“It’s no secret that radio has reached the Critical Visionary Point in the Business Revenue Lifecycle  outlined in this graph.

Of course the enemy of Critical Vision is, “This is the way we’ve always done it.”
As consultants, we introduce new ideas at the Critical Visionary Point. No one hires us to keep doing things the way they’ve always been done.
Admittedly, consultants represent “change” and “extra effort”… two factors that create discomfort for people who are in their comfort zones and content in the Sustaining stage of the Revenue Life Cycle.
But lately, we’ve noticed increased resistance to change and effort at the Critical Visionary Point.
On one hand, we’re hearing that the local-direct radio business is “getting tougher” or is “flat”. Yet on the other hand, when we introduce new visions or proven revenue development systems we’re hearing, “We don’t want to do that much work to increase local sales”.  Huh? … Really, I have had people actually say that!
We’re often told, “Reps are too busy” to utilize new revenue-generating strategies and tactics. Too busy doing what?
If sales are flat, and we’re “too busy” to increase them, aren’t we simply replacing “productive” with “busy”?
“Busy” generally means we’re frantically-focused on this month’s budget and this short term thinking is fostered by our measurement and compensation systems.
Ironically, this month’s results are seldom a result of this month’s efforts, but rather the result of the work we did 90 to 120 days ago.  Closing seems to be the only task in the revenue development chain that gets recognized and rewarded.
Seldom is there recognition or compensation for completing new tasks which can lead to improved results 90 or 120 days from now.
With all due respect, most radio account executives do appear to be willing to do some “extra work” in addition to closing, like collecting some generic research, facilitating a typical customer needs analysis, writing custom presentations and some even put almost enough valuable insights in their Creative Briefs to produce some reasonably good copy.
But if your competitors are also doing these same basics, where is your competitive advantage?
What are you willing to do for your prospects that your competitors say is, “Too much work”?

When you’re ready to go the extra mile to increase your sales, contact  [email protected] to discuss the various proven revenue development processes we have at ENS Media Inc.