Local sales is really the lifeblood of a healthy radio station and accurate, up-to-date business intelligence is the lifeblood of local sales. Thanks to the Internet, there are literally zillions of possible sources of data that can inform our prospecting, solutions development and revenue growth.
Aside from the business section of the local paper, what are some of your favorite sources for business intelligence today?
Always remain tuned to your competitors station than yours and think what did they did right that than you! Tell those advertisers, how your station would have approached the scheduling of the ads or any other creative or production element.
I would also move around in person in commercial/shopping districts and pick up tactical/seasonal POS promotions being done by these guys and get them on board radio. If I see a mall coming up with a billboard of a merchant, announcing "opening shortly", I'll make a plan of teasers on opening shortly, first 3 months of inauguration and first year of growth phase for the store. I'll call that guy up and tell him that I have a fantastic idea of driving traffic to his store, even before they open the shutters.
Check to see if you have access to Reference USA through your local library. This is a great source to find information on local companies. You can also check with your city and/of parish government to see if they issue monthly “New Business” reports. This report will give you information on all new business licenses issued the previous month.
Himanshu,
You're absolutely right...monitoring competitors is a time-tested approach to lead generation. After all, that's where the adverisers are who've already bought into the value of radio advertising. It's critical that when we descend on an advertiser who has made the decision to invest with our competitor, we avoid putting ourselves in the unintended position of criticizing their decision. When we start by telling them how much better we are than our competitior, we are effectively saying to them that they did not make a smart decision.
In those cases, my recommendation has always been to learn all you can about the account and utilize that intelligence to begin developing your own relationship based on THEIR need to sell, not your need to have them buy. It works like crazy because it speaks to their economic motives without making us appear hyper-competitive.
Can you share more about how you use the internet in developing leads and intelligence about the companies you intend to consult? We know there's a ton of powerful data out there for us to use.
Darrell,
Never heard of Reference USA. Thanks for sharing. For those of us who no longer have local libraries, is it also available on line?
