Do you understand what business you are in?

I once asked one of Toronto’s top morning men, Bob McAdorey, how he made the transition from a top 40 format to a country format.  Bob said, “What transition? It’s not about the programming, it’s about the audience.”

Some of us in sales could benefit from that wisdom.

I recently saw two ads from two different media companies that were looking for local sales executives.

One was from a radio station, which among other qualifications, was looking for someone with a “knowledge and love of country music”.

The other was from a newspaper looking for “a representative to provide our valued customer with creative, effective advertising/marketing solutions”.

Having sold successfully for virtually every format, past and present, I can tell you there is a lot more money to be made selling customer-focused ideas than there is trying to persuade someone to like your music or programming.

Put yourself in the client’s shoes.  Do you really care about your account executive’s programming preferences, or do you want someone who can provide creative and effective advertising/marketing solutions for your business?

I strongly recommend that having a “knowledge and love” of your stations’ audience, and an understanding of what motivates them to buy from your clients, is much more important than having a knowledge and love for the music that attracted that audience.

Are your sales people trying to persuade clients to like Waylon Jennings or Mick Jagger?  Or are they focused on generating sales for your customers?