Last week we suggested that there are nine steps in the advertising sales process and we provided our Media Rep Rating System.
Whether you are a manager or an individual media rep, we hope that you took the time to rate yourself or your sellers. If you did so in a very honest way, you discovered some areas that you or your reps are deficient in. You also learned that scoring enough points to be considered an excellent or elite media rep is difficult.
The goal of the process was not to show you that the reps you thought were “Excellent or Elite” are only “Above Average”. Instead, it was to get you to focus on the media sales process and areas where you can improve on.
We hope you did just that!
This week, we would like to look at the nine steps once again, only this time we would like you to rank them by order of importance. Understanding which steps are most important and giving additional attention and training to these areas will increase the rankings and ultimately help everyone become more successful.
Below are the 9 steps in the advertising sales process. Click here to take a quick survey to tell us how you would rank them by order of importance (1 being most important and 9 least important).
Advertising Sales Process
Step One: Prospecting
Step Two: Cold Calling / Asking for the Appointment
There is no right answer or right order, and the point of this topic was not to start a debate. However, some steps in the process have a greater impact on determining whether a media rep is successful or not.
Thank you for participating in our survey. We will share the results with you in upcoming issues.
I don’t mean to be rude, but, if you subscribe to Nielsen ratings service, DUMP them now!
I’m not saying this because of their recent decision to go to a “subscribers first” policy. In fact, I agree with their decision and frankly, I am not sure why this hasn’t always been their policy. It never made sense to me that stations not paying for the service had access to it, even if it was in a roundabout way.
Here are the main reasons I have always been a staunch opponent of Nielsen or any other ratings service. Simply put, they make your sales efforts weaker and have caused far more campaigns to fail than they have ever helped.
In nearly every study conducted about how and what makes advertising campaigns successful, research shows that Creative is the most important element in determining whether a campaign is successful or not. Even Nielsen’s own study suggests that Creative, at 47%, is the most important element attributed to the success of a campaign. That study also stated that Creative is more important than Reach at 22%, Brand Strength 15%, Targeting 9%, Recency 5%, and Context 2%. Of these, only Reach and Targeting ( 31% combined) have anything to do with the success of an ad campaign. (I apologize for using Nielsen’s information for which I did not pay.)
Just imagine how strong radio would be today if instead of spending money on “ratings”, station owners invested the money on training their media reps and on-air talent how to sell and use radio correctly, and how to create, write, and produce great ads and ad campaigns.
Let’s be clear, the reason we have heard this statement, “I’ve tried radio once and it didn’t work”, far too often is not because of the number of listeners the station had or didn’t have, or whether or not they were reaching the “right” demographic. In most cases, it didn’t work because the ad or Creative SUCKED and/or they didn’t have enough frequency or consistency to give it a chance to work. It had nothing to do with ratings or rankings!
Continually spending money, year after year, on information that is reliable for only a matter of months or one year seems silly. Dump Nielsen NOW and invest that money into training your sellers and on-air team to sell radio correctly, and create, write, and produce GREAT radio ads.
We can help, and I can assure you that our fees are far, far, less than paying for ratings, and, we will deliver a much higher ROI than Nielsen or any other ratings service.
And… the knowledge you and your team will learn will certainly last longer than a year!
If you would like to visit about our approach, our fees, and our results, click here or give me a call.
Today, hiring good people is a challenge in itself; keeping them is a whole different ballgame.
When it comes to hiring and adding new people to your sales team, it’s imperative that they get off to not only a good start, but a GREAT start.
In the human resources world, bringing on a new employee is referred to as “onboarding”. A definition of onboarding is, “the action or process of integrating a new employee into an organization”.
A new employee should never show up to work on their first day and sit around for an hour trying to make themselves useful because the manager didn’t have a plan or wasn’t prepared.
An article by Process Street, an onboarding company, quoted a survey that stated, “Employees who participate in a structured onboarding program are 69% more likely to stay with an organization for 3 years”, and “15% of employees said the lack of an effective onboarding program aided in their decision to quit”.
Don’t confuse onboarding with orientation. Orientation is a one-time event. Onboarding is a series of formal, well-planned training programs and events that start the day they are hired and can last from one month up to a full year. This includes everything from having their workstation ready with business cards printed on their first day, to a pre-planned daily training program. In addition, weekly and monthly reviews are part of making sure employees feel welcomed, know what’s expected of them, and lets them know how they are doing every step of the way.
A good onboarding and training program only needs to be created one time, then it can be used over and over with only minor tweaks going forward.
To see 9 Tips for Successful Onboarding, click here. If you would like help preparing an in-depth and very focused onboarding and training program for your sales team, contact Rick at [email protected].
Wayne Ens sold his first ad over 50 years ago. It was shortly thereafter that he prepared and conducted a seminar to teach local advertisers how to use advertising more effectively. From that moment, he “caught the bug” and always wanted to help others; radio and TV stations, newspapers and especially business owners, learn how to use advertising more effectively so that everyone would get better results.
Throughout his career, Wayne worked in the newspaper, TV, and radio industries, and also started and ran a successful advertising agency. However, it was the training and teaching bug that lead him to start his own consulting company. So, 21 years ago ENS Media Inc. began working with media groups all across North America. Since that day, Wayne has spanned the globe from Alaska to Trinidad conducting seminars in every state in the U.S. except Wyoming and Hawaii and nearly every market in Canada.
Wayne has a unique ability to not only understand the “do’s and don’ts” of selling and advertising, but he has an even greater talent for teaching it. It all comes down to, “do what’s right for the advertiser/customer”.
The radio industry especially, is better off today because of Wayne Ens. His relentless work ethic and his thirst for learning and sharing his knowledge have touched and literally helped thousands of media reps, managers and business owners.
Now it’s time for Wayne and Angela to spend more time on their pride and joy, their boat, that they proudly refer to as “ENSanity”.
Wayne, may your fish continue to be bigger, and may your stories always be happy!
Here are Wayne’s parting thoughts:
From the time I began selling advertising until the time I began helping others sell more successful advertising, I always said, “There can’t be a better way to make a living than to get paid for helping others to succeed.”
Through the tools and systems we developed at ENS Media, I’m proud to say we’ve helped generate literally millions upon millions of new local revenues over the years for radio and TV stations, and Angela and I have made hundreds of friends spanning the globe from Alaska to Trinidad. I am very proud to say that thousands of account executives successfully still use our strategies today.
It is on this backdrop that I’m pleased to announce that I’m passing the torch to my business partner of the last two years, Rick Fink. I am “retiring” at the end of this month, although I will stay on board behind the scenes to mentor and counsel Rick as he serves our clients. I had been searching for a successor for some time who I believed could continue the legacy we worked so hard to build. Rick is that successor.
Rick has the passion and the experience to not only carry on with ENS Media tools like TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness Research), SoundADvice, Guided Discovery Selling and more, but he will also be continuously improving our offerings as market conditions evolve.
Thanks to the many broadcasters who I’ve had the privilege of working with. I know I can enjoy my retirement firm in the knowledge that Rick and his partner, Belinda, will continue to deliver ENS Media’s promise of “helping broadcasters to increase their local revenues.”
I wish to express my deep gratitude to all of our clients, past and present, and wish you all continued success and happiness.
– Wayne Ens
If you would like to extend your well wishes and thoughts to Wayne, please contact him at [email protected].
My promise to each of our readers and clients is to do my very best to continue providing a level of knowledge, integrity, professionalism, and experience needed to deliver the ENS Media promise of “helping broadcasters to increase their local revenues”.
I appreciate you being a weekly reader, and I look forward to meeting each of you along the way!
Nobody, and I mean nobody, listens to your stations for the ads. The trick is, making people “HEAR” the ads! Unless your listeners hear the ads and have an emotional connection, (sometimes logical), the ads won’t work, period!
So, how do you win in advertising? It starts with having a strategy….“What does the business want to be known FOR”? Then, you write stories, interesting, funny, unique stories, that speak to the strategy!
Why are GEICO, Farmers Insurance, and Progressive ads remembered so well? Two reasons mainly, they have great strategies and they tell stories.
Each company has their own strategy that appeals to different people with a different set of wants and needs. You can’t be everything to everyone! GEICO is low prices, “15 minutes could save you 15% or more”. They never talk about how good their insurance plans are. Farmers’ strategy is that they pay your claims, even the crazy ones, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two”. And how could we forget about Progressive? Flo and friends are cute, funny and unique. Their slogan(s) can be somewhat hard to remember as they change from time to time, “Name your own price” or “Think Easier – Think Progressive”, but their strategy remains steadfast. You can name your own price, and they are the place to package all your insurance together.
Are you talking strategy to your clients? Are you telling them the truth? And the truth is, bad ads don’t work very well, even on the best radio stations. But GREAT stories can turn little known companies like the Government Employee Insurance Company into a GIANT, like the itty-bitty, teeny-weeny Gecko called GEICO!
Start with strategy, find out what your client’s business strategy is. If they don’t have one, help them create one. Then write stories that speak to the strategy and you will have success. The better the strategy, the better the story… the better the RESULTS!
Everyone LOVES a good story!
If you’re interested in learning or training your team on how to write better ads THAT WORK, let’s talk. We have a workshop designed specifically for this.
“I know a thing or two about writing ads because I’ve seen a thing or two.”