Tag Archives: business

Reading – It Can Change Your Life!

While contemplating what our last topic of the year for ENS on Sales would be, I started thumbing through some of the books that I had read and saved over the past 30 years.

They reminded me of when and why I started to read. It was early into my sales career and during our semi-annual goal-setting process. The theme for this particular period was, “How to get better” and the quote used to promote learning was “The man who can read but doesn’t, isn’t any wiser than the man who can’t read”. That quote hit me like a ton of bricks. If you are not already an avid reader, I hope that it has the same effect on you as it did me.

Reading will help you in two incredible ways; you’ll gain knowledge and confidence. These two things, combined with a strong work ethic and a positive attitude, will help you have a great 2020 and beyond!

Here is a list of 20 of my favorite books. The topics vary, but each can help you in life and in business.  I hope you enjoy.

Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill (Getting what you want out of life)

The Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Clason (Financial advice from 8000 years ago)

The Wizard of Ads, Secret Formulas, and Magical Worlds, Roy H. Williams (Advertising and Business)

Mind Gym, Gary Mack (Self-Motivation/Attitude)

Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert T, Kiyosaki (Advice on financial freedom)

Ice to the Eskimos, Jon Spoelstra (Ideas and creative thinking)

101 Ways to get Luckier (In Advertising Sales), Wayne Ens (Being a better media rep)

Trout on Strategy, Jack Trout (Creating advertising strategies)

The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown (Fiction/Motivation–Team Building)

The Store, James Patterson (Fiction about Amazon. This may scare you a bit)

The Energy Bus, Jon Gordon (On Attitude)

Twelve Pillars of Success, Jim Rohn (Attitude – Motivation)

Winning Every Day, Lou Holtz (Motivation, Life, Faith)

Onward, Howard Schultz (Business)

Ice Cream Maker, Subir Chowdhury (Business, Leadership, Passion)

Leading with Passion, John J. Murphy (Leadership)

Cal Middleton – On Horses and Life, Cal Middleton (Only if you like horses)

Game Plan for Life, Joe Gibbs (Faith and Life)

Christmas Bonus: The Leadership Secrets of Santa Claus, Eric Harvey (Leadership)

We wish each of you a Blessed and Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous 2020!

Prepare for Battle – Support Your Local Retailers

I can hear it now, the battle cry inside the walls of Amazon, Wayfair, and all the other e-commerce companies sounds something like this, “Let’s take another BRICK out of the Brick N Mortars”.

What’s up for grabs this holiday shopping season? $1,000,000,000,000 – That’s ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!

The e-commerce companies are licking their chops. With six fewer shopping days this year, they are looking to make an even bigger impact than in previous years.

If you are in charge of the inventory at your radio or TV station, you have a choice. You can ignore it and let the e-commerce companies whittle away at your lifeblood (Local Direct Clients), or you can stand up and fight for them. It’s not just the retail business owners you are supporting, it’s your local communities, it’s citizens, and all the other non-retail businesses you’re fighting for.

Why fight back against Amazon and the e-commerce enterprises? It’s simple! In most cases, they don’t support your communities. They pay little to no taxes; they don’t sponsor the local clubs, ball teams, non-profits or local events; they provide zero employment, and they hurt your retail businesses. If that’s not enough reason, I don’t know what would be.

We’ll even make it easy for you. We have written two new radio scripts that promote your listeners to buy local this holiday season. One can run for the entire shopping season and the other is to promote “Small Business Saturday” (Nov 30th).

If you would like a free copy of these scripts, simply click here and request.

Your local business owners will think you are a hero for airing these messages and if they aren’t already, they may be more apt to advertise with you in the future. It’s called Psychological Reciprocation!

You have a choice – I hope you choose to “Stand Up and Fight” for your local retailers and communities!

A Different Route… to Prospecting

Prospecting is a never-ending process in sales and it’s the one step, for several reasons, that it often gets moved to the back-burner.

Here is an easy way to make prospecting part of your daily commute to and from the office… Simply take a different route!

If you are like most, the route you take to work is the same, day after day, week after week. It’s easy, you know exactly how long it will take, and unless a new business sprouts up, the view is the same.

Starting this week, dedicate yourself to finding a few different routes to or from work and take these routes once a week now through the end of the year. Travel it in both directions. You’ll see things differently.

On your new journey, you’ll potentially see a variety of things that may land you a new suspect or prospect. You’ll see businesses that you may have never heard of before. In addition, you may notice things like Grand-Openings, Going Out of Business signs, Open to the Public on Saturdays, Factory Liquidation, New Store Hours, Special Events, Help Wanted, etc.

As Robert Frost so eloquently wrote, “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”.

By taking a “different route” to the office, and to your prospecting, you may just stumble onto someone who has passion for their business, and it could make all the difference!

If you’re planning on taking a different direction to achieving success in 2020 and beyond, we would like to visit with you about our revenue-generating programs and services that will brand your stations and your media reps as “THE” advertising professionals in your market.

Contact me to arrange a time to visit.

A Second Chance

You’ve heard the expression that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. While that may be true when it comes to meeting people, it’s not necessarily the case when it comes to B2B (business to business) sales. In fact, in the B2B sales world, if you play your cards right, not only may you get a second chance, but you could get a third, fourth, fifth, and even beyond.

There is a reason that those selling vehicles, appliances, furniture, and other B2C (business to consumer) products come off a bit pushy, and by doing so, often lose the opportunity for a second chance. It’s because once the customer has made the purchase, they are out of the market for an extended period of time. It’s Risk versus Reward. They push because they know that it may be years before those customers are in the market to purchase again.

In media sales, if you make a presentation to a prospect or client today and they say no, you can always reload and present again tomorrow or in the very near future, IF…

The “IF” is… If, you play your cards right and take the “no” professionally. No pouting, no arguing, no trying to make them feel guilty or stupid because they didn’t accept your ideas or didn’t want to do business with you.

Accept the “no” politely and professionally and be ready to reply with a few well-prepared statements and questions, such as, “Mr./Mrs. Prospect, I really appreciate your time and consideration of our proposal or plan. Can I ask you a question or two? Is there a specific reason that you have decided not to move forward with this plan? If I were to re-tool this plan or go back to the drawing board, what changes, things added or subtracted, would you like to see?”

Find out what the possible reasons may be and re-think your proposal. A warning though; business owners do lie and how they respond to these questions may not necessarily be the truth. Be prepared to dig a little deeper to uncover the real reasons.

By being professional, you will always leave the door open to present again. Anything less is unacceptable. In media sales, there is always a second, third, fourth chance to make that first time sale.

If you Don’t Offer Digital and Social, Find Someone Who Does

We used to say, “Control the creative and you’ll control the budget”. Times have changed and while we still place huge importance on controlling the message, today, controlling or at minimum having a say in the digital is extremely important.

But we are radio reps and not digital/social reps, right?

You don’t have to be an expert in digital and social media to be involved in the process. In fact, trying to be a jack-of-all-trades isn’t necessarily the answer, especially in the fast-paced, ever-changing, world of digital, where even the digital experts have to hustle to keep on top of the game.

The 2019 Borrell and Associates Local Advertising Survey revealed some interesting results. The survey showed that 44% of businesses that advertise use radio advertising. It also found that 61.9% purchased paid social media advertising, and 45.4% executed search engine marketing. More importantly, when they asked business owners where they planned to increase their budgets, 8 of the top 10 advertising platforms were in the digital and social arena.

It also found that 81% of businesses are buying both digital and non-digital advertising campaigns. Here’s the real kicker; of those surveyed that use radio, only 38% said their local rep offered an online component and they purchased it, and 21% said online was offered but they didn’t buy! If my math serves me correctly, this means 41% of radio reps are not presenting digital or social.

Is this a problem or an opportunity?

Instead of trying to fight to keep your share of your budget, be the media rep that invites digital and social to the table. Business owners want creative ideas, honest opinions, and suggestions. They don’t want to be pitched. Be the media rep that controls the process and has your client’s best interest at heart, and you’ll control the budget.

If you’re an expert, great, but if you’re not, find someone that is and work together as a team.

Today the slang is, “Control the digital and you’ll control the budget”. Instead, we suggest you…“Control the process and you’ll control the budget”.

At ENS Media, we help train media teams on how to use radio and digital together to create better results for your clients and more revenue for your stations.

Contact me at [email protected] to visit more about how I can help you and your team.