Tag Archives: business

Now What?

Now that the business world, from an advertising standpoint, has slowed to a crawl, the question is, “Now what?” What is there to do? The truth is, not nearly as much as normal, but there are still things you can and should be doing.

Start by planning your day. Nearly all of you are working from home or an uninhabited office. Having a minimum daily plan of what you need and want to accomplish each day will provide the path to get it done.

Here are a few things as media reps you can do to make the most of your days:

  1. Make 5 phone calls each day to your current clients, just to touch base and see how they are doing. 
  2. Make 2 calls each day to prospects, just to touch base and see how they are doing.
  3. Update copy and production. Make sure all copy is updated to meet the times. Emotional branding ads rule the day.
  4. Purge and organize your account list. 
  5. Clean out client files.
  6. Self-Motivation. Watch or listen to at least one motivational audio or video segment each day. 
  7. Self-Education. Spend at least 30 minutes each day making yourself better. 
  8. Brainstorm with teammates (via phone or video). Pick 1 or 2 business categories each day and create ideas to help your clients and prospects now and in the future.

“The best investment you can make is an investment in yourself…

The more you learn, the more you’ll earn.”

                                  – Warren Buffett

Above all, have a daily plan. Hold yourself accountable and check-off each item as you complete them. During this downtime, making and taking the initiative to do the little things that are typically put off will pay big rewards when we get back to our “normal” daily routines!

Stay Safe – Stay Healthy – Stay Strong!

Purge the List

Over the years I have seen and heard of many different account list rules, systems, and procedures such as, how many accounts a rep can have on their list, how often must they call on them, or how do you claim, trade or give up accounts. Today, I want to discuss one specific area of managing account lists, that being the purging of the lists.

Through experience, I’ve learned that once an account is on someone’s list, it’s very hard to get them to relinquish or give up the account, even if they are not calling on them. Several reasons a rep may not be calling on an account may be:

  1. The rep simply has too many accounts already on their list and doesn’t have time to call on all of them.

  2. Conflict in personality; they don’t like the person they are calling on.

  3. They have a competitor on the air and feel uncomfortable working with another business in the same category. (I know some groups like the idea of having “category experts” that call on several businesses in the same category. That topic is for another day.)

  4. They tried several times and have been rejected but hold on to the account “just in case they call in”!

Regardless of our reasons for not calling on accounts, there is a point and time when an account needs to be given up or moved. Whether they will admit it or not, the number one reason reps hesitate to give up accounts is that they fear another rep may actually be able to sell them and therefore, they’ll look bad. To a degree, there might be a little truth in that but, it shouldn’t matter. The goal is to get all potential clients on the air!

Managers, it’s your job to make sure that each and every account that has potential is being called on. Taking accounts from one rep and giving to another is never an enjoyable task, but it’s one that must be done, but handled with care and professionalism.

I suggest that a minimum of one time a year you have each rep purge their list. Ask them to provide ten accounts that have “potential” but they are not adequately calling on. This is not a time to question why they are not calling on them. The goal is to get everyone comfortable in purging their list on a regular basis and becoming comfortable in turning over accounts they are not calling on.

By not doing so, you’re leaving money on the table and giving opportunity to your competitors. By doing so, it’ll create a whole new opportunity for each and every rep.

Purge the List!

Turning Intangible into Tangible

The primary difference between tangible and intangible is tangible is something which a person can see, feel or touch, whereas, intangible is something which a person cannot see, feel or touch.

Selling radio advertising has long been described as selling an intangible, and by definition, it’s a fair description. But, it’s only an intangible if you allow it to be. If the only tangibles your clients receive from you or your station is an invoice, you’ll soon become “intangible” to them!

Most small to medium-sized business owners are always weighing in their minds and wondering if what they are currently doing for advertising is the right thing, and they’re typically looking to try something different. At cutback time, the media rep with the most tangibles in their clients’ files, more often than not, escapes the chopping block. How thick are your clients’ files of your tangibles?

·      Do they have more than just one-page proposals and packages?

·      Do they have presentations that clearly define what you proposed to do for their business?

·      Does it include photos of the events and scripts and/or audio copies of the ads that ran?

·      Have you delivered articles about their industry that can help them grow their business?

·      What about helpful business and marketing tips like our ENS Media SoundADvice program provides, complete with your photo and station logos?

·      Do they have wrap-up reports, post-campaign analyses or annual recaps, showing what they purchased compared to what you delivered, or better yet, over-delivered?

King of Sales Jeffrey Gitomer says it best, “Dude, you’re going to lose all of your customers if you fail to reach them with a message of value every week.”

Become an asset to your clients and prospects by doing more than just selling them ads. Be the media rep that provides tangibles. Then, instead of being just a “salesperson”, you’ll be on your way to being a well-respected media rep that will survive the chopping block.

NEW – Our 3 and 4-part SoundADvice radio e-marketing branding programs are now being offered to individual media reps! If you would like to see an example and learn how SoundADvice can position and brand you, or an entire sales team, as advertising professionals in your market, click here and we’ll send you a complimentary sample of one of our most recent weekly SoundADvice series.

Ask for What it’s Worth!

Here’s the scenario. A media rep meets with a client, completes the fact-finding meeting, and the client tells the rep, “I would like to promote this event or this area of my business and here is my budget. Let me know what you come up with”!

The media rep goes back to the station and they begin to brainstorm ideas. During the session, they come up with a great idea but, to promote it correctly, it will certainly take more budget than what the client suggested. The media rep is hesitant to ask for more investment than what the client originally stated.

The question is, “Now what?”

1)   Do you put the great idea together and show an investment of only what the client stated?

2)   Do you scale the idea back to match the stated budget? Or…

3)   Do you layout the great idea and show the investment that it will take to implement it?

The correct answer is, of course, #3. Ask for what is it worth! Business owners are starving for good ideas and if the idea is strong enough and they are convinced that they will have a successful promotion, the client will find the money.

The worst thing that can happen is that they won’t be convinced, and they’ll say no. Then you either go back to the drawing board or you can have option two prepared for the level of investment the business owner initially suggested.

When the client says, “let’s do it”, the upside is huge! Besides the obvious of making a larger sale, campaigns with more bells and whistles, i.e. increased frequency, remotes, promotions, etc., will always have a better chance of being successful than a basic schedule, if executed correctly. But, the larger lesson is that the confidence gained by the media rep and lesson learned will be invaluable. The fear of asking for more or adequate dollars is often-times a key reason why campaigns fail to work as well as they could or should. Overcoming this fear can be key to becoming a successful media rep.

Come up with a big idea. Ideas = Dollars! Then, ask for what the idea is Worth!

The Cookie Lady

As an advertising sales rep, what are you known for? Is it for providing great customer service? Coming up with brilliant business strategies and ideas for promotions, sales events, or ad copy? Is it for helping your clients in other areas of their advertising beyond your medium, like digital, social, core customer mailings, etc.?  Or… is it for being the sales rep that delivers cookies and treats, i.e., “The Cookie Lady”?

There’s nothing wrong with being nice and delivering goodies to your clients and prospects – once in a while! Just don’t become known for it!  After all, people buy from people they like, and who doesn’t like someone that brings you cookies!

When you become known as the “Cookie Lady (or Man)” that delivers great cookies instead of the “Advertising Expert” that delivers great ideas, the problem isn’t that they won’t buy from you, it’s that they will never buy as much from you as they can or should. Why? Because you’re known for delivering cookies and not ideas and results!

There’s a true story behind this that I have used many times to make a point about being a professional advertising expert. Many years ago we had a rep that loved to bake, and she was very good at it. She baked often and delivered these fresh baked goodies to her clients. They loved the treats, and her, because of it. We finally had the conversation with her about this and the fact that many of her clients bought from her only because of the cookies. She didn’t agree, until one day while making calls with her, we walked into a business and the person at the front desk hollered out loud to the other employees… “Hey, the Cookie Lady is here”. I didn’t have to say another word and going forward, she saved a lot of money on sugar, butter, and flour, and her sales improved too.

The moral of this story is… become known as an “Advertising Expert”. Deliver VALUE to your clients by providing strategies, ideas, and solutions that in turn give them positive results on their advertising investment. They’ll love you every bit as much, or even more, than if you deliver cookies.

On the other hand, if you would like to deliver me some cookies, M&M are my favorite, and my address is below!