Tag Archives: managers

Teach and Preach the Power of Radio

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!

Make Hay While the Sun is Shining

With a world that has been turned upside down, sales that have fallen to unprecedented levels, and a future that is still filled with uncertainty, recruiting new employees may not be the top priority on your To-Do list. However, an old proverb says, “the best time to make hay is while the sun is shining”.

There are two major reasons to consider looking for your next superstar, right now, while the sun is shining:

Reason #1: Major “Life” events, including what we’ve just experienced, cause people to “re-think” their priorities. For many, this means considering a career move.

A Gallup poll shows that during normal times 67% of U.S. employees are disengaged at work, and 51% say they are actively looking for a new job or are open to one. We can only assume that these numbers have spiked along with unemployment.

Reason #2: As people return to work, some will be even more disengaged. The personalities and beliefs of owners and managers and the “return to work” policies they implement will determine the level of their employees’ anxiety. Some will think the precautions and mandates will be too much, while others will believe it is not enough, both causing uneasiness, disgruntlement, and reasons to ultimately look for a different employer.

One of the most important duties of a manager is building and maintaining a strong team. While recruitment may not be a top priority, it should always be a high priority and a regular, ongoing function for every manager. There is nothing worse than having one of your sellers hand you their two-week notice when you don’t have someone on the bench. The truth is … the two reasons listed above apply to your employees as well.

While it may feel and seem odd, the sun is truly shining. So, get the recruitment machine fired up, make sure the barn is ready, and start making hay! The sun is shining!

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!

Opportunity is Knocking!

Are you willing to open the door and see what’s on the other side? If so, follow the two easy steps at the end of this post.

At ENS Media, we work with broadcast companies across the US and Canada and have several markets that are looking for salespeople, sales managers and even general managers. These are located in small and medium-sized markets.

If you or someone you know is looking for a new challenge or looking to move upward and even onward to another market, please forward your complete resume to [email protected].

All resumes are held in the strictest confidence and never presented or discussed with any of our clients without your advanced permission.

                                 Knock – Knock – Knock!  Interested?

Step 1: Send your resume to [email protected].

Step 2: We will reach out to you and discuss each of the opportunities. Then, you can determine if you would like us to present your resume to the available markets and if so, which ones.

Come on in! We look forward to receiving your resume!

What’s Your BIG IDEA?

How do you get advertisers to invest more money with you or renew with a rate increase, and how do you get that hard to sell prospect to consider adding your station?  Come up with and present a BIG IDEA!

Every day business owners and managers drive to and from work thinking, “How can I grow my business?”

They’re looking for IDEAS; small ideas, medium ideas and BIG IDEAS.  Ideas that make sense for their business.  The bigger and better the idea, the more they will invest.

If we are asking for more dollars (increased frequency) or asking for a rate increase (just because it’s renewal time) your chances for pushback and resistance are greatly increased. However, with a well thought out “BIG IDEA” you’ll increase your chances tenfold.

Your BIG IDEAS can be a campaign ad strategy, a musical image, an audio signature, a promotion, a new positioning statement or slogan. It can be anything that benefits THEM, and not you or your radio station.  Your summer car giveaway may be your station’s biggest promotion of the year, but it must be presented from the advertiser’s perspective to increase your chances of selling them.

We suggest you view every proposal before it goes out the door to ensure it has a customer-focused “IDEA”.  Selling “radio” can be challenging, selling ideas is easier, and selling BIG IDEAS, easier yet!  After all, all business owners want are IDEAS on “How to GROW their business”.

If you are looking to GROW your business in 2018 and beyond, click here to arrange an online overview of how we can help grow your revenue and help train and brand your stations and your account executives as professional marketing consultants.