{"id":258,"date":"2007-12-17T19:37:26","date_gmt":"2007-12-17T19:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wensmedia.com\/\/salesarchive\/permalink\/2007\/12\/17\/143726.html"},"modified":"2007-12-17T19:37:26","modified_gmt":"2007-12-17T19:37:26","slug":"your-ratings-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/uncategorized\/your-ratings-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Ratings Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Many of my Canadian friends will get the results from the latest ratings sweep next week. For them, and for my American friends when their ratings are due, I strongly recommend you schedule a staff ratings <u>celebration<\/u> as soon after ratings release as possible.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I have seen stations that only release ratings to the staff when they are good, and hide behind closed doors when they are not.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Worse still, I have seen station management meet behind closed doors to analyze ratings results leaving staff in the halls to assume the worse.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Regardless of the results in your next ratings, schedule a Ratings Celebration, complete with champagne, to toast the efforts of EVERYONE for the last sweep and to build confidence in the results from the next effort.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Everyone on your staff, from the janitor to the receptionist, should be invited. And everyone from the producer who participated in your Santa Clause parade float to the sales rep who obtained prizes for your ratings promotion should be saluted for their <span style=\"color: navy\">contribution.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In every team-building workshop I facilitate, station staffs identify three keys to success; communication, communication and communication. Ratings releases are perfect communications opportunities. Some key communications objectives for your ratings celebration might include:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">1.) &nbsp;&nbsp;Don&rsquo;t sugar-coat your position. Your staff is not stupid, tell them the good the bad and the ugly. And most importantly prepare rational explanations for everything.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">2.)&nbsp; &nbsp;Where you rank is not as important as recognizing your staff contributions and achievements on and off air.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">3.) &nbsp;&nbsp;Do not look surprised. You need to have logical explanations for every turn in the ratings, and more importantly have a credible achievable plan for continuous improvement. (Losses are easier to accept if it appears there may be wins on the horizon)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">4.) &nbsp;&nbsp;Publish a salient explanation for every conceivable objection your latest results might raise&hellip;..and NOT just for the sales department.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">5.) &nbsp;&nbsp;Focus on the positives (and they are always there if you look hard enough)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">6.) &nbsp;&nbsp;Your general manager, sales manager and your program director should each communicate their perspectives and show a united front.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">7.) &nbsp;&nbsp;And most important of all, don&rsquo;t let ratings have more importance than they deserve. The lowest rated station in any town can create results for their customers.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">So here&rsquo;s to your team, your vision and your results at your upcoming celebration!<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">P.S. If your station is not rated, or if your competitor tries to put a public spin on ratings, make sure your staff in every department knows how to handle the subsequent questions your audience and clients will have.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Many of my Canadian friends will get the results from the latest ratings sweep next week. For them, and for my American friends when their ratings are due, I strongly recommend you schedule a staff ratings celebration as soon after ratings release as possible. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I have seen stations that only release ratings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}