I like quotes and use them often to make a point, whether to one person or a group.
Recently, as I was preparing for a presentation, I decided to use one of my favorite quotes by Brian Herbert…
“The Capacity to Learn is a Gift… The Ability to Learn is a Skill… The Willingness to Learn is a Choice!”
To me, this quote simply states that we are all born with the ability to learn. Whether we choose to use that gift to learn and try new things is up to us. It’s subtle!
For this particular presentation, I wanted to be a little more direct and make the case that if you aren’t willing to learn and try new ideas, failure is inevitable. So, I chose this quote by Zig Ziglar to use along with the previous one:
“If you are NOT willing to learn, no one can help you! If you ARE determined to learn, NO ONE can stop you!”
If you’re trying to make a point to someone or a group of people, try using quotes. Hang them around the office… or even hang one in your office to remind those that visit… or to remind yourself.
I hope that wasn’t too subtle!
We’ve created a clean, more presentable version of these two quotes together. If you would like a copy, click here and we will share them with you!
Last week’s ENS on Sales was titled, Warning Label and User Manuals. I may have been too subtle in what I was trying to get across, so let me be more direct.
If you aren’t having much success with selling recruitment advertising or with its effectiveness, give me a call. I know how to make it work for you and your clients. It’s a proven system that will help you sell mega loads of recruitment advertising.
Your investment is tiny, peanuts, crumbs, compared to the potential return for your stations. We will teach you how to present it, prepare it, and execute it!
If you want to make your clients happy, make your stations look like heroes, and create a ton of billing, contact us to arrange a conversation. Oh, and also let us know if you want us to send the quotes.
Over the holiday weekend, I read the book titled Talking To GOATs by the famed sports broadcaster/journalist, Jim Gray. It inspired me to write this week’s ENS on Sales using a sports analogy.
The following is a mock interview between a reporter and the GM or SM (coach) of a media sales team as they head back onto the field for the second half of the game/year.
Reporter: Hey coach, the game/year started pretty slow in Q1 as you were still comparing to pre-COVID numbers. What was your game plan for the first quarter? Can you tell us what happened?
Manager/Coach: We came into 2021 pretty optimistic, even though we were still in a state of uncertainty. The plan was pretty much the same as Q3 and Q4 of 2020. We knew that some business categories were doing great and others not so well. Our focus was to first see and help as many businesses as we possibly could.
Reporter: How about the second quarter (Q2) of this year? Did you change your game plan at all?
Manager/Coach: We did a little bit of adjusting. A lot of clients seemed to be searching for something new. We had to bring our best game and all our tools to the table, traditional media, digital, and we even implemented some promotions and events.
Manager/Coach: We experienced some losses but also some big wins too. Of course, we were going up against smaller comps. Even though the goal is to get back to pre-COVID numbers, a win is a win at this stage!
Reporter: What’s the current temperature of the business owners?
Manager/Coach: It varies, but one consistent thing is that they don’t want to buy advertising… they want IDEAS and they will buy if you have an IDEA that they believe will improve their traffic, and ultimately their sales.
Reporter: Going into the second half, what are your goals?
Manager/Coach: To Win and Win Big! I don’t mean by just beating the 2020 numbers. I mean by surpassing the numbers we were at in 2019, pre-COVID. It’s very doable, but we won’t get there unless we execute, work hard, and bring better ideas to our clients than our competitors are.
Reporter: Anything else?
Manager/Coach: You know, radio is in a great position to help these business owners. We just have to get out there and work hard. There are some real opportunities out there right now. Recruitment should be on everyone’s radar! But you need to execute it correctly or it’ll backfire on you. In addition, the combination of digital/social and radio can be very powerful. We just need to get out there and tell our story to anyone and everyone willing to listen. Then Execute!
Reporter: Good luck with the second-half manager!
Manager/Coach: Thank you! Go Radio!
At ENS Media, we wish everyone good luck as we start the second half of 2021.
We appreciate that you are a reader of ENS on Sales and we hope that you find the topics useful.
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Be honest… when was the last time you used these words or others like them when talking about other advertising mediums or your competition? In return, when was the last time a client or prospect used these words, and you became defensive?
It’s common to hear comments from clients like:
“Nobody listens to radio anymore, do they? I never listen to radio anymore!”
“Isn’t everyone on Facebook?”, or…
“No one is on Facebook today, isn’t everyone on Instagram or Tic-Tok?”
“Everyone has a social media account.”
“Everyone gets their music from Pandora, Spotify, or SiriusXM.”
“Nobody reads the newspaper anymore!”
“No one listens to, watches, or reads commercials.”
In return, as media reps we say things like:
“No one uses Facebook anymore!”
“Nobody reads the newspaper today!”
“Everyone still listens to radio.”
“Nobody watches regular TV these days!”
If you are using these words in this context, Stop! Nobody, Never, and Everyone are overused, misleading, and dangerous words.
However, when they are spoken by a client, a prospect, or even by yourself, you can use them to your advantage. Knowing when you use them, catching yourself, and then correcting yourself can be immensely powerful.
Clients want to hear the truth. For example, if you catch yourself saying, “No one reads the newspaper anymore”, it’s an opportunity to say, “Pardon me, I misspoke. Actually, there are lots of people that still read the newspaper, just not nearly as many as a few years ago and unfortunately for the newspaper industry, that number continues to slide”. If your client says this, correct them. They’ll respect you for it and then ultimately trust you more because of it.
On the other hand, if a client makes a bold statement and says something like, “Nobody listens to radio anymore”, don’t immediately get defensive and refute what they said. Instead, say something like, “Why do you think that”, or, “What makes you say this?” Find out what they are thinking before you answer.
Knowing the statistic as to how many people consume the different mediums and platforms is especially important. After all, knowledge is power, but knowing the proper way to respond to our clients is even more powerful.
The old saying “Never say Never” is true, and so are, “Never say Nobody” and “Never say Everyone”! If and when they are spoken, use them to your advantage!
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!