Does radio work? That’s a silly question, right? Sure radio works, but do your media reps believe it works?
If we’re being honest with ourselves, you know that your reps sometimes question its strength. After all, many people, like their clients, have told them repeatedly that radio doesn’t work. They’ve heard the infamous words, “I tried radio once and it didn’t work”.
Because you’re a subscriber to ENS on Sales and are reading this, I’m confident you are a believer and you know that radio does work, because we have seen it work hundreds, even thousands, of times.
It’s paramount that we continually teach and preach to our sales team about the strengths of radio and how to present it to their clients. Never take for granted that they 100% believe in the power of radio. Continue to sing its praises and give them ammunition to prove the point. Arm them with articles, statistics, and testimonials. Encourage them to read the radio trades, like Radio Sales Today, Inside Radio, Monday Morning Memo, and others.
Never stop teaching and never stop preaching the power of radio. It does work, and it works exceedingly well when executed correctly from beginning to end.
As managers, it’s our job to coach, teach, train, and motivate so that our reps do not only understand how to make it work but so that they believe that radio works. It’s a never-ending task.
When done correctly, radio creates MAGIC, it moves mountains, makes cash registers ring, makes business owners rich and gives radio media reps CONFIDENCE and BELIEF in our product and medium!
Happy Training!
There is no denying that experience can be a great teacher. But all too often we promote our best ‘experienced’ sales people to sales managers with no management training or safety net. It’s not fair to the newly appointed manager, to their staffs, nor to the company.
Having a successful track record in sales enables the newly appointed manager to capture the respect and credibility necessary to lead; that’s a good thing. But the skill sets she/he acquired as a sales person do not necessarily equip them to be great managers.
I’ve had the heart-breaking experience of seeing dedicated passionate sales leaders crash and burn in management roles. Not because they didn’t have the work ethic, desire, intelligence or integrity to succeed, but simply because they were given the title, an office, and told “good luck”!
And it can be intimidating for a new manager saddled with a truckload of new tasks to ask for coaching or training for fear they might appear weak or incompetent in their new role.
I do admire the intent of companies that prefer to promote from within.
If you do promote from within and want to see your candidate succeed, consider doing two things;
1.) Hire a management coach to confidentially mentor their growth.
2.) Invest in management training to ensure their continued success.
To not do so is unfair to your new manager, their staffs, your customers and your company.