
2) It’s said in a unique way that makes it very easy to recall –
Example 541- twoooo – sixxxx….seven – eight! (Still skeptical!!)
3) A vanity number –
Example 541–BEDS, or 1-800 – GOT JUNK
4) Direct Response ads – The rule of thumb is to repeat the number 4-6 times.
5) When a business doesn’t have a website or social page. (Shame on them)
Let’s make the world a better place and eliminate phone numbers in radio ads!
O.K., I am now off my soapbox! Thank you for allowing me to vent!
When selling a new prospect advertising on your station, how long should it take to make the sale?
The correct answer is… as long as it takes, to do it right! Too fast or too slow can both have negative effects. But in most cases, moving too fast can have greater long-term negative effects than moving too slow. Patience, more often than not, is a virtue!
Keep in mind that media sales are different than automotive, furniture, or insurance sales. In advertising sales, if we lose the sale to a competitor or don’t make the sale today, there will nearly always be another opportunity tomorrow or in the very near future. In the automotive, insurance and other like categories, the urgency is much greater. They know if they don’t get the sale today, that person may well be out of the market tomorrow. However, even with that said, the best salespeople regardless of what they are selling, nearly always have patience.
In media sales, there are two factors that determine how long you should take:
1) The value of the client. Is it a long-term client or short-term? The more potential value the client has, the more patience you should have. Don’t rush in with ideas and plans that aren’t well-thought-out. Make sure you play your cards correctly.
2) How much time does the client/prospect need to trust you? Trust, takes time and if they trust you at the point when they say yes to your plan, the chances are much greater that they will give your plan the time it needs to work.
Even if they don’t trust you, they may buy from you once or twice, but without trust, the chances of them being with you long-term are very slim.
In my experience, most of the medium to large, long-term contracts my team wrote took a minimum of 3 months to close, and more often than not it took 6 months or more. But once they bought into the ideas and plans that we had taken our time to create for them, they were committed and stayed with the program.
18th-century Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau said it best, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet”. It takes time to reap the rewards.
When you find a potential client that has value, be patient with them. Take the time to come up with great ideas. Ask deeper questions. Show a keener interest in their business and use that time to build trust and rapport. Once they say yes, you’ll have them for a lifetime.
